The Brioche

(Morning Cake...)

Some notes :

This recipe explains you how to make two large "brioches". I don't know the word in English to explain what a "brioche" is. In France, we eat a "brioche" on mornings for breakfast. If you have already come in France, perhaps you noticed bakery shops with "French Pain au Chocolat" but also "Brioche...". Anyway, it is easy to cook and it can be stored in the deep-freeze to be eaten later. Easy to cook, easy to bring it on the bike.... There are different possibilities to add flavours of your choice. I prefer "Eau de fleur d'oranger..."

Ingredients :

200 grs of temperate butter

100 grs of sugar

500 grs of plain flour

42 grs (1 cube of bakery pounder)

eau de fleur d'oranger as flavour ...

Salt

10 cl of lukewarm milk

5 eggs

How to cook it ?

1 / In a large bowl, put the butter cut in small pieces. Don't use cold butter but prefer temperate butter. So it will be easy to mix it with other ingredients...

2 / In another bowl, prepare the leaven: Take 10 cl of lukewarm milk but not too hot. If the milk is too hot, the powder effect will be disabled... Mix the bakery powder in the milk with 100 grs of plain flour. Leave it alone during a quarter of an hour: The blending must triple of volume with a taste of beer...

3 / One quarter later, note the behavior of the blending in the yellow bowl! In the first bowl, add 400 grs of plain flour, 100 grs of sugar, 5 eggs and salt...

4 / Use a mixer with appropriated whips to mix this preparation during 20 minutes...

5 / The blending must be soft. Insert two large spoons of "eau de fleur d'oranger". Shed butter in two cake loaf tins.

6 / Put the blending in these two loaf tins but only in the background because the preparation will extend during the cooking. Before inserting in the oven, leave these loaf tins alone during five hours in a lukewarm place with a plastic film on them. This way, the preparation will begin to occupy all the available room in the loaf tins... You may decorate the top with little pieces of chocolate...

7 / Here is the result, five hours later. Remove the plastic film from the loaf tins. Set the oven at 150°C and insert them during 30 minutes. After the first 15 minutes, place a tinfoil on them to avoid burning the top of the "Brioches"...

8 / When you remove the loaf tins from the oven, here is the result...

This page has been composed and written

by Jean-Philippe BATTU in October 2001