← Nouns Cooking · French

Ingredients

• 300 g plain flour (or bread flour for a chewier crumb)
• 7 g fast-action dried yeast (1 sachet)
• 40 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 60 ml Milk, lukewarm
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 150 g Butter, diced and softened
• 1 egg, beaten with a splash of milk, for glazing

Method

1. Put the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook. Add the milk and eggs and knead on medium-low speed for 8–10 min, until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides.
2. With the mixer running, add the butter a few cubes at a time, waiting until each addition disappears before adding more. Keep kneading for 5–8 min more, until the dough is glossy, elastic and stretches thin without tearing.
3. Cover and leave at room temperature for 1 hour, until puffy, then knock back, cover tightly and chill overnight, for 8–12 hours. Cold, firm dough is much easier to shape.
4. Butter a 900 g (2 lb) loaf tin. Divide the cold dough into 6 equal pieces, roll each into a tight ball and arrange in two rows of three in the tin.
5. Cover and leave somewhere warm for 1½–2 hours, until risen just above the rim of the tin. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, 350°F).
6. Brush gently with the egg glaze and bake for 30–35 min, until deep golden and hollow when tapped underneath (cover loosely with foil if it browns too fast). Cool in the tin for 10 min, then on a rack.

Tips

• Kneading by hand is possible but sticky and slow; a stand mixer makes it easy.
• Day-old brioche makes the best pain perdu.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

RecipeTin Eats Serious Eats 196 flavors