I’ve never made brioche before and this recipe from Cooking Light (from Dec 2010) sounded great, so I gave it a try.

1 packet yeast (2 1/14 tsp)

1/3 cup warm 1% milk (I used skim)

15.75 oz flour (about 3 1/2 cups)

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

8 1/2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp water

1 egg white

Dissolve years in warm milk and let stand 5 minutes. Add flour, sugar, salt, and eggs and beat with paddle attachment on stand mixer on low, scraping down the side, until smooth. Remove the paddle and put in the dough hook. Mix on low for 5 minutes until it is elastic and pulls away from the sides. Cut up 6 1/2 tbsp of butter into cubes and add half, mixing on medium. Add the other half and mix on medium until incorporated. Mix on medium for 4 minutes. Put it in a greased bowl and cover, allowing to rise for an hour until doubled (I had to put mine in a warm oven to get it to rise – it was just too cold in this house in February!).

Punch the dough down and return to the bowl and cover, and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight (I did overnight).

Remove the dough and uncover allowing it to come to room temp (about 90 min). Divide into 4 sections and cut each section into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place in a greased muffin tin. Cover and allow to rise 45 min (again, I had to use the oven).

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix water with egg white and brush the rolls with the mixture. Bake 14 minutes until golden. Melt remaining butter and brush the rolls with butter.

These were really, really delicious. Light, fluffy, and slightly sweet. My only complaint is that they weren’t very big. I would have liked them to be taller and just bigger. But other than that, they were great.