Super Soft Brioche Braids… Imagine the aroma of freshly baked sweet bread filling the kitchen on a Sunday morning: there’s no better way to wake up than with super soft brioche braids.
These brioches strike the perfect balance between the lightness of a cloud and the indulgence of a rich, buttery, and fragrant dough. Thanks to a slow and careful fermentation, their crumb turns out stringy and incredibly soft, melting in your mouth with the first bite.
Why will you love this recipe?
Extreme softness: A secret of hydration and kneading that keeps them fresh for days.
Versatility: Great to enjoy “as is,” dipped in milk, or filled with sprinkles or chocolate, but also with simple granulated sugar on top.
Artisanal aesthetics: The braid shape is not only beautiful to look at but allows the heat to distribute evenly, ensuring perfect baking.
Whether you are an enthusiast baker or a beginner looking for the perfect breakfast, preparing these braids is a small wellness ritual that transforms simple ingredients like flour, milk, and butter into a masterpiece of sweetness.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Rest time: 15 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 20 braids
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
- Energy 309.22 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 45.92 (g) of which sugars 12.08 (g)
- Proteins 8.79 (g)
- Fat 10.35 (g) of which saturated 6.17 (g)of which unsaturated 3.65 (g)
- Fibers 1.35 (g)
- Sodium 15.13 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 90 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 6 1/2 cups Manitoba flour
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 eggs (medium)
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk (room temperature)
- 25 g fresh yeast
- 1 tablespoon orange (orange paste or grated orange peel if you don't have the paste)
- 200 g butter (soft)
Tools
- 1 Stand Mixer
- 1 Brush
Steps
In a stand mixer, or if you don’t have one you can easily do everything by hand, combine the flours with the sugar
Add the salt,
the eggs
100 g of softened butter
Dissolve the yeast in the milk
and pour it into the stand mixer
Add the orange paste, but if you don’t have it, grated orange peel will do just fine.
Mix the dough at medium speed and during the kneading, add the other 100 g of softened butter
Work with the stand mixer until the butter is completely absorbed by the dough and it becomes soft, elastic, and homogeneous. It will take about 15 minutes. Place the dough in a bowl to rise covered with plastic wrap for about 16 hours in the fridge. I leave it in the fridge overnight. If you’re in a hurry, you can let it rise in a turned-off oven with the light on for about 4 hours and then shape the braids.
In the morning, take the dough out of the fridge. It will be firm, don’t worry, that’s normal. Take pieces of the dough weighing 100 g each
Divide each piece into three parts
Shape them into balls
Do the same until the dough is finished
Now take the three balls and form them into sticks
Braid them together
Now you can choose to bake them immediately and let them rise in an oven warmed to 95°F and then turned off, for about 1 hour
Or you can store them in the freezer without doing the second rise and take them out as needed. The important thing is that before baking, let them rise out of the fridge in a turned-off oven with the light on for 8 hours
At this point, gently brush the braids with the egg and milk mixture
Pour on top, as desired, either chocolate chips
or sprinkles and bake the brioche braids in a preheated ventilated oven at 356°F for 13 minutes.
