Why it works: Flour and butter 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 ↓
Paris Jockey-club Recipe for Brioche
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sponge
Sift the flour and set aside ¼ of it.
Dissolve the yeast in warm water.
Make a sponge with a little more water.
Let the sponge rise until doubled in volume.
Make the dough
Make a hole in the remaining flour.
Add salt and sugar to the hole.
Dissolve salt and sugar with 2 tablespoons of water.
Beat the butter and eggs together, adding one egg at a time until all 4 are incorporated.
Mix the egg and butter mixture with the sponge until it leaves the sides of the bowl.
Cover and let the dough rise in a warm place for 4 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a board. Spread the dough. Fold the dough over itself 4 times.
Return the dough to the bowl.
Let it rise for another 2 hours.
Fold the dough over itself 4 times again.
Refrigerate for 2 hours or until ready to use.
Shape and bake
Shape the dough into two pieces.
Form the larger piece into a ball.
Make a deep depression in the center of the large ball.
Place the smaller ball on top, pressing gently.
Cut 2 or 3 gashes around the top with a sharp knife.
Bake until golden brown.
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.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together as it rises and bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and gives brioche its rich flavour.
- Eggs
- Add richness, structure and colour, helping the dough bind and bake golden.
- Yeast
- Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes it rise and become light.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning to the crust.
The step that matters
Beat the butter and eggs in one egg at a time. Adding eggs gradually lets the butter emulsify into the dough without breaking it. Adding them all at once can split the mixture and make the dough hard to bring together.
“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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