Brioche

Carpe diem! Do it right now, before the time takes away all petals from cherry trees.

First quarter of this year ended in a heartbeat and summer heat confused the normal season exchange. Yes, summer heat, becuase last week the sun was shining so bright and the air was so hot like it happen in summertime. I miss crisp spring breeze and white and pink fruit trees vibrating and slowly losing their gentle petals. I went out to the park last sunday to take some pictures and thanks goodnes I did it. All blossoming are over already. Dense green shades have covered the very last petals and we risk to have ruby red cherries on out Easter table, cherries from our farmers, not the ones arriving from some other part of the world. I'm exaggerating a bit, but how wonderful it would be to have right seasons at right moments again.

Now it's time to be amazed by the beauty of the awakening, to step barefoot on young, green grass. It's time to smell fresh and delicate fragrance of spring air. It's still time for some rainy days, but it's not raining since some time. The ground is arid, it's weeping for some water and the air if dry and dusty!

All has been accelerated, it seams that this year we will have eight seasons instead of four!

Seasons are fighting like the faster competitors in some endurance race. This is the way humans behave, because we have lost all our sensibility and with all these running and fighting we forget to look at the beauty of simple things.

In these last weeks I continue baking this simple thing. I'm doing it over and over again and every new one is a real success. The recipe is perfect, the measures are exact. You won't fail, if you try it. I've found "the recipe" for the brioche I was looking for since some time.

It's perfect for the easy weekend mornings with the cup of steaming caffee for breakfast.

It's even better for afternoon breaks on the open air.

But it's the best freshly baked, you just need to wait some minutes to allow it to cool down a bit, but the sensation you can feel while eating so soft, so tasty, so, so, so fantactic brioche has no price.

I don't have the picture of the whole brioche, because we ate first two slices of it before I've decided to write the recipe. Mr. M. eat the bread and all sort of baked stuff greedily and I must admit, I couldn't resist of eating hot brioche too.

That evening, before we went to bed, we set around our dining table with the golden brioche slices wrapped in the paper napkins and so we enjoyed this late evening moments.

I will bake this brioche again for our Easter breakfast instead of baking the traditional Croatian Easter sweet bread. I'm sure it will be the good choice!

BRIOCHE

250 gr flour

70 ml milk

125 gr butter

2 eggs

25 gr light brown cane sugar +1/2 tablespoon for the yeast

7 gr fresh yeast

pinch of salt

Egg wash (or only egg whites) & granulated sugar for decoration

Dissolve the yeast and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in little lukewarm milk and let it raise for 10 minutes.

Warm up the milk (don’t boil it).

In one bowl put the flour, sugar, slightly whisked eggs and the yeast and start to knead the dough with the mixer. Gradually add in the mixture milk and continue to knead until all ingredients combine well together. Add a pinch of salt and knead for another few minutes.

Leave the dough to rest for 10 minutes.

After that time start adding soften butter to the dough little by little until all the butter get incorporated into the dough.

Leave the dough to raise until double the volume (cover the bowls with the PVC wrap or the bowl cover).

Cover the baking tray with parchment.

Place the dough on floury working surface and cut it into 3 or 4 equal parts.

Work a bit every piece of dough and give to each one round shape.

Place the dough into baking tray covered with parchment and leave to rest until it double the volume.

Brush the brioche with egg wash or only whit egg whites and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 20-25 minutes. The surface of the brioche must be golden brown.

BRIOCHE

250 gr di farina “00” (150 gr di manitoba+ 100 gr. “00”)

70 ml di latte

125 gr di burro

2 uova

25 gr di zucchero di canna chiaro + ½ cucchiaino per il lievito

7 gr di lievito di birra

un pizzico di sale

Uovo sbattuto (o solo l’albume) & la granella di zucchero per decorare

Sciogliere il lievito e 1/2 cucchiaino di zucchero in poco latte tiepido e lasciare lievitare per 10 minuti.

Riscaldare il latte (non fatelo bollire).

In una ciotola unire la farina, lo zucchero, le uova leggermente sbattute ed il lievito e cominciare ad impastare con il mixer. Gradualmente aggiungere all'impasto il latte e continuare ad impastare per incorporare bene tutti gli ingredienti. Alla fine aggiungere un pizzico di sale e impastare ancora per qualche minuto.

Lasciare a riposare l’impasto per 10 minuti.

Trascorso questo tempo cominciare ad aggiungere all’impasto il burro ammorbidito poco alla volta fino a quando tutto il burro sarà distribuito uniformemente nell’impasto.

Lasciare l’impasto a lievitare fino al raddoppio del volume dell’impasto (coprire la ciotola con la pellicola trasparente oppure con il coperchio della stessa ciotola).

Rivestire lo stampo con la carta da forno.

Rovesciare l’impasto sulla superfice da lavoro precedentemente infarinata e tagliarlo in 3 o 4 parti uguali.

Lavorare leggermente ogni pezzo dell’impasto e dargli la forma sferica.

Sistemare l'impasto nella teglia rivestita da carta da forno e lasciarlo lievitare fino al raddoppio del volume.

Spalmare l’impasto con l’uovo sbattuto oppure con solo albume e cospargerlo con la granella di zucchero.

Infornare nel forno già caldo a 180°C per 20-25 minuti. La superfice della brioche deve diventare dorata.

BRIOCHE

250 gr brašna

70 ml mlijeka

125 gr maslaca

2 cijela jaja

25 gr šećera od trske + ½ žličice za kvasac

7 gr svježeg kvasca

prstohvat soli

Razmućeno jaje (ili samo bjelanjak) & šećer u granulama za dokoraciju

Otopiti kvasac i 1/2 žličice šećera u malo mlakog mlijeka i ostaviti da se diže 10 minuta.

Zagrijati mlijeko (ne treba vrijati).

U zdjelu staviti brašno, šećer, lagano razmućeno jaje i kvasac, te početi mijesiti mikserom. Postepeno u tijesto dodavati mlijeko uz neprestano miksanje da se svi sastojci dobro sjedine. Na kraju dodati u tijesto prstohvat soli i miksati još par minuta.

Ostaviti da se tijesto odmori 10-tak minuta.

Potom postepeno dodavati u tijesto omekšali maslac i mijesiti dok se sav maslac ravnomjerno umijesi u tijesto.

Ostaviti tijesto da se diže dok mu se volumen ne udvostruči (pokriti zdjele prozirnom folijom ili poklopcem).

Obložiti kalup masnim papirom za pečenje.

Isuti tijesto iz zjele na pobrašnjenu radnu površinu i podijeliti g ana 3 ili 4 jednaka dijela.

Lagano premijesiti svaki komad tijesta i oblikovati ga u kuglu.

Posložiti kugle od tijesta u kalup obložen masnim papirom za pečenje i ostaviti da se tijesto diže dok mu se volumen ne udovostruči.

Premazati tijesto razmućenim jajetom ili samo s bjelanjcem i posuti ga šećerom u granulama.

Peći u prethodno zagrijanoj pećnici na 180°C oko 20-25 minuta. Brioche mora dobiti zlatno-smeđu boju po površini.