ABC - No Knead Brioche

In May, the ABC bakers were challenged to bake a No Knead Brioche. I was quite intrigued when I saw this recipe on the Weekend Bakery blog. It's an enriched dough which means it has eggs, butter and a sweetener.

Soft and fluffy No Knead Brioche!

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.


I think I've only made no knead bread once or twice. Didn't have a ton of luck with it, so making a no knead enriched bread made me a bit nervous. To challenge myself and the ABC bakers, is why I picked this recipe :)

You'd think that given my nervousness I would stick to the recipe exactly. Not me! I made some substitutions and changes along the way (see my ingredients list at the bottom of this post). Although I was worried when the dough didn't rise much in the fridge, it rose just fine after shaping.

Here are some step-by-step pictures:

Pretty soupy...

After about 3 hours at room temperature, it was ready for the stretch-and-fold exercise. Unfortunately, it was more like a stretch-and-break exercise. I added a handful of extra flour and folded over the dough. It remained sticky and "floppy". I kept adding handfuls of flour, maybe 4-5 times during this "stretch-and-fold" routine.

Into the fridge the dough went. In my case, it remained there for almost 2 days (~40 hours). When I took it out of the fridge, it hadn't risen much. Needless to say, I was worried. Luckily, it rose just fine after shaping. See pics below.

To shape the brioche, weigh the dough and divide into 4 or 6 (or whatever you like) equal pieces. Make sure you shape the dough balls while the dough is still cold, otherwise the dough will be very hard to handle. Place the dough in the baking pan and cover it at room temperature. I placed my plan in the microwave (turned OFF) with a cup of very hot water.

It took my dough only 1hr and 45 min to rise (in 80+ F weather). Brush the loaf with an egg was and bake in a preheated oven.

My loaf needed almost 45 min in the oven

Bon Appetit!

Final thoughts/tips:

• Hubby hasn't tasted it yet. I sliced and froze the loaf for later consumption. Will update this post once hubby tastes it.
• Although I had my doubts and worries, this loaf turned out great. Aromatic, soft, airy and yummy without being too sweet. Would definitely consider making it again if I don't need bread the same day.
• I baked the bread as prescribed. It had a nice golden brown color. After checking the internal temperature, I was surprised that it was nowhere near baked (128 F). Gave it an EXTRA 20 min in order for the internal temperature to reach 197 F. Goes to show you to never rely on color and other visual clues alone.
• Please check out the other ABC bakers.

No Knead Brioche

(adapted from the Weekend Bakery blog)

Ingredients

• 250 g all purpose flour
• 45 g butter, melted
• 45 g extra virgin olive oil (or more melted butter)
• 80 g water at room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 40 g maple syrup (or honey)
• 5 g sea salt
• 3 g instant yeast

Follow the instructions on the Weekend Bakery blog.