Why is butter incorporated into the dough last when making Brioche?
I made Brioche for the first time tonight using the Rich Man's Brioche recipe from Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice.
The recipe basically leaves out the butter until the very end when the dough is fully mixed and hydrated. Only then does the recipe require the butter to be slowly added into the dough tablespoons at a time using a wooden spoon.
I am usually used to creaming the butter at the very beginning or using melted butter in the wet ingredients and then mixing it with the dry ingredients. Incorporating the butter into the dough at the end using a wooden spoon took quite a while and was a pretty good workout for my arms.
I took a look at other Brioche recipes on the internet and pretty much all of them add the butter into the dough at the very end.
So my question is why is the butter incorporated only after the dough is fully formed?
What would happen if I were to cream the butter with the sugar(small amount of it) and egg at the beginning before adding it to the sponge and dry ingredients?
Best Answer
The reason is that butter can inhibit gluten formation. It 'coats' the proteins that would form gluten. You knead the dough first to get gluten, and then add the butter afterward around the already formed gluten.
You can add it earlier, you just end up with less gluten and a more tender dough.
Creaming isn't usually done with bread, as its purpose is air bubble formation.
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Why is butter added later to bread dough?
The reason is that butter can inhibit gluten formation. It 'coats' the proteins that would form gluten. You knead the dough first to get gluten, and then add the butter afterward around the already formed gluten. You can add it earlier, you just end up with less gluten and a more tender dough.Why is butter added last in brioche?
Using butter in brioche We do soften it (to help with kneading), but melting it would make the dough too soft and sticky. Also, butter shouldn't be added at the start. Reason being that butter (or more specifically fats) interfer with the formation of a gluten network.What effect does butter have on the gluten in brioche dough?
Other brioche recipes add softened butter directly to the flour before the dough is formed. This method, of course, coats the gluten-forming proteins, so that once liquid is added very little gluten forms. Such a delicate dough (more like a batter) results in a very moist and tender brioche.Why is my brioche dough so greasy?
The warmth of your hands will help incorporate the butter into the dough, but too much handling will turn the dough slick and oily, which means that butter's starting to fall out. If you feel this happening, gather up the dough and stash it in the fridge for a five-minute cool-down.103: How to Get BUTTER Into Your BRIOCHE by Hand - Bake with Jack
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Answer 2
when making bread we also add fat after mixing all the other ingredients. fat or butter is added later because it can hinder water absorption if added with the other ingredients at the beginning.
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