by Julia Child
3) Kneading in the butter
4 Tb (½ stick) chilled butter
When butter is incorporated into a dough in most French recipes, it is added after kneading.
Soften the butter by beating it with a rolling pin. Then smear it out with a scraper, spatula, or the heel of your hand until it is soft and malleable but still cold.
By tablespoon bits, start rapidly folding and smearing the butter into the dough with the heel (not the palm) of your hand, then gather the dough into a mass with your scraper and smear again. Keep working in more bits of butter as each previous addition is partially absorbed.
Dough will be ropy, very messy, and even stickier until it begins to absorb the butter. Work fast to prevent the butter from turning oily, always using the heel of your hand, and also cutting the dough with scraper or spatula. In a few minutes dough will again become smooth and elastic. Proceed to Step 4.
Or make the preliminary dough in the food processor (steel blade):
Using the same proportions as for hand-made dough, dissolve the yeast and add it to the salted milk. Place the 3½ cups of flour in the container of the food processor (unless you have a small machine, in which case divide all ingredients by half and do it in two batches). Cut the butter into pieces, and add to the flour, along with the salt. Process for several seconds until butter is broken into flour, then with the processor going, pour in 1¼ cups of yeast-milk; continue pouring by driblets, watching carefully, until dough balls up on top of steel blade. Process, with dough riding on blade, for 15 seconds—this constitutes the preliminary kneading. Turn the dough out onto your work surface and proceed to Step 4, below.
NOTE: If you happen to add too much liquid and the machine clogs, sprinkle in more flour and the machine will often start up again. If not, remove dough and continue by hand.
4) Then let the dough rest 2 to 3 minutes. Knead again briefly with the heel of your hand until dough begins to clean the butter off the kneading surface and off your hand. It is now sufficiently kneaded, although it will remain quite soft and somewhat sticky.
5) First rising—pointage premier temps—3 to 4 hours at around 70 degrees
The clean 4- to 5-quart mixing bowl
A large plastic bag that bowl will fit into, or a large sheet of plastic
A bath towel
You will have about 3 cups of unrisen dough, and it is to rise 3½ times in volume or to 10½ cups. Fill the bowl with 10½ cups of tepid water and make a mark on the outside to guide you; pour out the water, dry the bowl, and place the dough in it. Slip bowl into plastic bag or top with plastic and cover with the towel. Set on a wooden or plastic surface or on a folded towel or pillow and place at a temperature of 68 to 72 degrees.
Dough should take a minimum of 3 hours to rise for the yeast to do its best work. When dough has risen to the 10½-cup mark, or to 3½ times its original volume, it will feel light and springy when pressed, and is ready for its second rise.
(*) DELAYED ACTION: See chart.
6) Deflating and second rising—rupture; pointage deuxième temps—1½ to 2 hours at around 70 degrees
The dough is now to be thoroughly deflated and folded to expel accumulated gas, and to redistribute the yeast into an even finer network of gluten that will result in a close-grained texture when the bread is baked.
With a rubber spatula or the slightly cupped fingers of one hand, dislodge dough from inside of bowl and turn out onto a lightly floured surface, scraping the bowl clean. If dough seems damp and sweaty, sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour.
With the lightly floured palms of your hands, pat and push the dough out onto a roughly shaped rectangle 10 to 12 inches long.
With the help of a scraper or spatula, fold the right side over toward the center, then fold the left side over to cover it, as though folding a business letter. Pat the dough out again into a rectangle, fold again in three, and put the dough back in the bowl. Cover with plastic and towel and let rise a second time, to not quite triple in volume, or to slightly below the 10½-cup mark on the bowl.
(*) DELAYED ACTION: See chart.
If you want to freeze the dough, however, you can do it after the next step.
6) Molding and final rising—la mise en forme; l’apprêt—40 to 60 minutes at 75 to 80 degrees
White vegetable shortening
An 8-cup rectangular breadpan with vertical or only slightly outward-slanting sides (for example, 9½ by 5½ inches, 2¾ inches deep), or a round pan, or two 4-cup pans
Remember to preheat oven to 435 degrees in time for next step. Grease inside of bread pan (if pan is new, grease heavily then roll flour around inside and knock out excess). With a rubber spatula or the slightly cupped fingers of one hand, loosen dough from bowl and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. If you are making 2 loaves, cut dough cleanly in half with one chop of a long knife. Lift one end of dough and flip it over on to its opposite end. To relax the gluten and make dough easier to form, let rest 7 to 8 minutes covered with plastic.
Following are illustrated directions for forming rectangular loaves. For cylindrical and circular forms, use the French bread system.
With the lightly floured palms of your hands, pat and push the dough out into a roughly shaped rectangle slightly longer than your bread pan.
Fold the dough in half lengthwise.
Seal edges of dough together with your thumbs as illustrated, or with the heel of one hand. Roll dough a quarter turn forward, so seal is on top.
Flatten the dough again into a rectangle.
Press a trench along the central length of the dough with the side of your hand.
Fold again in two lengthwise and seal the edges together with the heel of your hand. Roll dough a quarter turn toward you, so seal is underneath.
Place the dough smooth side up in the prepared pan, pressing it down snugly into the corners with your knuckles. Pan should be no more than ⅓ to ⅖ full.
(*) You can freeze the dough at this point, wrapping pan airtight. To continue with the recipe, let thaw for several hours in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
For the final rising, set pan uncovered at a temperature of 75 to 80 degrees until dough has risen to slightly more than double, or to fill the pan by no more than ¾. It is important when you are to bake in a covered pan that you do not let the dough rise more than this, as it must have room to finish swelling and to fill the pan while it is in the oven. When dough has risen, bake at once.
(*) You can delay the rising action by setting the pan in the refrigerator, or even by weighting it down under refrigeration. In either case, the pan should be covered airtight, then set uncovered at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before baking. If dough has over-risen, bake it uncovered or deflate by pressing it down and letting it rise again to the correct height.
7) Baking, cooling, and storing—oven at 435 degrees; baking time 40 minutes
A perfectly smooth sheet of aluminum foil 1½ inches larger all around than bread pan, and greased on shiny side
A baking sheet or a pan large enough to cover entire top of bread pan
A 5-pound weight of some sort, such as a brick
A cake rack, for cooling bread after baking
Oven has been preheated to 435 degrees. Cover bread pan with aluminum foil, greased side down. Set pan on a rack in middle level of preheated oven, cover pan with baking sheet or second pan, and center the weight on top.
Bake undisturbed for 35 to 40 minutes (30 for small loaves), then slide rack to front of oven. Standing well enough aside in case bread should burst out of pan (which could occur only if you had let it over-rise before baking), see if bread is done. The bread should have shrunk slightly from sides of pan so it will unmold easily, and the crust should be lightly browned. When thumped, the loaf should make a hollow sound. If not quite done, return to pan, cover with foil and baking sheet, and bake 5 to 10 minutes more. Unmold and cool on a rack.
When thoroughly cool, in 1½ to 2 hours, wrap airtight and refrigerate.
Flavor and texture improve after 12 to 24 hours, and you should probably wait 36 hours if you want very thin slices for sandwiches or Melba toast.
This bread freezes perfectly; thaw it in its wrapper either in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
VARIATIONS
Baking in an uncovered pan—the conventional loaf
If you want a loaf that swells up in the oven, bake the dough in an open pan, one that holds twice the volume of the unrisen dough, in this case a 6-cup pan. During its final rise, Step 6, let the dough come up almost to the edge of the pan. Just before baking, glaze the top of the dough by painting it with a tablespoon of milk in which you have dissolved ⅛ teaspoon of sugar. Oven temperature and timing are the same as in the preceding Master Recipe; if the top of the bread seems to be coloring too much, cover loosely with heavy brown paper or a sheet of aluminum foil.
Omitting the butter
You may omit the butter in the Master Recipe if you wish. This will give you a lighter and whiter loaf; you may prefer it this way for Melba toast.
Melba toast—to serve with consommé, foie gras, caviar
Use 2-day-old pain de mie. Cut off the crusts at the two ends. With a very sharp long knife, such as a ham slicer, cut the bread into even slices less than 1⁄16-inch thick. Arrange the slices, overlapping them by no more than a third of their length, on 1 or 2 large baking sheets and set in upper- and lower-middle levels of a 275-degree oven for about an hour, turning bread over once or twice and switching baking sheets from one rack to the other. Toast is done when bread is crisp, slightly curly, and a very pale brown. When cold and wrapped airtight, Melba toast freezes perfectly; thaw and re-crisp for a few minutes in a 350-degree oven.
Pain de Mie aux Raisins
[Raisin Bread—to serve with tea, or for toast. See also Pain Brioché aux Raisins]
For 4 cups of risen dough, filling two 5-cup covered pans or one 8-cup open pan
1 to 1½ cups (5 to 8 ounces) small currant raisins
Ingredients for pain de mie, preceding Master Recipe
To soften the raisins, soak in 1 quart of very hot water for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain, twist hard in the corner of a towel to squeeze out as much accumulated water as possible. Pat thoroughly dry in paper towels; spread out on a dry towel until you are ready to use them. Knead the raisins into the dough near the end of Step 3, when the butter has been almost absorbed. Since the weight of the raisins will hold the dough down, the first rise, Step 5, will be only to triple in the allotted time. Baking time and oven temperature are the same as for pain de mie.
Pain Brioché—Brioche Commune—Pain Louis XV
[Egg Bread—to serve with butter and jam, for fancy sandwiches such as mousse of foie gras, for toast; an alternate to brioche dough for Koulibiac, sausage in brioche, and their like]
This is a lovely light-textured yellow bread. With another egg and three times the butter it would be a true brioche. Although you will find this dough quite a bit stickier and softer to handle than pain de mie, the technique for making it is the same.
For about 1 pound of flour, making 4 cups of unrisen dough, to fill two 6-cup covered pans, two 4-cup open pans, or for 2 dozen individual rolls formed in small molds or muffin tins
1) Mixing and kneading the dough—either by hand or machine
1 package (0.6 ounce) fresh yeast or 1 package dry-active yeast
¼ cup warm water in a measure
1 Tb salt
2 Tb sugar
¼ cup tepid milk
3½ cups (about 1 lb.) all-purpose flour (measure by scooping dry-measure cups into flour and sweeping off excess)
A 4- to 5-quart mixing bowl with fairly straight rather than outward-slanting sides
4 eggs (U.S. graded “large”; if chilled, set for 5 minutes in warm water)
Sprinklings of flour as needed
1 stick (4 ounces) chilled butter
Sprinkle yeast in warm water and let liquefy completely. Then stir in the salt, sugar, and milk. Measure the flour into the mixing bowl, make a well in the center, add the eggs and the yeast mixture. Cut and mix everything together with a rubber spatula to form a dough. Turn out onto kneading surface and let dough rest for 2 to 3 minutes. Following illustrated directions for pain de mie, knead by lifting, folding, slapping, and pushing with the heel of your hand. Dough will be stickier than that for pain de mie; if it remains unusually so, knead in a tablespoon or so more flour. When dough begins to clean itself off kneading surface, start working in the butter by tablespoon bits. When butter is absorbed, let dough rest for 2 to 3 minutes. Knead again briefly until dough cleans butter off kneading surface and off your hands.
Or mix and knead the dough in a food processor, following directions for pain de mie.
2) Completing the bread
Follow Steps 5, 6, and 7 in the Master Recipe for the first and second risings in a covered bowl and the final rise in the bread pan. Follow Step 8 for baking, except preheated oven should be at 400 degrees and baking time will be about 35 minutes. The surrounding crust will be a little darker than for pain de mie. Pain brioché may be eaten warm or cold, although it will slice more easily after 24 hours. It freezes perfectly.
Pain Brioché aux Raisins
[Egg Bread with Raisins]
Pain brioché makes heavenly raisin bread, eaten plain with butter, or toasted. Follow directions for pain de mie aux raisins.
BRIOCHES
Although the wonderfully buttery, light, and thoroughly delectable texture of fresh brioches may persuade you they are manna from another planet, brioche dough differs from pain de mie dough only in that eggs are used rather than milk, and a very much larger proportion of butter is incorporated. Actually, you can use equal amounts of butter and flour, but we think the proportions of 3 parts butter to 4 parts flour make a much more manageable dough with a delicious texture and taste.
In France, brioches are served for breakfast with butter and jam, or for tea, or with the coffee break. Stale brioche may be sliced and toasted, or hollowed out and used as a container for sauced foods or appetizers.
NOTE: The following recipe is for the classic hand-made brioche dough. For making it in the electric food processor, follow the general directions for pain de mie, first dissolving the yeast, then mixing it with the eggs, before blending the butter and flour in the processor with the salt and sugar. Blend in ¾ of the liquid, then add the rest by dribbles until the dough balls up on the blade. Finish kneading briefly by hand, as described at the end of Step 4.
PTE À BRIOCHE FINE
[Brioche Dough—for all sizes and shapes of brioches, and for Koulibiac, sausage in brioche, and their like]
You must allow a minimum 8½ hours from the time you start brioche dough to the time it is ready for the oven. Five hours are needed for the first rise, 2 for the second, half an hour for chilling, and 1 to 1½ hours for the final pre-bake rise. You may find it convenient to start the first rise in the late afternoon and complete the second one overnight in the refrigerator; you can then form and bake the brioche in the morning. However, as you will see from the delayed-action notes in the recipe, you can pretty well make it suit whatever schedule you wish.
For about ½ pound of flour, making 2⅔ cups of unrisen dough, enough to fill one 6-cup mold or nine to ten ½-cup molds
1) The preliminary dough mixture—le fraisage
3 eggs (U.S. graded “large”; if chilled, place in warm water for 5 minutes)
A 2-cup measure
A fork
Warm the eggs if chilled. Break them into the measure and blend with a fork. You should have ⅔ cup.
1 cake fresh yeast (0.6 ounce) or 1 package dry-active yeast
3 Tb warm water (not over 100 degrees) in a measure
1 tsp sugar
Mix the yeast in the warm water, add the sugar, and let yeast liquefy completely.
1¾ cups (about 8 ounces) all-purpose flour (measure by scooping dry-measure cups into flour and sweeping off excess)
A 3- to 4-quart mixing bowl
A rubber spatula
2 tsp sugar
1¼ tsp salt
A pastry scraper or stiff spatula
Measure the flour into the mixing bowl. Make a well in the center with the rubber spatula and pour in the eggs. Sprinkle on the additional sugar and the salt; scrape in the liquefied yeast mixture. Cut and stir liquids and flour together with a rubber spatula, then turn out onto kneading surface, scraping bowl clean. Dough will be very soft and sticky. Work it with scraper or stiff spatula for a moment to blend ingredients completely, then scrape to side of kneading surface and let dough rest while you prepare the butter, next step.
2) Preparing the butter
6 ounces (1½ sticks) chilled unsalted butter
A rolling pin
Smear it out with a scraper, spatula, or the heel of your hand until it is soft and malleable but still cold. Place at one corner of kneading surface until you are ready to use it, Step 4 (refrigerate in hot weather).