THB #22: Cheddar Brioche Braid

It’s another bread baking session! In the past I have never thought of baking bread because all the kneading, rising and shaping all sounded too daunting to me. But, luckily for YouTube, I’m gradually getting the hang of bread baking and it’s getting fun!

This bake is actually for The Home Bakers, and we are actually baking from a recipe book called Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas. The bake this time round was chosen by Alice of I Love.I Cook.I Bake – a savoury brioche filled with creamy gruyere. I find it a bit funny that the author calls it Coffee Cakes because there are actually several bread recipes inside, and one of them was chosen some time back – the Danish Chocolate Swirl Coffee Bread. Nevertheless, this is my first time making brioche and I was pretty excited!

The dough was sticky – so sticky that I’m glad I didn’t try to knead it with my hands. I made only 1/3 of the recipe so I kneaded the dough using my hand-held mixer attached with a dough hook. Gruyere was the original cheese stated in the recipe but it was so expensive! Luckily cheddar was on sale and since many other foodies also had positive results with cheddar, I decided to go with cheddar.

I had a little problem braiding the bread as I didn’t know how thin I am supposed to roll the dough “rope” into. In addition, the dough shown in the YouTube videos seemed so easy to handle but mine was pretty soft and flimsy, making it a bit hard to shape the bread. This is probably due to the warm temperature here… Luckily the braid still turned out pretty presentable haha!

Texture wise this is a definite thumbs up! The exterior is a bit crusty but the interior is so soft and fluffy that I swooned when I tore the bread apart. The cheese taste was subtle when fresh from the oven but intensifies over the next few days. Thankfully the bread still remained relatively soft for the next 2 days, so it’s still pretty good! I would love to serve this bread alongside with some soup the next time, I can totally imagine dipping the slightly salty and cheesy bread into a bowl of creamy soup… mmm!

Step-by-step Photos
1) Cream butter and sugar together.	2) Beat in 1 egg.
3) Mix in the flour and yeast.	4) Add in warm milk.
5) Knead until you get a smooth and elastic dough.	6) Let the dough rise until double in size.
7) Punch the dough down slightly and refrigerate overnight.	8) The next day - turn the dough out into a floured surface.
9) Knead in the finely shredded cheddar cheese.	10) Divide the dough into 3 equal balls.
11) Roll each portion of dough into a long rope.	12) Braid the dough!
13) Let rise till double in size in a warm place.	14) Brush with egg wash / milk and bake away!

I’m submitting this to The Home Bakers organized by Joyce from The Kitchen Flavours. The host this time round is Alice from I Love I Cook I Bake. As part of the rules of the bake, I’m not allowed to post the full recipe, so I’m leaving you with the portion that I’ve used and listed the modifications I’ve made. Do pop by her site for the full recipe! Hope over here to see all other foodies’ take on the recipe!

As egg is also used in this recipe, I’m also going to submit this to Little Thumbs Up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids. This month’s theme – Egg – is hosted by Yen from Eat your heart out. The recipes are all linked at this post!

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Cheddar Brioche Braid (makes a 13-inch loaf)

adapted from Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas

45 grams butter, softened (3 tablespoons)
1 egg
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon table salt
60 ml warm milk (1/4 cup)
125 grams all-purpose flour (1 cup)
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
55 grams cheddar cheese, shredded/grated
1/2 tablespoon milk (egg wash)

For the full instructions, please head over to Alice’s blog!

Super Naggy:

• I made only 1/3 of the recipe as I was worried the first attempt wouldn’t go well. I got a 13-inch loaf – which was the largest size I could get because of my oven size.
• The original recipe used active yeast but I only have instant yeast on hand. So I reduced the amount (using the conversion from Traditional Oven) and simply added it directly into the flour mixture without activating it.
• This is a pretty sticky dough, so I mixed it with my handheld mixer. I think you’ll need a bit more flour if you’re using hands to knead the dough.
• When letting the dough rise, I did not use my method of putting it in the warm oven as I was worried that the butter in the dough will melt and separate from the dough. So I left the dough on the table instead and as the weather was pretty warm that day, the dough rose fairly quickly.
• Refrigerating the dough helps firm up the butter inside and makes it easier to handle the dough. If you find the dough getting slippery / sticky as you shape the braid, refrigerate the dough for a while before handling it again.
• Instead of using Gruyere cheese, I used a good-quality sharp cheddar. Do use a good-quality cheese as I think it really makes a huge difference. I grated the cheese using my Microplane grater before kneading it in. You can also use a food processor to shred the cheese before mixing it in.
• As I didn’t want to break another egg just for the egg wash, I just brushed the loaf with milk. Hence the dough wasn’t as well-browned as the other fellow foodies.

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