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Brioche Paste

A rich yeasted dough made with butter, eggs, sugar, salt and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Brioche Paste

Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Brioche Paste

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water.

  2. In a bowl, pour boiling water, let it stand for 5 minutes, then pour it out and dry the bowl.

  3. Add 1 cup of flour to the bowl and mix in the dissolved yeast. Beat well.

  4. Cover the bowl and set it in a warm place until the mixture doubles in size.

Make the dough

  1. After about 30 minutes, in a large bowl, mix the remaining flour, salt, sugar, butter, and 3 eggs by hand until smooth.

  2. Add the remaining eggs one at a time, beating vigorously until the mixture is light and smooth.

  3. If the sponge has risen, add it to the paste and beat well. If not, let it stand a while.

  4. Once incorporated, cover the bowl and set it in a warm place for about 6 hours until it rises sufficiently.

Chill and rest

  1. When light, beat well and place it beside ice for 10 to 12 hours before use.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Yeast
Its fermentation produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
Eggs
Their proteins add structure and richness, and help the dough set and hold its rise.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Flour
Its proteins form gluten, giving the dough the structure to trap gas and hold its shape.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds a little sweetness and browning.

The step that matters

Checking the sponge before adding it to the paste. The sponge should have doubled and be bubbly before it is added. Adding an under-risen sponge gives weak gas production, so the finished dough rises poorly and turns out dense.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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