Brioche (,
also , , ) is a
bread
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...
of
French origin whose high
egg
An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...
and
butter
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...
content gives it a rich and tender
crumb. Chef
Joël Robuchon
Joël Robuchon (, 7 April 1945 – 6 August 2018) was a French chef and restaurateur. He was named "Chef of the Century" by the guide Gault Millau in 1989, and awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (France's best worker) in cuisine in 1976. ...
described it as "light and slightly puffy, more or less fine, according to the proportion of butter and eggs."
It has a dark, golden, and flaky crust, frequently accentuated by an
egg wash
An egg wash is beaten eggs, sometimes mixed with another liquid such as water or milk, which is sometimes brushed onto the surface of a pastry before baking. Egg washes are also used as a step in the process of breading foods, providing a substra ...
applied after
proofing.
Brioche is considered a ''
Viennoiserie
''Viennoiseries'' (, "things of Vienna") are baked goods made from a yeast-leavened dough in a manner similar to bread, or from puff pastry, but with added ingredients (particularly eggs, butter, milk, cream and sugar), which give them a richer, ...
'' because it is made in the same basic way as bread but has the richer aspect of a pastry because of the extra addition of eggs, butter, liquid (milk, water, cream, and, sometimes, brandy) and occasionally sugar. Brioche, along with ''pain au lait'' and ''
pain aux raisins
''Pain aux raisins'' (), also called ''escargot'' () or ''pain russe'', is a spiral pastry often eaten for breakfast in France. Its names translate as "raisin bread", "snail" and "Russian bread" respectively. It is a member of the ''pâtisserie' ...
''—which are commonly eaten at breakfast or as a snack—form a leavened subgroup of ''Viennoiserie''. Brioche is often cooked with fruit or
chocolate chip
Chocolate chips or chocolate morsels are small chunks of sweetened chocolate, used as an ingredient in a number of desserts (notably chocolate chip cookies and muffins), in trail mix and less commonly in some breakfast foods such as pancakes. ...
s and served on its own or as the basis of a dessert with many local variations in added ingredients, fillings, or toppings.
Forms
Brioche has numerous uses in cuisine and can take on various forms, served plain or filled, as
coulibiac
A coulibiac (from russian: кулебя́ка, kulebyáka) is a type of pirog usually filled with salmon or sturgeon, rice or buckwheat, hard-boiled eggs, mushrooms, onions, and dill. The pie is baked in a pastry shell, usually of brioche or puff ...
, or with many other different savory fillings, such as fillet of beef en croute,
foie gras
Foie gras (, ; ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage (force feeding).
Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy ...
, sausage,
cervelat
Cervelat, also cervelas, servelat or zervelat, is a sausage produced in Switzerland, France (especially Alsace and Lyon) and parts of Germany. The recipe and preparation of the sausage vary regionally.
The sausages are spelled ''cervelas'' in ...
lyonnais.
Brioche can also be served with sweet fillings, especially fresh fruits, vanilla cream, or jam.
''Brioche à tête'' or ''parisienne'' is perhaps the most classically recognized form: it is formed and baked in a fluted round, flared tin; a large ball of dough is placed on the bottom and topped with a smaller ball of dough to form the head (''tête''). ''Brioche de Nanterre'' is a loaf of brioche made in a standard loaf pan. Instead of shaping two pieces of dough and baking them together, two rows of small pieces are placed in the pan. Loaves are then proofed (allowed to rise) in the pan, fusing the pieces. The dough balls rise further during the baking process and form an attractive pattern.
![Brioche des Rois dsc06781](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Brioche_des_Rois_dsc06781.jpg)
Brioche can also be made in a pan without being rolled into balls to make an ordinary loaf.
Brioche dough contains flour, eggs, butter, liquid (milk, water, cream, and sometimes brandy), leavening (yeast or sourdough), salt, and sometimes sugar. Common recipes have a flour-to-butter ratio of about 2:1.
The normal preparation method is to make the dough, let it rise to double its volume at room temperature, and then punch it down and let it rise again in the refrigerator for varying periods (according to the recipe), retarding the dough to develop the flavor. Refrigeration also stiffens the dough, which still rises, albeit slowly, making it easier to form. The dough is then shaped, placed in containers for the final
proofing, and generally brushed on top with an egg wash before being baked at until the crust
browns and the interior reaches at least . The first rise time for small rolls is 1 to 1½ hours; for larger brioche, the time is lengthened until the loaves double.
History
The first recorded use of the word in French dates from 1404. It is attested in 1611 in
Cotgrave
Cotgrave is a town and civil parish in the borough of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, England, some 5 miles (8 km) south-east of central Nottingham. It perches on the South Nottinghamshire Wolds about 131 feet (40 metres) above sea level. ...
's ''A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues'', where it is described as "a rowle, or bunne, of spiced bread" and its origin given as Norman.
In France, it developed as "a sort of bread improved since antiquity by generations of bakers, then of pastry-makers ... with some butter, some eggs, sugar coming later ... it developed from the blessed bread
ain bénitof the church which gradually became of better quality, more and more costly, less and less bread; until becoming savory brioche". In the 17th century "pâté à tarte briochée," "a pain à brioche pauvre
oor
''OOR'' is the oldest currently published music magazine in the Netherlands. ''Oor'' is the Dutch word for ear. Until 1984 it was published as ''Muziekkrant Oor''.
History
The magazine was first published on 1 April 1971, being founded by Ba ...
...
sing only
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
3 eggs and 250 grams of butter for 1 kilogram of flour" was introduced. The terms "pain bénit" and "brioche" were sometimes used together or virtually interchangeably; so, for example, in another 17th-century recipe entitled: "CHAPITRE II. Pain bénit, & brioches." It begins with a lighter, cheaper version of blessed bread, calling for "a pound of fresh butter and a soft cheese
ut no eggs!for a pail of flour"; and goes on to describe "the more delicate that we call Cousin," which uses 3 pounds of butter, two kinds of cheese, and a royal pint of eggs for the same amount of flour, as well as "some good milk" if "the dough is too firm." However, sourdough and brewer's yeast preparations would both remain common well into the next century, with "blessed bread ... more and more often replaced by brioche" in the 18th century, where "Those from Gisors and Gournay, great butter markets, were the most highly regarded."
For the wealthy "from the time of Louis XIV onwards ... Butter, in widespread use at least in the northern half of France, was the secret of making ''brioches''". "In Gisors, on market days, they produce up to 250 or 300 kg of brioches. The dough is made the evening before (1 kg of farine, a quarter of which for the starter, 10 g of yeast, 7 or 8 eggs; one mixes this with the starter and 800 g of butter, breaking up the dough, which 'uses up the butter'). The dough is kept in a terrine, and one puts it in a mold just at the moment of baking. Thus prepared, the brioche remains light, keeps well, maintains the flavour of butter, without the stench of the starter." Brioche of varying degrees of richness from the rich man's with a flour to butter ratio of 3:2 to the cheaper pain brioché with a ratio of 4:1 existed at the same time.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
, in his autobiography ''
Confessions'', relates that "a great
princess
Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince.
Princess as a subst ...
" is said to have advised, with regard to peasants who had no bread, "," commonly translated as "
Let them eat cake
"Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French phrase "'", said to have been spoken in the 17th or 18th century by "a great princess" upon being told that the peasants had no bread. The French phrase mentions brioche, a bread e ...
." This saying is commonly misattributed to Queen
Marie-Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child and ...
, wife of
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
.
Etymology
Although there has been much debate about the etymology of the word and, thus, the recipe's origins, it is now widely accepted that it is derived from the Old French verb "brier," "a Norman dialectical form of ''broyer'', to work the dough with a ''broye'' or ''brie'' (a sort of wooden roller for kneading); the suffix ''-oche'' is a generic deverbal suffix. ''
Pain brié
Pain brié is a traditional Normandy bread. Its name comes from the pounding of the dough, as "brie" is derived from the Old Norman
Old Norman, also called Old Northern French or Old Norman French ( fro, Ancien Normant, nrf, Ancien Normaund ...
'' is a Norman bread whose dense dough was formerly worked with this instrument." The word is of Germanic origin, probably derived from the Proto-Indo-European root ''bhreg'' (to break).
Types
* La brioche aux fruits confits or
gâteau des rois
*
Gâche
* Brioche de Nanterre
* Brioche vendéenne
* Brioche tressée de
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
*
Cougnou
The ''cougnou'' or bread of Jesus is a bread baked during Christmas time and is typical of the southern Low Countries.
It has various names according to the location:
* ''Coquille'' in Romance Flanders (Lille and Tournai),
* ''Cougnolle'' or s ...
* Pogne,
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois.
In the 12th centu ...
* Gâteau de Saint-Genix,
Saint-Genix-sur-Guiers
Saint-Genix-sur-Guiers is a former commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Saint-Genix-les-Villages.
Saint-Genix-sur-Guiers is known fo ...
* Chinois or Schneckenkuchen ("snail pie"),
Alsace-Lorraine
*
Tarte Tropézienne
Tarte tropézienne, also known as "La Tarte de Saint-Tropez", is a dessert pastry consisting of a halved brioche filled with lemon and vanilla pastry cream and topped with pearl sugar. , with
custard
Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency fro ...
* Brioscia,
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
*
King cake
A king cake, also known as a three kings cake, is a cake associated in many countries with Epiphany. Its form and ingredients are variable, but in most cases a () such as a figurine, often said to represent the Christ Child, is hidden inside. ...
Related breads
Many other breads are enriched with eggs and often milk and butter; many of them are
braided
Braided is a musical group consisting of Casey LeBlanc, Ashley Leitão, and Amber Fleury, who all competed on the third season of '' Canadian Idol'' in 2005. They are the third music group to come from an Idol show in the world, after Young Div ...
.
Gallery
File:Gateau des rois1.JPG, A gâteau des Rois
File:Grande brioche de mariage vendéen.jpg, 15 kg brioche in Brioche Dance, vendéenne tradition
File:Brioche.jpg, Brioche tressée de Metz
File:cougnou.jpg, Cougnou
File:Brioche Saint Genix.jpg, Brioche Saint-Genix
File:20050101-223214 tarte tropezienne.jpg, Tarte Tropézienne
Tarte tropézienne, also known as "La Tarte de Saint-Tropez", is a dessert pastry consisting of a halved brioche filled with lemon and vanilla pastry cream and topped with pearl sugar.
File:Sicilian brioche.jpg, Brioscia
See also
*
Cottage loaf
A cottage loaf is a traditional type of bread originating in England.
The loaf is characterised by its shape, which is essentially that of two round loaves, one on top of the other, with the upper one being smaller: the shape is similar to that ...
*
Craquelin
*
Ensaymada
*
Gugelhupf
A Gugelhupf (also ''Kugelhupf'', ''Guglhupf'', ''Gugelhopf'', and, in France, ''kouglof'', ''kougelhof'', or ''kougelhopf'') is a cake traditionally baked in a distinctive ring pan, similar to Bundt cake, but leavened with baker's yeast.
Ther ...
*
List of French dishes
There are many dishes considered part of French cuisine. Some dishes are considered universally accepted as part of the national cuisine, while others fit into a unique regional cuisine. There are also breads, charcuterie items as well as desserts ...
*
Mouna
Mouna, also known as Mona, is an Algerian Jewish sweet bread of Sephardi origin, similar to challah, kubaneh or brioche, that is traditionally consumed for the Jewish holidays of Mimouna and Shabbat, which is commonly found today in France, and ...
*
Panbrioche
In Italian cuisine, a pan brioche is a kind of bread similar to a brioche
Brioche (, also , , ) is a bread of French origin whose high egg and butter content gives it a rich and tender crumb. Chef Joël Robuchon described it as "light and ...
*
Panettone
Panettone (, ; lmo, label=Milanese, panetton ) is an Italian type of sweet bread, and fruitcake, originally from Milan, usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year in Western, Southern, and Southeastern Europe as well as in South A ...
Notes
External links
*
*
{{French bread
Brioches
French breads
Norman cuisine
Yeast breads
Braided_egg_breads