Recipe for Brioche

Put the flour in the mixer. Add the salt. Then turn on the mixer. Add the sugar and the sourdough if you have it. The sourdough provides better fermentation and flavors to your products. Add 5 eggs and set aside the last one. Add the yeast.

You cannot add the butter until the brioche dough has properly pulled away from the bottom of the bowl. This is important; it needs to gain strength. Now, add the remaining 6th egg. It takes about fifteen minutes of kneading. It is important to knead the brioche dough well. In the meantime, soften the butter and add it gradually. It should be completely absorbed by the dough. This may take some time.

Once the mixture is smooth, scrape the bottom of your bowl with a spatula. Set the mixer to low speed and add the vanilla seeds that have been extracted from the pod. In the end, your dough should be soft and very smooth.

Dust the bowl with flour, fold the dough over itself, and let it rest for 2 to 3 hours at room temperature. Then, refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Divide it into 250g portions for large rolls or 60g portions for small rolls. Pre-shape the rolls into balls. Gently flatten the dough: bring all the pieces to the center. Let it rest for 30 minutes under a dry cloth.

For the small sweet rolls with pralines: gently flatten them and incorporate the pralines in the center. Your balls should be perfectly round with a single seam underneath. Place them in non-stick molds or on parchment paper, ensuring to leave space between the rolls.

For the small sugary buns: gently flatten them and with your thumb in the middle, shape them definitively into small balls. Your balls should be perfectly round with a single seam underneath. Place them in non-stick molds or on parchment paper, making sure to leave space between the buns.

For large doughnuts, if you have molds, it's better. Take a bit of oil or melted butter to grease your mold. For shaping, the action is always the same: gently flatten your ball and with your thumb in the middle, shape it definitively. It should be perfectly round with a single seam underneath. Once you have a single seam, take your ball and place it in your mold. Flatten it to even it out so it rises evenly. Let it rise outside for at least 2 hours after covering it with a cloth.

Finally, beat an egg and glaze your brioche. With a pair of scissors, make a cross on top of the brioche to allow the gas to escape. Sprinkle your brioche with large sugar crystals or pink pralines. Bake the large brioche for 30 minutes at 180°C and the small brioche for 18 minutes at 180°C.