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English Brioche, and Brioche-rusks

A yeast bread made with all-purpose flour, milk or cream, and a puff-paste, baked into brioche shapes or rusks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

English Brioche, and Brioche-rusks

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the starter dough

  1. Mix ½ pound of flour with 1 ounce of yeast and 5 to 6 tablespoons of warm milk or cream to form a light dough.

  2. Let the dough rise until it doubles in size.

Make the enriched dough

  1. Prepare 1 pound of flour into a rich cream crust or puff-paste as per your preferred recipe.

  2. Combine the risen dough with the puff-paste until well mixed.

  3. Allow the mixture to rise for 4 to 5 hours.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough into small brioche shapes or roll it 1 inch thick and cut into rusks.

  2. Wash the tops with beaten egg.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 10 to 15 minutes until well baked and colored.

  4. For rusks, divide them and return to the oven at a lower heat until very crisp and evenly browned.

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.

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. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

All-purpose flour
Forms the dough's structure, which holds the risen crumb together.
Purified yeast
Produces gas during rising, leavening the dough so it doubles in size.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the dough and tenderizing the crumb.
Egg
Brushed on top to promote even browning and a glossy finish.

The step that matters

Rising the combined dough. Yeast needs time and warmth to produce gas; rising for 4 to 5 hours lets the enriched dough develop airy texture. Underproofed dough bakes dense, while overproofed dough may collapse.

“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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