This is the master recipe for all the delicious brioche pastries in this chapter. There simply couldn’t be a dough more perfect for freshly baked breakfast pastries and afternoon sweets than this one! Brioche dough requires precise mixing, so I prefer to use a stand mixer rather than mix it by hand. Don’t be tempted to short the recommended mixing times—brioche’s rich, distinctive characteristics depend on careful incorporation of its signature ingredients: eggs, butter, and sugar. To develop even deeper, more complex flavors in your brioche-based pastries, make this dough a day in advance.
¼ cup lukewarm filtered water (about 80°F)
½ cup sugar, divided
1½ teaspoons active dry yeast
¾ cup lukewarm whole milk (about 80°F)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3½ cups (1 pound) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
MAKES ONE 9-BY-5-INCH LOAF
1. Lightly oil a medium bowl with canola oil. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the water with 2 teaspoons sugar (taken from the ½ cup sugar). Sprinkle the yeast over the surface of the water. Mix until the yeast is dissolved, then let the mixture sit for 5 minutes to activate the yeast.
3. Add the milk, vanilla, eggs, flour, and salt. Mix on low speed for 3 minutes to bring the dough together, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed. Increase to medium speed; pinch off grape-size pieces of butter and drop them one at a time into the dough as it mixes (this should take no more than 2 minutes). Continue mixing for 2 to 3 more minutes. Now gradually add the remaining sugar (½ cup minus the 2 teaspoons) and continue mixing for a final 4 minutes. With floured fingers, pinch a big piece of dough and pull it away from the mass. It should stretch about 3 inches without tearing—it will feel a bit like a rubber band. If it tears, mix for another 1 to 3 minutes.
4. Using a rubber spatula, transfer the dough from the bowl onto a floured work surface. Form the dough into a ball and place it in the prepared bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size, 2½ to 3 hours.
5. Once the dough has risen, you are ready to proceed with any of the recipes in this chapter.
6. If you’re making the dough a day ahead—either for convenience or to develop more complex flavors—simply deflate it after its initial rise, then re-cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The next day, pull it out 2 hours before you want to use it, and allow it to come to room temperature. The dough should be doubled in size and feel slightly warm to the touch. This dough is best used by the second day. If you’d like to freeze brioche dough, it’s best to form it into the desired shape, brush it with egg wash, wrap it well, and freeze for up to a week.