Ordinary Brioche Paste

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, or a sturdy mixing bowl and bench scraper
• •2-quart (2-liter) covered bowl
• •Flexible bowl scraper

Instructions

1. 1

   Wake the leaven

   Take one-quarter of the sifted flour, about 57 g, and make a hollow in it. Add the yeast and tepid water, then mix into a soft paste that holds together without becoming stiff. Roll it into a ball, cut two shallow slits across the top at right angles, and place it in a small covered bowl. Leave it in a comfortably warm place until doubled, about 45 to 75 minutes. The cuts should open and the paste should smell pleasantly yeasty. If it has barely moved, give it more warmth and time rather than adding extra yeast; the leaven must be lively before the rich dough can ask anything of it.

   The water should feel barely warm against the wrist. Hot water damages the yeast, while cold water makes this first fermentation unnecessarily slow.
2. 2

   Build the base

   Stir the salt and sugar into the tepid milk. Put the soft unsalted butter, two of the eggs, and the seasoned milk in the mixer bowl, then combine on low speed with the dough hook. Add the remaining sifted flour gradually until the mixture gathers into one compact, sticky mass. Stop and scrape the bowl thoroughly so no dry flour hides beneath the dough.

3. 3

   Develop and enrich

   Knead on medium-low speed for 6 to 8 minutes, pulling the dough from the hook once or twice, until it gains resilience and begins stretching rather than tearing immediately. Make a hollow in the dough and add the third egg. Mix for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the egg disappears and the paste gathers again. It may look loose and curdled at first. Don't add flour. Keep mixing, and if the bowl has grown warm or greasy, chill it for 10 minutes before continuing. Ça se rattrape.

   The source adds six eggs in stages. Halving the batch gives three, so two begin the dough and the third goes in only after the first kneading has built enough strength to hold it.
4. 4

   Work in the butter

   Press the dough and the Manied Butter (No. 151) separately with a fingertip. They should yield with the same resistance. Add the Manied Butter in small portions, mixing each one into the paste before adding the next, then knead only until the mixture is uniform, glossy, and elastic. Cold butter stays in hard flecks; butter that is too warm escapes into a greasy film. If flecks remain, pause for 5 minutes and continue. If the paste turns oily, chill the bowl for 10 to 15 minutes, then resume at low speed. Butter, patience, attention. This incorporation is the dish.

   Soft means pliable, not melted. The butter should accept a fingerprint while still holding its shape.
5. 5

   Fold in the leaven

   Turn the paste onto a surface carrying only the thinnest dusting of flour and flatten it gently. Spread the doubled leaven across it, fold the paste over, then pinch, press, and fold just until the leaven is completely distributed. Do not begin another hard kneading. The structure is already built, and this stage joins the two pastes without exhausting either one.

6. 6

   Begin the long rise

   Place the paste in a roomy covered bowl and refrigerate for 5 to 6 hours. It should swell noticeably and show small bubbles along the sides, though the cold and all that butter may keep it from fully doubling. If it has barely moved after 6 hours, leave the covered bowl in a cool room for 30 to 45 minutes. If it has already doubled, move directly to the knock-back. The clock guides you, but the paste has the final word.

7. 7

   Knock it back

   Turn the paste onto the lightly dusted board and give it its rabat, the knock-back that redistributes yeast and expels the largest pockets of gas. Beat it firmly with the heel of the palm, fold it in thirds, turn it, and repeat once. Return it to the covered bowl and refrigerate for another 5 to 6 hours. This interruption is not busywork. It keeps the crumb even and gives the paste the second fermentation specified by the formula.

8. 8

   Beat before using

   Immediately before shaping, turn out the cold paste and beat it briefly with the palm once more, just enough to release the large bubbles and make it supple. It should feel cool, satiny, and elastic, with no visible streaks of butter or leaven. Shape it according to the finished brioche preparation you are making. If it softens and begins sticking heavily, return it to the refrigerator for 15 minutes rather than burying it in flour.

Chef Tips

• •Weigh the flour, butter, salt, and sugar if you can. A small enriched batch magnifies measuring errors, and excess flour is the quickest route from tender brioche to a dry, tight loaf.
• •Use an unbleached all-purpose flour with moderate strength. Very soft pastry flour cannot comfortably hold this much egg and butter, while a very strong bread flour gives the finished brioche more chew than delicacy.
• •The butter’s consistency decides the paste. Cold pieces cut through the developing structure, melted butter coats it and prevents a clean rise. Press dough and butter side by side before combining them; equal softness is the test.
• •This recipe makes the paste only. Shaping, final proof, egg wash, and baking temperatures belong to the particular brioche form you choose, whether a loaf, crown, or brioche à tête. Cooking well is not cooking fancy.

Advance Preparation

• •Plan on 10 to 12 hours for the two main fermentations, with the knock-back after the first 5 to 6 hours. The leaven needs an additional 45 to 75 minutes before the main dough is mixed.
• •Prepare the Manied Butter (No. 151) immediately before its incorporation so it reaches the paste soft and uniform, not chilled into a hard block.
• •The completed paste is best shaped promptly while cold. If plans move, cover it tightly and refrigerate for up to 12 additional hours, then beat it briefly before shaping. Expect the final proof to take a little longer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 52g)