Brioche.

Making Brioche has been my biggest baking endeavor to date. It is a very time consuming process but the result is oh so worth it! This sweet and buttery bread is to die for! Brioche is something that reminds me of my childhood. It is very common to have a brioche for breakfast in France, just like croissants and pains au chocolat (chocolate croissants). Brioche and cafe au lait (coffee and milk) go very well together. I love dipping my brioche in it!

I know there are going to be too many pictures but I don't want to leave anything out for those who are going to make this. I know that, for me, seeing lots of pictures along with a recipe helps me visualize the process better and makes it a lot easier!

The recipe is from Baking with Julia, by Dorie Greenspan. The stand-mixer is courtesy of Maia!

The first step is to make the sponge. For this, you will need:
- 1/3 cup warm whole milk

- 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

- 1 large egg
- 2 cups all purpose flour

Put the milk, yeast, egg, and 1 cup of the flour in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer. Mix the ingredients together with a rubber spatula, mixing just until everything is blended.

Sprinkle over the remaining cup of flour to cover the sponge.

Set the sponge aside to rest uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes. After this time, the flour coating will crack, your indication that everything is moving along properly.

The dough:

- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 cups (approximately) all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature.

Add the sugar, salt, eggs, and 1 cup of the flour to the sponge.

Set the bowl into the mixer, attach the dough hook, and mix on low speed for a minute or two, just until the ingredients look as if they're about to come together.

Still mixing, sprinkle in 1/2 cup more flour. When the flour in incorporated, increase the speed to medium and beat for about 15 minutes, stopping to scrape down the hook and bowl as needed.

During this mixing period, the dough should come together, wrap itself round the hook, and slap the sides of the bowl. If, after 7 to 10 minutes, you don't have a cohesive, slapping dough, add up to 3 Tbsp more flour. Continue to beat, giving the dough a full 15 minutes in the mixer.

In order to incorporate the butter into the dough, you must work the butter until it is the same consistency as the dough. I used the back of a large spoon. When it's ready, the butter will be smooth, soft, and still cool. Not oily or greasy.

With the mixer on medium-low, add the butter a few tbsp at a time. This is the point at which you'll think you made a huge mistake because the dough that you worked so hard to make smooth will fall apart. Carry on.

When all of the butter has been added, raise the mixer speed to medium-high for a minute, then reduce the speed to medim and beat the dough for 5 minutes or until you once again hear the dough slapping the sides of the bowl. Clean the sides of the bowl frequently as you work, if it looks as though the dough is not coming together after 2 to 3 minutes, add up to 1 Tbsp more flour.

First rise: Transfer the dough into a very large buttered bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let it rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Second Rise and Chilling: Deflate the dough by placing your fingers under it, lifting a section of dough, and then letting it fall back into the bowl. Work your way around the circumference of the dough, lifting and realeasing.

Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough overnight or at least 4 to 6 hours.

This is what my dough looked like in the morning:

Your dough is now ready to be used in any brioche recipe. I decided to make into 2 braided loaves and I used the directions from the King Arthur baking blog. Scroll down to about the middle of the page for the braided loaf version and follow the directions. They omitted the oven temperature/time. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes, tenting with foil after 15 to 20 minutes.

This is how much my loaves rose after 2 hours 45 minutes. They could have used another half an hour or so, I am sure, but I was getting too impatient!