The British Larder is one of the first blogs I ever followed. Right at the beginning before they opened a pub. I salivated over Ross and Madalene’s recipes and always vowed to attempt at least one of them. It’s typical of me that I would choose to follow the blog of professional chefs and then want to re-create their dishes.

I came across their blog when I was looking for a recipe for Whoopie Pies, who remembers them? I never made the Whoopie Pies, but I did become hooked on their blog.

Then Madalene made a brioche that looked just perfect and I decided that would be the first recipe I’d try from The British Larder. I’ve made brioche quite a few times with varying degrees of success.

I didn’t hold out much hope for this recipe, because my track record with bread is not good. I didn’t need to worry though, this turned out to be one of the best brioche recipes I’ve made. It produced, what I think looks like a pretty authentic French brioche.

The recipe below, is pretty much a direct copy of the one on The British Larder, it really is that good!

Brioche is an enriched dough, because butter and egg yolks are added. As it is such a rich bread it can spoil quite quickly, if you can’t eat the loaf within 24 hours of baking, you can slice the brioche and freeze it in a ziplock bag. Then defrost the bread when you need it, so that you can always have fresh brioche.

Making this recipe, will mean that you’ll have leftover egg whites. Keep these egg whites and you can freeze them to use a later date. You could make macarons, financiers or madeleines with them.

BRIOCHE The British Larder A recipe for buttery rich brioche from The British Larder. This is a delicious recipe that is so easy to create, it produces a wonderful loaf that tastes authentic, perfect for breakfast. You can see the original recipe here. Print Recipe Pin Recipe Prep Time 1 hr 30 mins Cook Time 30 mins Total Time 2 hrs Course Breakfast Cuisine French Servings 1 Loaf Ingredients 500 g strong bread flour

30 g fresh yeast or 2 x 7g dried yeast

2 tsp salt

80 g caster sugar

200 ml full fat milk

4 free range egg yolks

60 g unsalted butter

1 extra yolk to brush the loaf for baking Instructions Place the flour, sugar, salt and if using, the dried yeast into the bowl of a mixer.

Heat the milk to 37°C and if using the fresh yeast; add the yeast to the warm milk and stir to dissolve it.

With the dough hook attached, mix the dry ingredients on low speed, and slowly pour in the warmed milk. When all of the milk has been added, mix the dough for 5 minutes.

Add the egg yolks one at a time and mix well after each addition.

Once all of the eggs are incorporated, cut the butter into small pieces and add to the dough while mixing. Mix until all the butter is incorporated.

Knead the mixture, for a further 2 minutes, then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth, silky and in a round ball shape.

Grease a bowl with a flavourless oil or some butter and place the dough into the bowl and cover with a clean dry tea towel.

Let the dough prove in a warm place until it doubles in size. This will depend on room temperature and can take up to about 40 minutes.

While the bread is proving prepare the baking tins. Grease a standard 1lb loaf tin and lightly dust with flour, set aside until the brioche dough is ready.

Once the dough has doubled in size, gently turn the dough out onto to a floured surface. Do not treat the dough too harshly, remember that you have waited approximately 40 minutes for it to double in size. Apply gentle actions.

Cut the dough into 8 portions and gently shape the dough into 8 balls and place them into the loaf tin so they are touching. Cover the brioche lightly with a clean dry tea towel and let the brioche prove for the second time to double in size; this could take up to a half an hour.

While you are waiting for the brioche to prove for the second time, preheat the oven to 180°C. Use a fork to loosen the egg yolk. Once the brioche is doubled in size, gently brush the top with the egg yolk and place the loaf tin on the middle shelf of the preheated oven.

Bake the brioche for 30 – 40 minutes, test for readiness by tapping the bottom of the tin and it will have a hollow sound when ready. Turn the brioche out on to a cooling rack and cool completely before cutting.

Thanks for reading.

Angela

I’ve added this to Fabulous Foodie Fridays.