Brioche garlic bread

This tear and share garlic bread is perfect for serving with a meal.

Brioche garlic bread. Credit: Robin Murray / Mark Moriarty: Off Duty Chef

• serves

  8

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

Brioche dough

• 400 g strong flour
• 40 g sugar
• 5 g salt
• 100 ml milk
• 1 packet fast action yeast
• 4 medium eggs
• 100 g butter (soft to touch), plus a little extra for brushing tin and cooked bread

Butter

• 100 g butter
• 6 cloves garlic
• 20 g grated parmesan
• Chopped parsley
• Salt, pepper

Glaze

• 1 egg yolk
• 1½ tbsp cream

Garnish (optional)

• Chopped thyme and/or chives
• Crisp garlic

Rising time: About 5 hours total.

Instructions

1. Place the flour, sugar and salt in a mixer and mix to distribute.
2. Warm the milk to just above hand temperature, add in the packet of yeast, and add to the dough.
3. Add the eggs one by one and mix on medium speed for 5 minutes, then add your butter and mix for a further 10 minutes until the dough is shiny and glossy. Place in a greased bowl and allow to prove for minimum 4 hours, but ideally overnight.
4. Meanwhile, to make the butter, mix it with the grated garlic, parmesan, parsley, salt and pepper. Roll into eight small balls and chill in fridge.
5. Next day roll the dough, on a floured surface, into a sausage shape and cut into 8  even-sized pieces.
6. Brush a baking tin with softened butter.
7. Stuff each piece of dough with a butter balls and roll into a roughly golf ball sized shape, on a floured workbench. Repeat with remaining dough and butter balls. Place these in the baking tin, don’t worry about any gaps.
8. Cover in clingfilm and prove at room temperature until doubled in size (alternatively you could prove in in a low 50°C oven for about 30 minutes).
9. Preheat oven to 180°C.
10. Mix egg yolk with cream, and brush the top of the risen bread lightly with the glaze.
11. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden.
12. Finish by brushing with more butter and sprinkle with salt (you could also garnish with thyme, chives or crispy garlic).

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.