Another hit from the great Pétrin - never ever been disappointed by the recipes in there. I trust the woman completely. My breads never look quite as pretty as hers, but the taste, people…!
You know you look so good, little brioche.
I halved the proportions and - don't judge me - threw all the ingredients in the bread machine. It's perfectly immoral that it works so well, but don't worry, I'll pay one day for all those delicious brioches. Bad karma generally punches you in the back of the head at some point anyway, doesn't it.
290g white bread flour
60 ml milk (room temperature or lukewarm)
1tbsp cream
1 egg (also room temp.)
a small tsp salt
55g sugar
55g butter (soft but not melted)
1tsp eau de vie (mine was a vintage plum brandy my great-grand father made, but the flavour didn't come through at all, so maybe you want to add an extra glug, taking the added moisture into account & balancing with more flour if needed)
1tsp vanilla extract
1tsp orange blossom water
1 tsp dry yeast
Chuck the liquids at the bottom of the bread machine with the salt, pour the flour on top, then the rest and end with the yeast. Set the machine on the "dough" program, not the "jam" one, preferably.
After it has risen once, get it out, punch it down (bourrez-lui le mou), knead it for 2 minutes (pretend it's hard work if you're trying to fool bad karma away), shape it into two rectangles/dough blobs.
You can brush them a couple of times with beaten egg before you bake them, if you're not a major sluggard (une flemmarde de première)
Let it have a beauty sleep in a warm place for another 2 hours, or until it has doubled in size (if you are in touch with your lazy side like I am, now may also be the time for you to have a beauty nap. Can't hurt- ça peut pas faire de mal).
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C, slash the gâches in the middle to create a butt cheek effect, and bake for about 20 minutes. It remains fabulously soft, the interior is sweet, rich, mostly perfumed with the orange blossom (but it's not overpowering), the other flavours don't come through as well, so add more vanilla or brandy if you feel like it.
Have a slice. No need for silly old peanut butter. This is the Rolls Royce of brioches. Coming to think of it, if cars were made of brioche I'd take my driving test any time.
