Modernist Bread: Sablée Brioche

[Dave the Cook]

We have one last recipe from the folks at The Cooking Lab: their Sablée Brioche, which calls for cold, rather than softened, butter; adds the eggs near the end; and employs a food processor rather than a stand mixer. Although the contest is over, we hope you'll try this one out, too.

 

 

 

[ElsieD]

While I have been reading along on this topic, i confess to not being the least bit interested in the science of bread making and therefore will not be buying MB.  (If, however, a MB@H version comes out, I'll be all over it.)  That said, I do enjoy making bread and I like eating it even more.  And so, I am going to attempt this recipe.  I have a couple of questions:

 

Is Fleischmann's Quick-Rise Instant Yeast okay to use?

Can I use milk which has a fat content of 1% rather than whole milk?

And, what size is the recommended pan?

 

Thank you.

[Chris Hennes]

10 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Is Fleischmann's Quick-Rise Instant Yeast okay to use?

Yes, but since it's not osmotolerant, increase the amount by 1.33, to 6.25g.

 

10 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Can I use milk which has a fat content of 1% rather than whole milk?

You will still wind up with bread, if that's what you're asking  . But it will have a bit less fat than is called for, which does affect the structure of the bread.

 

10 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

And, what size is the recommended pan?

They have a long table of pan sizes on 4•212, but for the 670g that this recipe produces they recommend a 25cm x 10cm x 7.5cm (10" x 4" x 3") pan.

[Dave the Cook]

For inspirational purposes, here's a photo sent from The Cooking Lab:

 

[Niko]

Does anyone know if the brioche in the photo above is brushed with an egg glaze?  Seems very shiny on top. Recipe doesn't mention it but many brioche recipes call for brushing with egg wash after final proof.

[Anna N]

8 hours ago, Niko said:

Does anyone know if the brioche in the photo above is brushed with an egg glaze?  Seems very shiny on top. Recipe doesn't mention it but many brioche recipes call for brushing with egg wash after final proof.

 Certainly the master brioche recipe calls for an egg wash and I suspect it is assumed here.  The egg wash they suggest is one egg and one yolk mixed with a stick blender.  I hope this helps. 

[ElsieD]

@Anna N Thanks for posting this.  I plan to try this as soon as I am physically able.  Chris Hennes was kind enough to answer my initial questions.  Maybe your or someone else can check to see if there is a pan size i can use other than the recommended 10" x 4" x 3" as I don't have one of those.  I do have the smaller Pullman and other various sized loaf pans.  BTW, at what ungodly hour do you get up?

[Anna N]

Not really sure what to advise you on pan sizes but it looks as if an “8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2” would work. 

 Sleep is not really my forte. 

[Niko]

5 hours ago, Anna N said:

 Certainly the master brioche recipe calls for an egg wash and I suspect it is assumed here.  The egg wash they suggest is one egg and one yolk mixed with a stick blender.  I hope this helps. 

Thanks @Anna N,  I figured. Will post results asap.  @ElsieD, Planing to use popover tins or muffin tins for mine.

[Eric Srikandan]

Having a go at this. The dough seems pretty sloppy though.

[Chris Hennes]

2 hours ago, Eric Srikandan said:

The dough seems pretty sloppy though.

Is that photo before the overnight stage, or after it?

[Eric Srikandan]

13 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:

Is that photo before the overnight stage, or after it?

Before. I'll go and check it fairly soon.

[Eric Srikandan]

In they go!

[Eric Srikandan]

Look pretty good. Scoring needs work but overall happy with the appearance. Will taste for breakfast tomorrow.

[Eric Srikandan]

And the crumb looks nice. Tastes pretty good too.

[Chris Hennes]

Very nice. Have you ever made a more conventional brioche? If so, how would you say the texture compares?

[Eric Srikandan]

3 minutes ago, Chris Hennes said:

Very nice. Have you ever made a more conventional brioche? If so, how would you say the texture compares?

I haven't really made any bread before - so I can't say. This however was a lot less dense than my wife's attempt a few months ago.

[Niko]

Finally got around to making this. I ended up using ramekins--not sure if that was the best idea. I feel like it may have reduced the oven spring.  The crumb was a bit tighter than I would have liked but the flavor was really nice with the long cold ferment. Tangy, with just the right amount of salt/sweet.

 

One note it was about 72F in my kitchen and these took the full 4 hours in the final proof.

[Smokeydoke]

I really like @Niko version. That may be the way to go.

 

I'll try the loaf version sometime this week. Would a typical 9"x5" work? Nope. It's 8 x 4.5 pan. I don't have two 8 x 4.5 pans. I think I'll try one half in the loaf and the other half in the ramekins.

 

Excited.

Edited January 15, 2018 by Smokeydoke (log)

[Niko]

Let me know how it goes! Also, I forgot to note that I used standard instant yeast vs. osmotolerant so added the recommend % I think I did 6.25 grams.

[Eric Srikandan]

@nicothe ramekin buns look cute. What weight of dough did you use for each one? And did the ramekin have any bearing on baking temps and times?

[Niko]

12 minutes ago, Eric Srikandan said:

@nicothe ramekin buns look cute. What weight of dough did you use for each one? And did the ramekin have any bearing on baking temps and times?

 

@Eric Srikandan, 107gr each ( I weighed total dough and divided by 6). I reduced the bake times from the chart 8 mins at 400F and 20 mins at 375F.

 

Very curious about other experience with crumb and final proof times!

[Smokeydoke]

On 1/14/2018 at 6:43 PM, Smokeydoke said:

I really like @Niko version. That may be the way to go.

 

I'll try the loaf version sometime this week. Would a typical 9"x5" work? Nope. It's 8 x 4.5 pan. I don't have two 8 x 4.5 pans. I think I'll try one half in the loaf and the other half in the ramekins.

 

 

On a closer read, I was mistaken, this does not make two loaves, it's one loaf that has been divided into two balls in the same loaf pan.

Instructions are bit confusing.

I'm just making the loaf tonight and I'll try the ramekins later.

[Smokeydoke]

I'm having the same problem as @Eric Srikandan the dough is more like a pie crust, it's crumbly and it's not coming together and it's definitely not rising. But it looks like his final bread was good, so I'm pushing on.

 

I took it out of the refrigerator after 8 hours, it was not rising at all in the refrigerator.

 

I had this problem with Flour's (the cookbook) brioche dough, I finally got it to rise after blooming the yeast in some milk and sugar, then adding it to the wet mixture, then the flour. Then I let the whole thing proof outside for half the time. I think the yeast needs a headstart before mixing with the other ingredients. I could not get her dough to rise as the recipe was written. 

 

If it doesn't rise in 6 hours, I may scrape and try another time.

[Eric Srikandan]

@Smokeydoke I might give this another go having learned a few things since then - I also misread the bit about putting both balls in the tin and made two small loaves. I used regular yeast the first time (although I didn't have the books then) but have since acquired some osmotolerant yeast since then (SAF Gold).