Ingredients

• 7 cold eggs - (6 whole) plus 1 yolk for egg wash
• 14g dry yeast
• 3.5 tbsp - 50ml milk
• 4 cups - 500g Cake flour (refrigerated)
• 12g salt
• ¼ cup - 50g sugar (Refrigerated)
• 7oz - 200g unsalted butter, cold cubed.
• A splash of cream

Steps

• Step 1

  Remove butter from fridge and cut into small cubes. (Butter shouldn’t be hard but still cold)

• Step 2

  Crack the 6 whole eggs directly into your stand mixer and add the yeast, cold milk, flour, salt, sugar, mix slowly (speed 2) with dough or spiral hook. Knead for for 5 minutes. Increase speed a little but not fast, and continue kneading 10 minutes until it no longer sticks to the sides.  Check for window pane by stretching a small piece.  It should be elastic, thin and see through without breaking when stretched.  Otherwise knead a little longer.

• Step 3

  Restart mixing on speed 3, then slowly incorporate the diced cold butter a little at a time (butter should be firm not soft, if really cold, simply squash each cube between your fingers as you throw it in). Increase speed a little and continue until dough is nicely mixed and smooth.

• Step 4

  Transfer to a bench, fold and form into a tight ball and cover with cling film. Leave to prove at room temperature until it doubles in size.  Time can vary a lot depending on temperature. Average for 60-120 minutes.

• Step 5

  Remove from bowl and place on bench, flatten with rolling pin, fold into three, roll lengthwise and form into a tight ball. Place back in bowl, covered in cling film, and refrigerate for 12 hours for best results. If you don’t have the time, then 1 hour will still work.

• Step 6

  Next day. Remove from fridge and place on floured work bench, flatten to Degas (round pizza shape) then divide and form into 12 folded and tightened balls approx. 90-95g each.  (to keep these even, its best to weigh each one sand just size before forming balls.). Hint: Best way to divide is to cut in half then each half into 3, then each piece in half giving you 12 even pieces.

• Step 7

  Place balls in well buttered mould or bread pan, cover and leave to prove until more than double in size. This can take 90 to 240 minutes. 25°C to 27°C is the ideal room temperature. If cold, you could also place in turned off oven with light on and a hot pot of steamy water.

• Step 8

  Very lightly brush the brioche with egg wash (1 egg yolk + a splash of cream mixed. Do not let any touch the mould, be very careful.

• Step 9

  Preheat oven to 320°F-160°C

• Step 10

  Place the pan in oven and lower temp to 290°F-145°C, and  bake for 30-35 minutes. After 15 mins, check if browning too fast, you can cover with foil, but you shouldn’t need to. Brioche should be deep golden brown, sound hollow when tapped.  Look for an inner temperature of 175°F-185 – 80-85°C at the centre when checked with a food thermometer. Alternatively use a knife, and when it slides out dry, it’s ready. (It browns and dries fast, so watch out not to over cook!).

• Step 11

  Once cooked, remove from oven and after 5-10 mins, take it out of the pan and let it cool on a rack.

• Step 12

  Always cool down before enjoying your fluffy brioche!

Little Tips

Keep everything cold, ideally mixing bowl, flour, eggs all refrigerated.

Butter should be cold and firm, not hard and not soft.

You can use all purpose (plain) flour but cake flour will create that cloud like texture.

Don’t prove in hot temperature, it will rise quicker but also alter the taste and structure.