Brioche suisse, or simply swiss brioche, is a recipe that is really worth the effort. Soft, sweet dough filled with smooth creme patissiere and chocolate- what more could you want?

I know I’ve said this before, but there was a long period of time where I just couldn’t bake. Every time I made a cake it would come out burnt or undercooked and sometimes both!

But recently, I’ve decided to up my baking game. I know lot’s of people watching this blog want me to write more about baking, and to be honest I’ve chosen a really hard bake to start. This recipe takes a couple of days to make properly, not hours. It really is worth it though.

To start, you need to make a brioche dough. Now, the easiest way to do this is with a stand mixer. However, these are really expensive and I know most of the people reading this who want to try out this recipe won’t have one, so you can make the dough by hand. Be warned, this is a workout if you do it this way. I’ve also never tried it, so its a risk to take!

Soft brioche dough recipe

Brioche isn’t an easy bread to make. Although it only involves the ingredients that you might have in your cupboard, you have to incorporate them in a specific way. To start with brioche, you need to start with your flour. I chose to use bread flour but I imagine that if you don’t have that in your cupboard you could use plain flour too. Next, you need salt and sugar. After you have put your flour into a bowl, pour the sugar and the salt into sepetate sides of the bowl. After this, add the yeast to the sugar side of the bowl, not the salt. This is because the salt will kill the yeast if it comes into direct contact, and the yeast is what is going to make your dough rise.

Once you add your dry ingredients, mix them together, gently. Next, slowly heat the milk till it is warm too the touch, be careful not to overheat it. Add into the flour and mix until everything is combined (either with the mixer or with your hands). In a seperate bowl, whisk 4 eggs, and slowly add them to the mix. This is much easier with a mixer but you can do it by hand. You should try and mix the dough for 10 minutes to ensure that the eggs aere combined.

Now comes the tricky bit, if you are making the dough by hand. You need to cube the butter, ensuring that it is nice and soft. Bit by bit, you want to add the cubes of butter into the dough. If you have a stand mixer, this is a much easier job. Add the butter slowly, ensuring that it is well-mixed before you add another cube. This process can take a while, so make sure that your butter is really soft so that it mixes well.

If you are doing this by hand, prepare for a mess. Add the cubes of butter slowly and mix gently with your hands or with the spoon. I’ve never done this recipe by hand, so if you do do it this way let me know how you do it!

Once all the butter is added, the dough should be very soft. Knead for a few minutes or until gluten is formed (to check this, gently pull a bit of the dough apart. If there is enough gluten, the dough should be stretchy and you should be able to see through it- this is also called the windowpane test for that very reason).

Leave the dough in the kitchen and cover with a damp tea towel. Let it rise for about 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size. Once it has, gently knock back the dough and then place in the fridge overnight. Yes, overnight. If you are in a rush you could probably leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours but leaving it overnight allows the flavours of the brioche to develop. If you want this brioche to taste really, really good, you need to let it rest overnight.

Once your dough has been in the fridge overnight, you can then get on with making the filling for these lovely brioche suisses. Here is the full recipe, I hope you enjoy!

Brioche suisses recipe

Servings: 12 large brioche suisses or 24 small

Preperation time: 24 hours +

Cooking time: 15 mins (or until golden)

Ingredients for brioche suisses

For the dough:

• 450g strong bread flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 50g caster sugar
• 7g dried active yeast
• 100ml milk (whole or semi)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 190g unsalted butter, soft

For the filling:

• 2 egg yolks
• 250ml milk
• 1tsp butter
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 50g sugar
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• Chocolate chips or milk chocolate, finely chopped
• Egg for egg wash

How to make brioche suisses

1. Begin by making the dough In a stand mixer, add the strong flour to the bowl (if you don’t have a stand mixer, do this with your hands in a bowl. It is messy and tiring, but it is possible.). On one side, add the sugar and on the other, add the salt. Next, add the yeast to the sugar side (if you add it to the salt, it will kill it). Mix gently.
2. Heat the milk in a small plan till it is warm to the touch but not too hot. Add to the flour mix and mix together with the stand mixer.
3. Once everything is well-mixed, add the egg slowly, stirring the mix all the time, until everything is incorporated.
4. Keep the mixer running. Slowly add the cubes of butter, one by one, and mix until all of the butter has mixed in with the dough. If doing this by hand, prepare for a mess and make sure that your butter is really soft (if it is hard, place in boiling water until soft, then strain).
5. Once the butter has been added, knead the dough until it becomes glutinous. To ckeck if the dough is ready, gently pull apart a small bit of it and see if you can see through it before it breaks. Look up ‘The windowpane test’ if you are unsure.
6. Once the dough is ready, place into a bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Leave in a warm place (but nowhere too hot as this might cause the yeast to die). Leave till it has doubled in size (about 2 hours). Gently knock back the dough so some of the air goes out of it, then place the bowl in the fridge overnight, as this lets the flavours develop.
7. The next day, when the dough is ready, make the creme patissierre. Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until everything is mixed well. Whisk in the two flours and the vanilla.
8. On the hob, warm up the milk and a knob of butter until it just starts to come to the boil, then add to the egg mixture and whisk until everything is smooth.
9. Add the mixture back to the pan and gradually heat, whisking all the time. The mixture might be quite thick, but as long as you can spread it it doesn’t matter. If your mix is too thick, add a little milk to thin it.
10. While you leave your creme pat to cook, roll the dough out into a rectangle about 1-2cm thick, you don’t need to be precise. When cool, spread the creme pat over the dough, then sprinkle the chocolate over one half of the dough. Gently lift one side of the dough and place it on top of the other so it forms a rectangle shape. Cut the dough into rectangle shapes or any other shapes you prefer!
11. Put onto baking trays covered with greaseproof paper and cover with cling film. Leave to rise for 30 mins to an hour, or until the dough looks lovely and light. While you wait, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Mix 1 egg yolk with a little milk, then coat the briche for a lovely golden colour. Place in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes or until lovely golden brown.
12. Enjoy with a cup of tea!

Tips:

These brioche will keep if you put them in an air-tight container. To reheat, simply pop them in a hot oven for a few minutes.