Brioche dough

I took a Brioche baking class at Whole Foods Culinary Institute awhile back and it was a wonderful experience. The instructor, Amy Osborn, was a great teacher and within just a few hours we had made Brioche à tête, Nanterre, and cinnamon rolls. Through the class we received the recipe below for Brioche though I realize now there weren't written instructions for the different breads but hopefully my notes will suffice for when I try and make this at home. I'll also post more information that I received on rich doughs and the fermenting process.

Sponge:
4 oz milk
1 oz yeast, fresh
4 oz bread flour

Dough:

7 oz egg

1 lb bread flour

1 oz sugar

1/4 oz. salt

7 oz butter, softened

Sponge Method:

Warm milk to about 100 degrees F. Dissolve yeas in the milk. Add flour and mix by hand until it comes together to make a sponge. Let it rise until doubles in size.

Once the sponge has doubled in size, gradually mix in eggs and then dry ingredients to make a soft dough.

Beat in butter, a little at a time, until completely absorbed and dough is smooth. Dough will be very soft and tacky to the touch.

Fermentation: Place in a slightly sprayed bag or in covered bowl and place in retarder over night.

Proof (2nd stage of fermentation, allowing the dough to rise in a humid environment) loosely covered with a lightly moist thin town or saran wrap in a warm spot for 20 minutes to an hour depending on heat.

To make Brioche à tête (means "with a head" and they are rolls panned in fluted tins with a small spherical piece of dough placed on top) measure off dough in 1 1/4 oz sizes and shape. Brush with a light egg wash and bake 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

To make Brioche Nanterre (A loaf of brioche panned in a standard loaf pan. Instead of shaping one piece of dough and baking it, two rows of small pieces of dough are placed in the pan. Loaves are then proofed in the pan, fusing the pieces together.) roll the dough (18 0z) in long log. Cut into six even piece and place them going the width of a loaf pan. Take scissors and cut the top of bread in a pattern and bake at 375 degrees.

To make Brioche cinnamon rolls take 8 oz of dough, roll out to a thin dough in a wide rectangle (6" long) and cover with cinnamon, nuts, raisins (whatever you like), then roll up into a log. Cut the log into 5 - 6 even pieces. Place the rolls in a baking pan and proof 20 - 40 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees. To make icing combine powdered sugar and milk or cream to the correct constancy -- ad liquid to powdered sugar -- and any extra flavor such as orange zest, lemon juice or almond extract. Heat and drizzle over the top of cooked rolls.

No-Knead Nutella and Roasted Hazelnut Challah

I took this recipe from Steamy Kitchen who took it from the book Artisian Bread Five Minutes a Day. I've since bought the book because I enjoyed this recipe so much. It's a bit labor intensive (we didn't get to enjoy our bread until about noon on the Saturday morning that I made it despite starting on it around 9:30 a.m. -- but most of the time is waiting and baking), a bit messy, and with buying the honey, hazelnuts (I had some leftover from the Scallops with Hazelnut Brown Butter Recipe) and Nutella it's not necessarily an inexpensive bread. But I love challah (I wonder what would happen if you made french toast with this challah!?!) and it was fun to make.

On to the recipe (taken from Steamy Kitchen):

You start by mixing the master dough first, let that rest overnight in the refrigerator, then the next day, pinch off a grapefruit sized piece of dough (1lb) to use for a loaf of Challah. Return the rest to the refrigerator to use for another day.

1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tbl instant yeast
1 1/2 tbl kosher salt (1 1/2 tsp table salt)
4 lg eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, water, honey, melted butter, yeast and salt. Stir well with a wooden spoon. Add in the flour. STIR, BABY STIR!!! Stir until you don't see any more dry bits of flour. Cover (not airtight) and stick it in the refrigerator overnight, or up to 4 days. The longer you let it fart around in the refrigerator (literally!), the better tasting the dough will be.
pssst....if you want, you can let it rise for 2 hours on the counter, pinch off the dough that you need to make your Challah. However, I've found that with only a 2-hour rise, the bread isn't very flavorful. Still good, but definitely not as good as if you had let it sit 1-4 days in the refrigerator.

Nutella and Roasted Hazelnut Challah adaptation of Challah recipe from from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

1 lb of Master Challah Dough (above) about a grapefruit sized chunk of dough
4 1/2 tbl Nutellasmall handful of hazelnuts
1 egg + 1 tbl water, whisked to make egg wash

The first thing you need to do is take that master dough out of the refrigerator, grab a grapefruit sized chunk of dough. Return the rest of it to the refrigerator to use another time. Generously flour your hands and the dough. Shape the dough into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough and tucking it to the bottom all around, rotating hte ball a quarter-turn as you go. This creates a taut, smooth surface. Let the dough hang out on counter, covered with a towel to take the chill off while you roast your hazelnuts.

Roast Hazelnuts: Grab a medium sized skillet. Turn heat to medium. When hot, add hazelnuts and roast, continually moving the nuts so that they don't burn. You may want to turn your heat to medium-low if the pan gets too hot. Roast until nuts are golden brown and fragrant. Roughly chop the nuts with a sharp chef's knife and cutting board.

Braid Dough: Now, back to the dough. Use palm of your hands and roll the dough into a thick, even log. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces with knife or dough scraper. (It's easier to cut even pieces when the dough is not round). Roll each piece with your hands to stretch into a long 1 1/2" thick rope. Try not to just stretch it out by pulling, the dough will break. Easiest way is to place dough on counter and roll back and forth with palms of hands, starting in the middle and hands move out which stretching the dough a bit. Don't worry about getting it to look pretty, just try to get each piece even sized.

Time to add the Nutella. Take one piece of dough. Use side of your hand to press and create an indent in the middle of the strand. Spread about 1 1/2 tbl of Nutella in this indent.

Bring up the sides of the dough, encasing the Nutella and pinch dough closed. Repeat with other strands. It's a bit messy and next time I'll try and make deeper, wider holes so less Nutella squirts out the top.
Pinch it up!



Time to braid. Start in the middle and braid. Pinch ends, tuck under. Now braid the other side, pinch and tuck. Start braid from the middle (instead of top) so that it tapers evenly at both ends.

Cover with towel and let rest for 1-1/2 hours. 20 minutes prior to baking, preheat your oven to 350F. When dough is ready, brush top with egg wash and sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. Bake for 25 minutes.

It's as good as it looks!

No-Knead Bread!

For years I've wanted a Kitchen Aid mixer with the idea that I'd finally start making bread, pastas, and many of the baked goodies that are hard or impossible to mix with your average hand mixer. Ironically after finally buying myself a mixer and researching bread recipes online the first recipe that I wanted to try was an recipe that Mark Bittman made popular over a year ago with a New York Times article, a recipe that you don't need any sort of mixer what so ever to make. Apparently everyone and their dog has tried it with much success so this weekend it was my turn, and now I'll add to the many bloggers who have posted pictures and the recipe for the No-Knead Bread.

First off I've got to say that this is an easy recipe, worth making and very delicious, but it's also a recipe that takes up to 15-16 hours to make. So, if you want to have it ready for dinner at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday evening you'll want to start it by at least 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. on Friday.

No-Knead Bread (Yields one 1 1/2 lb loaf)

3 cups all-purpose or bread flower, more for dusting
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle with a little more flour and fold it over once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on town and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.



4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes.

5. Remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a wire rack.

It is a delicious bread -- perfect for soups or buttered up for any meal.