18th Century Brioche

When you think brioche you are probably envisioning a lovely braided loaf with a thin, egg washed crust and fluffy crumb. However, the first brioche recipes did not contain sugar, and they were quite lean on the butter. In addition to not having sugar, they used both sourdough and beer yeast! We explain this in detail in our video on The Brioche of Marie Antoinette, where we make an old Franco German cake/bread fit for a queen. However, if you want to know what the more common Parisians - who weren’t named “Marie Antoinette” or “Louis XVI”- were eating, this recipe is for you.

The recipe was adapted from La Cuisinière Bourgeoise by Menon. It is not the first mention of a brioche recipe, but it is among the earliest.

Step 1 - The pre-ferment:

As with (almost) all historic breads, we start with a pre-ferment (think biga, poolish… those things). So for this we’re going to need:

• 150 grams of plain flour

• 150 ml of beer yeast (if you want to make a quick beer yeast simulation, you can see how to do that in this video)

• Spoonful of sourdough starter (we tell you how to make one here)

Mix all of this, stir it well and leave it to rest for about half an hour.

Making the main dough:

While the pre-ferment does its thing we’re going to prep the rest. For this we’ll need:

• Two eggs

• 350 grams of plain flour

Beat the eggs and set aside.

Make a well in the 350 grams of flour.

We’re going to pour the pre-ferment in here.

Stir the pre-ferment around in the well so it begins to pick up the flour.

When half of the flour has been absorbed, add in the egg.

Once everything is mixed together, knead it for ten minutes until it is a smooth and supple dough. Let it rest for another 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and spread 100 grams of soft butter (this has to be real butter, not a butter substitute).

Once the butter has been spread, sprinkle on some salt.

Then, roll and fold up the dough and knead it very gently again. Butter will squirt out from all sides. You will feel the urge to panic. Don’t worry, it will come together and work out. You’re done when all the butter has been absorbed by the dough. Now rest your covered dough and let it rise.

The Fermentation:

Your dough will need to rise for at least 3 hours. Once every hour, get your dough out and give it a knock back (a quick ten second kneading).

Baking:

Fifteen or so minutes before you give it the last knockback, start preheating your oven to 160°C.

Give your dough one last knockback, and right after this, you can start shaping it into whatever shape you desire, although this is usually a ball (boule). Your dough should be very easy to manage and bouncy, so this should not be hard. Once it has the desired shape, give it an egg wash.

Pop it in the oven for one hour.

Take out your, 18th century brioche.