Happy Easter Everyone! I don’t know why but to me, Easter is a time for bread. I think it’s the process of nurturing it and it growing that reminds me of new life and all things spring-time. And that includes Easter. But which do I make? Sour Dough? Focaccia? Ciabatta? All of these have a different texture, ingredients and process that I go over in my Bread 101 post. But what I decided to go with is Brioche Bread. Now I have made Brioche on the blog before never like this.
My Italian Easter Bread from last year was sweetened with honey and orange zest. The brioche bread recipe for today has no honey or zest with the same fluffy and light texture. The second loaf uses the same brioche bread dough but is braided with cinnamon filling rolled up inside.
When making bread of any type there is a lot to know. I’m not going to put all that information in this post just in the interest of this being short and sweet but if you would like to get that information, you can go to this post right here. I will only be talking about information specifically pertaining to brioche bread and this recipe.
What Makes Brioche Bread Different?
Brioche bread is different from other bread because it has the addition of eggs and milk. This gives your bread a yellow hue and fluffy texture.
Preparing the Pans
Preparing these loaf pans is super simple. To start, just take a stick of butter and coat the inside of each pan. Then place about a tablespoon of flour in the pan. Next, slowly turn the pan so that the flour evenly coats the pan. You know that puzzle where you have the marble and you have to manipulate the puzzle to get the marble to go through the maze? It’s a lot like that.
What Else Can I Use For Egg Wash Besides Egg?
While putting together the dough I realized that I only had enough eggs for the dough but not the egg wash. So frustrating. What do I do now? Here are a few things that you can use instead.
- Milk or Butter
- Water
- Vegetable or Olive Oil
- Maple Syrup or Honey
- Yogurt
- Soy, Rice or Almond Milk
An egg wash isn’t essential but it does give a pretty and shiny golden-brown finish to your baked goods. A traditional egg wash is just one egg beaten with a little bit of water.
Brioche Bread
Warm, fluffy and soft bread made with milk and eggs to give it that yek=llowish hue.
Ingredients
- 3 cups of AP Flour
- 3 TBSP's of Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 Tsp of Salt
- 2 Eggs
- 1/3 of a Cup of Milk
- 1/2 Stick of Unsalted Butter (melted)
- 1/4 of a Cup of Warm Water (100-110•F)
- 1 1/4 Tsp of Active Dry Yeast
Instructions
- Activate the yeast by adding it to the warm water in a small bowl. Let that sit for 5 minutes to activate. You will know it's ready when it is bubbly and foamy and smells like bread.
- In a large bowl sift together the flour and sugar. Set aside.
- Liberally butter the inside of 2 9x5 inch loaf pans and coat them in flour. (See notes on how to do that). Set Aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and the sugar until combined.
- Whisk in the rest of the wet ingrediants,the milk, melted butter and the activated yeast until well combined.
- Add in 2 1/2 cups of the sifted flour, and place the bowl on your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment.
- Knead on medium low speed until the dough comes together.
- When the dough comes together, add in the remaining 1/2 cup of flour and salt.
- Keep the mixer on medium low speed until the flour is incorperated and then continue to knead until smooth and the dough is stretchy enough that you can genyly stretch a ball of dough out thin enough that light passes through. About 5-10 minutes. The dough should be very and soft.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently knead the dough into a ball and then place it in a lightly oiled bowl.
- Place in a warm dry place to rise until doubled in size. This should take 1 hour to an hour and a half..
- Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a lightly floured suface again.
- Divide the dough in half and place it into the differant loaf pans.
- Cover the dough and put it in a warm, draft free place to double in size again. About 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Brush the top woth egg wash or a little bit of milk. Bake in a 350• preheated oven until golden brown.
Notes
- To coat your pans in flour I first take a stick of butter and rub it over every littke bit of the inside of the pans. Then I take a spoonful of flour and place it in the bottom of one of the pans. Pick the pan up and tilt it in all directions so that the flour coats the inside of the whole pan. Just be sure to hover the pan you are working on over the second pan so that any flour that falls our lands in the second pan. Then you can dump any excess flour into the second pan as well.
- See my bread 101 post to answer any questions.
How To Make A Cinnamon Swirl Braid
For this recipe, I made one loaf into a plain dough and a cinnamon swirl braid. After the first rise, I cut the dough in half.
This dough is big enough that the dough can be split into 2 loaves or you can by all means keep it whole and make one big loaf.
First, make up the filling by just combining the brown sugar, granulated sugar and cinnamon. Set that aside.
Now, you can take your dough and roll it out to be about 1/2 of an inch thick.
Next, just simply sprinkle that filling all over the top, roll her up and tuck in the sides.
Next, use a knife to cut the roll in half the long way but leave about a 1 inch space at the top. Now just braid the 2 ropes together by folding them over each other and try to have the cut sides face up as much as possible.
Lastly, leave it to rise for about 45 minutes and this is what it should look like.
So, like I said before, I didn’t have egg wash. So my substitute was milk. I just painted that on with a pastry brush.
Bake and Enjoy!!!
And that’s it! Leave me a comment for any questions that you might have and also let me know your favorite Easter treat. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, pinterest , twitter and snapchat to see what I’m up to next. Remember, don’t be afraid to bake a mess. And I’ll see you all next time. Happy Easter!
Braided Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Fluffy and soft brioche bread that is braided and swirled with cinnamon/ sugar.
Ingredients
- Brioche Bread Recipe
- 1/4 Cup of Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 Cup of Brown Sugar
- 1 TBSP of Cinnamon
Instructions
- Activate the yeast by adding it to the warm water in a small bowl. Let that sit for 5 minutes to activate. You will know it's ready when it is bubbly and foamy and smells like bread.
- In a large bowl sift together the flour and sugar. Set aside.
- Liberally butter the inside of 2 9x5 inch loaf pans and coat them in flour. (See notes on how to do that). Set Aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and the sugar until combined.
- Whisk in the rest of the wet ingrediants,the milk and the activated yeast until well combined.
- Add in 2 1/2 cups of the sifted flour, and place the bowl on your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment.
- Knead on medium low speed until the dough comes together.
- When the dough comes together, add in the remaining 1/2 cup of flour and salt.
- Keep the mixer on medium low speed until the flour is incorperated and then continue to knead until smooth and the dough is stretchy enough that you can genyly strect a ball of dough out thin enough that light passes through. About 5-10 minutes. The dough should be very and soft.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently knead the dough into a ball and then place it in a lightly oiled bowl.
- Place in a warm dry place to rise until doubled in size. This should take 1 hour to an hour and a half..
- In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Set Aside.
- Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a lightly floured suface again.
- Using a knife, devide the dough in half.
- Roll the each piece of dough out to about a half inch thick rectangle.
- Spinkle the cinnamon sugar over the whole slab.
- Roll the rectangle up the long way.
- Use a knife to cut the log in half the long way. Leaving about an inch of space uncut at the top.
- Braid the 2 ropes together by overlapping them over one another until you reach the end.
- Cover the dough and put it in a warm, draft free place to double in size again. About 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Brush the top with egg wash or a little bit of milk. Bake in a 350• preheated oven until golden brown.
If you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below, message me on instagram, facebook or leave me an email.