Duck Egg Brioche

Ingredients:
225g softened butter
7g yeast
2 tablespoons warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
pinch salt
2 tablespoons cold milk
250g plain flour – preferably ’00’ flour
1 lightly beaten duck egg

Start by putting 7g yeast into a container with the sugar and warm water. Whisk all ingredients through, and put in a warm place. When it forms a froth then it’s ready to use.

Sift the flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, and add the yeast into it with the lightly beaten egg. Add a pinch of salt, and stir the mixture through with the flour.

When it has turned smooth and elastic, mix in a third of the butter at a time. Being careful to not leave any butter lumps.

Cover the dough mixture with a tea towel, and place in the warmest part of the house (wherever that may be) until double in size. This will take around 4 episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm to double in size (2 hours ish), so leave yourself enough time. A watched brioche dough never rises, so I learnt.

When the dough has done it’s thing, then spoon the dough evenly into the greased cupcake trays. If you would like it as a loaf, then spoon all the mixture into a greased loaf tin.

You can brush the brioches with beaten egg if you like at this point. Put them into a pre-heated oven at 200c for 25-30 mins, depending on the size of the individual loaves.

Bake until golden brown, and serve with decent quality vanilla ice-cream or on it’s own with a strong espresso.