Instructions

Step 1: Mixing dry ingredients

• Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl to remove lumps so that mixing this ingredient become easier.
• Place the other dry ingredients (sugar, baking powder and salt) into the mixing bowl.
• Use a spatula to combine the dry ingredients.

Step 2: Adding wet ingredients

• Crack open 1 egg onto the dry mixture obtained above.
• Pour the milk and liquid whipping cream into the mixing bowl.
• Use the spatula to incorporate the wet ingredients into the flour mixture.
• Drizzle the orange blossom extract on the mixture and mix it a bit more then move to kneading step. You don’t need to mix the mixture too carefully at this step because the kneading step will do this work.

Step 3: Kneading dough and letting it rise (first rise)

• Transfer the flour mixture obtained above onto a non-stick kneading/rolling mat. You can used a floured working surface, but be careful that you may unintentionally add more flour to the dough, which is not good for the brioche texture.
• Knead the dough for 3 minutes then fold the cold butter into the dough and keep kneading for 10 more minutes or until a small ball of dough does not fall apart when you gently stretch it out with two hands.
• Shape the dough into a ball, place it in a big bowl and cover the bowl with food wrapping film.
• Let the dough stand at a warm place for 1 hour. After this resting time the dough should double or nearly double in size.

Step 4: Shaping the brioche loaf and letting the dough rise more (second rise)

• Take the dough back to the kneading mat and cut it into 2 equal portions (around 330g each) to make 2 loaves of brioche bread.
• For each loaf, shape a braided loaf by dividing the dough into 3 parts then roll them out into 3 strings of the same length. Next, braid the strings and hide two ends beneath the braid as demonstrated below.

• Grease the inside of two loaf pans with butter and flour them, then place the braided dough into the pans.
• Stir the remaining egg into a small bowl and brush it onto the loaves.
• Sprinkle some sliced almonds on top to enrich the brioche taste.
• Cover the loaf pans with a dry and thick towel and let the dough stand until it reaches the top level of each pan.

Step 5: Baking the brioche loaves

• Once the loaves has reached the required size, place the loaf pans on a baking sheet and put it into the oven.
• Bake the loaves at 180 degrees C for 30 to 35 minutes, until the loaf tops turn light golden brown.
• Take the baking sheet out of the oven and let the brioche loaves cool in the loaf pans for 5 to 10 minutes then remove the brioche loaves from the pans to a cooling rack for more cooling.

I really love the smell of freshly-baked buttery brioche bread combined with orange blossom extract and baked almonds. It is so attempting that I can’t wait until the brioche loaves is completely cool to slice them off and taste them. So wonderful!