The so-called French Brioche bread is a classic, sweet yeast braid. In many countries and families, including us (unless there are hot cross buns), it is an integral part of breakfast on Sunday.
The French Brioche bread is usually a plaited wreath or a plaited strand that is sprinkled with crystal or powdered sugar.
For many, preparing yeast pastries is a bit of a challenge. It’s so easy if you keep a few things in mind:
If you work with fresh yeast, you can’t avoid a pre-dough (Austrian “Dampfl”). Put some flour in a bowl and make a small well in the middle. Crumble in the fresh yeast and mix with lukewarm (not hot milk – it destroys the yeast) and some sugar. Cover and leave the pre-dough to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. The dough can then be processed as in the recipe.
For beginners, I recommend using dry yeast. It is sure to succeed and also saves you the pre-dough.
Yeast dough likes to be kneaded well. A good average is 10 minutes of gentle kneading. Tip: Fold the dough over and over again with gentle pressure. So it becomes nice and supple. Avoid tearing the dough apart.
After each kneading or shaping, let the dough rest for about 20 minutes.
INGREDIENTS
500 g flour, All-Purpose Flour
2 grams bread improver
1 grams gluten
1 pack of dry yeast or fresh yeast (about 40 g);
1/2 tsp baking powder;
1 organic egg;
1 organic protein;
50 grams of sugar;
lemon zest from 1 organic lemon;
1 pinch of salt;
200 ml milk, lukewarm;
50 g butter, melted and cooled;
1 organic egg yolk + 2 tbsp milk for brushing;
powdered sugar for sprinkling
Optional: dried raisins, apricots or cranberries
PREPARATION:
In a large enough bowl, mix together the flour, dry yeast, baking powder, salt, sugar and lemon zest.
Whisk the eggs with the lukewarm milk and melted butter. Make sure that the milk and butter are not too warm, otherwise the eggs could scramble.
Add the egg, milk and butter mixture to the dry ingredients and knead into a dough.
Cover and let the dough rise in a warm place for at least 45 to 60 minutes. Tip: The dough can also be prepared the day before. After the rising time, you can put it well wrapped in the fridge and process it, as usual, the next day.
After the rising time, knead the dough until you have a smooth, supple dough. Tip: You can tell whether the dough has been kneaded well enough by the smooth surface.
If you want, you can incorporate raisins, cranberries or other dried fruits into the dough.
Preheat the oven to 160°C top/bottom heat.
For the typical shape of the Easter bread, divide the dough into three equal parts and shape them into even sausages.
Braid the sausages into a braid. Make sure that you knead both the beginning and the end of the braid well together.
Once you’ve braided and shaped your Easter bread, let it rise for another 20 minutes.
Tip: Place the Easter braid in a greased casserole dish for baking. This keeps the Easter bread in an even shape.
Whisk the egg yolk with a little milk and brush the yeast braid with it before baking and in between.
Bake the Easter bread for about 30 to 40 minutes until golden.
When the Easter bread has cooled down, sprinkle with some icing sugar.
