olive oil brioche

The olive oil brioche that I bring you today has nothing to envy of the classic sweet of French origin enriched with butter. In this brioche you will find all the benefits of the previous one but with the plus of extra virgin olive oil.

The light, ethereal and tasty crumb that comes out with just a few ingredients is spectacular. You will fall in love with its golden crust from the first bite. However, this brioche has a catch… You won't be able to stop eating it, it's totally addictive!

To make this brioche, I have opted for a 23 centimetre Emile Henry ceramic mould . I have chosen to divide the dough into 3 equal parts for a simple reason; by baking 3 rolls of dough in the same mould, we can then individually separate these pieces, thus obtaining 3 loaves of brioche.

This way we can keep the pieces individually wrapped in cling film and a freezer bag. They freeze wonderfully and when you need a slice, you just have to take out a piece and cut the slices as you choose. Even if the piece is frozen, don't worry, you can cut slices without any problem. Then, you have several options; put it directly in a toaster or let it defrost at room temperature.

It is very important that you use the right flour to make this brioche. You need a strong flour with a minimum protein content of 13%. To find out the protein content of a flour, it is as simple as looking at the nutritional information on the package and looking for the proteins in the table.

T&G acacia wood shovel , Birkmann bread scraper and Pallarès carbon steel knife

Ingredients

• 500 g of strong flour (13% protein)
• 10 g of instant baker's yeast (not to be confused with Royal baking powder)
• 10 g of salt
• 100 g of honey
• 70 g extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large eggs + 2 yolks
• 150 ml of water at 46 ºC

To brush:

• 1 egg yolk with a little water

Preparation

1. Place the flour in the bowl of the mixer and, while stirring, add the salt, yeast and pour in the honey, olive oil, eggs and yolks.
2. We gradually add the water at 46 ºC, mixing at low speed with the hook accessory until we finish the water.
3. We continue kneading at medium/low speed for about 7 minutes until the dough is smooth, shiny and no longer sticks to our hands. We let the dough relax for about 5 minutes.
4. After this time, we do the membrane test . This consists of stretching a piece of dough between our fingers, and if the gluten is well developed, a kind of translucent membrane will remain when held up to the light. If it breaks when doing so, it means that it needs more kneading.
5. Form a ball and place it in a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size. Approx. 2 hours.
6. We turn the dough out onto the counter and beat it a couple of times to remove excess gas.
7. We divide the dough into 3 equal parts. We stretch each of them with a rolling pin, leaving a rectangle with a width equal to the mould we are going to use. Once each of the doughs is rolled, we will obtain 3 rolls of brioche dough.
8. Place the 3 rolls side by side on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Allow to rise at room temperature in a large plastic bag for 1 hour.
9. Preheat the oven to 175 ºC with heat from above and below.
10. Beat the egg yolk with a little water and brush the dough all over.
11. Bake for 10 minutes at 175 ºC. After this time, lower the oven temperature to 150 ºC and bake for 15-20 minutes. The brioche should be golden, shiny and have an internal temperature of around 87 ºC.
12. Let the brioche cool on a rack for at least 1 hour.
13. Once cold, the crumb will have settled and we can make perfect slices.

T&G Acacia Wood Shovel and Emile Henry Ceramic Tray

Note: This olive oil brioche, just like that, is exquisite. It is ideal for both sweet and savoury accompaniments. And if you let it harden for a few days, you will get some wonderful French toast .