Tangzhong Brioche
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 45 minutes plus minimum 4 hour rising time
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Makes 2 brioche
- 500g/1.1lbs flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon instant dried yeast
- 50g/1.7ozs. caster or superfine sugar
- 5 eggs, room temperature
- 250g/8.8ozs. butter, softened, cubed
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 egg beaten, for egg wash
Step 1 - First make the tangzhong. Remove 1/6 cup of the flour from the total quantity and whisk with the water until smooth. Heat on medium heat until it reaches 65C/149F and then whisk in the eggs and allow the temperature to reach 45C/113F.
Step 2 - In the bowl of an electric mixer (this kneads for around 30 minutes with the machine so I don't recommend doing it by hand unless you are a serious masochist) mix the remaining flour, yeast and sugar. Fit a dough hook.
Add the tangzhong mixture and mix with a spatula to combine. Then knead the mixture on very low speed for around 20 minutes or so until it starts to pull away from the edges and sides. Mine took around 22 minutes.
Step 3 - Add the salt and then add the butter 2-3 cubes at a time. You can increase the speed a little - don't worry it won't look like it will come together at all especially at first but it will. Keep adding more butter once the existing cubes are incorporated. Increase speed a little until it pulls away from the sides. This may take anything from 4-7 minutes. You should be able to get the window pane effect where you gently pull the dough apart and you can see through it without it breaking.
Step 4 - Shape into a ball without any cracks on the top and place in the bowl and cover in a warm area to rise for 1 hour. Then transfer the whole bowl and cover to the fridge for it to rest for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Step 5 - Grease two loaf tins. Take the dough out of the fridge and divide in two. Roll one lot of dough out into a rectangle on a well floured surface and then fold over into three like a business letter. Repeat twice. Then cut into six or eight pieces and roll into balls. Place the balls snugly into a loaf tin and allow to double in size which can take 1-2 hours. Brush with egg wash and repeat with other lot of dough.
Step 6 - Bake in a 200C/400F oven for 25-30 minutes or so until golden brown.