Brioches

I made brioches for Mother's Day. Now you're all thinking about French Brioche - but that's not entirely the same as Flemish Brioche. Our brioche has less eggs and less butter - Flemish Brioches are more sober. But believe me, they still are tasty ! This isn't gluten-free, so I can't eat it any more. That's a pity... But hey, that doesn't mean that my family can't enjoy them :-)

PS. I didn't follow the basic recipe for these, but an alternate version that uses less yeast and needs more time to rise. This way the crumb should be more elastic and (even) more tasteful.


Flemish Brioches

Ingredients:
• 1kg flour
• 17g salt
• 47g fresh yeast or 16g instant yeast
• 450ml milk (room temperature)
• 1 egg
• 75g sugar
• 150g butter
• Filling at your choice - I made some with raisins, and some with chocolate.
• This makes about 30 brioches.

Mix the egg with the milk (make sure it's not too cold !). Add all the yeast and half of the flour. Stir and leave it to rest for 30 - 60 minutes (it should form small bubbles). Add the rest of the ingredients and knead well until you get an elastic dough. Let it rise for 100 minutes. Then form the brioches. Again, let it rise for 60 - 80 minutes. Bake in a hot oven at 240°C for 8 - 10 minutes.