To enjoy buttery, delicate brioche at home this Easter, use your bread machine or electric mixer. Yes I know the purists will throw their pastry brushes in the air but for homecooks, the bread machine allows you to easily enjoy the joys of home baked yeast breads.
Ingredients
| 4 tsp | Dried yeast |
| ½ cup | Milk, warm, or use water |
| 6 | Eggs, at room temperature |
| ¼ cup | Sugar |
| 500 g | Flour, high grade is best |
| 1 tsp | Salt |
| 400 g | Unsalted butter, at room temperature |
| ¾ cup | Glace fruits, use up to 1 cup, finely diced (Main) |
| 1 | Egg yolk, beaten, to glaze |
| 1 sprinkle | Demerara sugar |
Directions
- Sprinkle the yeast over the milk, stir to mix and set aside for 15-20 minutes or until the mixture is frothy. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and sugar together. Place the flour, salt, eggs and sugar, milk and yeast into the bread machine and set the machine to the dough setting. Allow the machine to bring the ingredients to a heavy dough; about 8-10 minutes.
- Lift the lid of the bread machine and gradually add the butter thin slice by thin slice. Most bread machines allow around 20 minutes to knead a dough, so there is plenty of time to add the butter. Lastly add the fruit. Once the machine stops kneading, transfer the dough to a well-greased bowl, cover with greased plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours. I like to leave it overnight.
- When ready to cook, heat the oven to 200C fanbake or 220C without fan.
- Cut the cold dough into small portions. To make patty cake-size buns as in the photo, cut into 40 gram portions. For bigger buns double the weight. On a lightly floured bench, shape the portions into even mounds. Place in greased patty pans, or on a greased tray, leaving a little room between each bun to allow space for the buns to rise.
- Cover with a lightweight clean cloth and set aside in a warm place for one hour, maybe longer, until double in size. Brush with egg glaze and sprinkle with a little demerara sugar. Bake for 10 minutes. Serve warm.
Mix