Professor Butter Beard’s Brioche
Two delicious loaves
¼ cup whole milk, slightly warmed
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
¼ cup sourdough starter (optional)
¼ cup (4 Tbsp) granulated sugar
Zest of two lemons (or limes or one orange)
1 tsp fine sea salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp additional spice (Chinese Five-Spice, Cinnamon, Cumin, Ginger, etc.)
4 cups bread flour
5 large eggs, room temperature
8 ounces unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temperature
1) In a medium glass bowl, whisk together the warmed milk and the yeast (and sourdough starter). Let stand for 5 minutes to bloom.
2) In a standing mixer, whisk together the sugar and the citrus zest until the sugar appears damp. Whisk in the salt and pepper and additional spices. Add the bread flour and gently whisk to combine.
3) Whisk the eggs into the milk/yeast mixture and pour over the flour in the mixing bowl. Switch to the dough handle and mix on medium speed for roughly 8-10 minutes until you have a soft, elastic dough.
4) Add the butter in one Tbsp pieces, one at a time, until fully incorporated and you have a shiny, smooth dough. This should take an additional 5 minutes or so.
5) Scrape the dough into a greased large glass bowl, cover with plastic, and set aside to double in size. This should take about 1 ½ hours. The final product will be even better if you let it rise slowly in your refrigerator overnight.
6) After the first rise, punch down the dough and divide in half. Oil two loaf pans and line with a circle of parchment. Form the two dough portions into smooth balls and flatten each into a prepared loaf pan. Lightly cover with plastic and let rise again while you pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.
7) Once the dough has risen to the rim of the pans, place them in the pre-heated oven and bake for roughly 30-35 minutes, turning the pans once after 20 minutes.
8) Remove the pans from the oven, tip out the loaves and put them back in the oven for 3-4 minutes to dry the crust.
9) Cool on a wire rack to room temperature before slicing.
