Brioche - The Pastry Nerd (2024)

FAQs

Should brioche pass the windowpane test? ›

You should be able to can extend the dough with the tip of your finger to the point it becomes see-through (it's called the windowpane test – see picture). That means your gluten network is done.

The buns have a crust that protects the crumb from drying out as long as you don't slice the bun and expose the cut surface to the air. We don't score our brioche loaves; unlike lean doughs, they don't require this step. Scoring is an option, however, for decorative purposes.

Expert Baking Tips

Proof the dough overnight: I recommend allowing your brioche dough to rise slowly overnight in the fridge. Cold dough is so much nicer to work with! But you can also let it proof at room temperature for one hour and make the brioche bread immediately.

Brioche is a type of bread, but better than you could imagine! It's a soft, lightly sweet, rich bread that works in sweet and savoury dishes alike. The reason brioche is so light and tastes so rich is because it's made with an enriched dough,which gives it that soft texture and amazing taste.

The dough must be thin enough to pass light through it. If it is obtained without any tear, then your dough is properly kneaded. If your dough breaks easily, keep kneading and repeat the test again in a few minutes.

You may think, “this can't be right!” but it is! Cover the dough with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge overnight (or up to 8 hours). While in the fridge the cold air helps solidify the butter and makes the dough more workable in the morning.

Too sticky – If at 20 minutes the dough is still really pasty, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time until the dough is still very soft but just firm enough to handle without it sticking all over your hands.

Add more yeast, blend in the starter, or knead in more flour to help initiate rising. Dough that has expired yeast, too much salt, all-purpose or cake flour, or antifungal spices like cinnamon might have trouble rising.

An overproofed dough won't expand much during baking, and neither will an underproofed one. Overproofed doughs collapse due to a weakened gluten structure and excessive gas production, while underproofed doughs do not yet have quite enough carbon dioxide production to expand the dough significantly.

Brioche should be a deep brown when done, should sound hollow when tapped, and will read 190°F at the center using an instant-read thermometer.

Can you over mix brioche dough? ›

If mixed too long the dough can become loose and sticky. The water that was absorbed by the flour gets released back into the dough and the gluten structure breaks down. After this there is no way to fix it. It will be a loose, soggy, and sticky mass unable to hold in fermentation gasses.

How healthy is brioche? Brioche contains a higher protein content than plain white bread due to the inclusion of eggs, which is beneficial for health. However, due to the higher butter content in brioche, brioche contains more fat and more calories than other kinds of bread.

The answer is yes, both are eating the same thing: calling it brioche is just an improper use of the term, widespread in northern Italy. A real brioche is different from the cornetto, but beware: neither of them is an honest to goodness croissant.

The key difference between challah and brioche, per Masterclass, is that brioche is typically made with all three enriched ingredients we mentioned before (eggs, sugar, and butter), but challah often replaces the butter with oil to keep kosher.

The most accurate way to test bread doneness is to use a digital thermometer like this. Gently insert the thermometer into the center of your loaf. For most bread recipes, you're looking for a temperature of at least 190° F.

(Click here to read about why it takes this long. In short, it's because the high amount of butter in this dough inhibits the formation of gluten that occurs when we knead dough which makes breads rise.

Brioche SHOULD have a lovely depth of flavor if you proofed it overnight. However, if you over-proof the dough (the first or last proofing), the bread will have an unpleasant beer-like taste. So make sure to only proof the dough until needed; so don't necessarily go by time, go by the appearance of the dough.

Under-Kneading Dough

There are several ways that you can tell if your dough needs more kneading throughout the baking process. A few signs of under-kneaded dough is a dough that is: Floppy and loose. Tears easily.