Taste: Bust out the electric scale to make this French loaf

Brioche is a French bread that features milk, eggs and butter, giving it an almost cake-like texture and a yellow color. It’s often the bread base for things like cinnamon rolls and babka, as well as hamburger buns.

According to “The Right Bake,” references to brioche go back as far as 1404, but it really took off all over France in the 19th century as retail bakeries began popping up all over the country.

Bread can be made with simply flour, yeast and water, so the addition of the eggs, milk and butter give this bread its characteristic richness and softness.

There are a few different variations of brioche — they can usually be split into one of two categories: classic brioche or quick brioche.

Classic brioche incorporates softened butter slowly and uses the refrigerator for a slow rise. This develops that softness and helps add more flavor.

A quick brioche uses melted butter and rise times are fairly standard — an hour or two to double in size in a warm location for the first rise.

This recipe is a classic brioche.

Astute readers might have noticed this recipe is measured in grams. Most American recipes use volume measurements — cups, teaspoons, etc. — rather than mass. Some American recipes do show ounces.

A lot of European recipes — like those found on “The Great British Bake-Off” — are measured in grams. With electric kitchen scales, recipes measured out this way are actually very simple to execute.

It’s easy to find an electric kitchen scale at a big-box store for less than $30, and at online retailers for less than $20. They’re pretty slim and store well in a kitchen drawer or cupboard.

Grams are more accurate than even ounces — there are just over 28 grams in one ounce. Because grams are so tiny, adding an extra tenth of a gram will not mess up a recipe.

Using volume to measure flour, especially, leaves a large margin of error. Flour is supposed to be spooned and leveled into measuring cups, but not everyone uses that method and there are still variables at play.

A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 120 to 142 grams. This depends on the type of flour, whether it was recently sifted, the moisture content in the air and whether it was packed into the cup or measured correctly.

When using a scale, place a bowl on the surface, let it be weighed and then hit the tare button. This might say “tare” or it might just be a T.

Add the ingredient to be measured. Once the correct amount has been weighed, either hit tare and add the next or, if the measuring vessel isn’t the mixing bowl, dump that ingredient into the mixing bowl and proceed with the next ingredient.

Some wet ingredients can be measured by volume, others by weight, it just depends on the recipe. Wet ingredients don’t have as much variation as dry, meaning volume is a fairly accurate way to measure them.

If a recipe is all-metric, most modern measuring cups have milliliters as well as ounces.

Using a scale might seem a little foreign at first, but once they've tried, many people don’t want to go back to measuring by volume.

I turned my dough into a simple loaf and a strawberry babka. It was worth getting up at 5:30 a.m. to finish.

Classic Brioche

Ingredients

• 122 grams unsalted butter (a little more than a stick).

• 46 grams whole milk.

• 136 grams eggs, just shy of three large eggs.

• 270 grams all-purpose flour.

• 6 grams instant/rapid-rise yeast.

• 7 grams salt.

• 32 grams sugar.

Instructions

First take out butter and eggs. Cut the cold butter into small chunks and measure out 122 grams on your scale. Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk. Pour the eggs into a small bowl on your scale until you reach 136 grams, then reset the scale and measure out the milk into the same bowl. Set the mix and the butter out on the counter until they come to room temperature.

Set up a stand mixer with the dough hook, add all of the dry ingredients and combine. Add the egg/milk mixture to the mixer bowl. Turn the mixer on low and watch everything come together. When the dough starts to come together, set a timer for 30 minutes and allow it to continue mixing.

When the timer goes off, the dough should be a sticky mass clinging to the sides of the bowl and to the hook. With the mixer still running, start adding room temperature butter a small handful at a time, waiting until the previous handful has been mostly mixed in before adding the next. Continue until all of the butter is added.

Stop the mixer for a second, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with your spatula, then turn the mixer back on low, mixing for another 10 minutes until the butter is fully incorporated and a shiny dough has formed.

Spray a big bowl with nonstick spray. Scrape the dough out onto a clean work surface trying to tear as little as possible and keep it in one piece.

Pat the dough gently into a rectangular shape just enough so it can fold in on itself, using a light dusting of flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Take the right side and fold it over to cover 2/3 of the length of the dough, stretching the dough gently without tearing it.

Next, take the left side, lightly stretch it out and fold it over. This is called an envelope fold. Repeat the patting, stretching and folding from top to bottom this time. When done, lift the dough up and put it into the greased bowl, seam-side down. Cover with plastic wrap, stab the plastic wrap with a skewer and put in a warm spot for an hour.

After the hour has passed, put it onto your floured counter again. Repeat the patting and folding Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it with the plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight.

The next day, the dough will have doubled in size and will be cold and a bit stiff. Don't worry, it's not dead, just chillin'. It will be very easy to shape.

Turn the dough out of the bowl onto the work surface and pat down the dough to remove any air bubbles. Using your knife, divide the dough into 16 equal pieces.

Roll the portions up into smooth little balls. It's best to use little to no flour.

Place the rolled dough balls in the prepared loaf pans (eight in each pan), or for buns space out all balls on a sheet.

Make an egg wash by beating an egg with one tablespoon of water.

Brush each ball generously with the egg wash, cover the pans with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and set aside to do your final proof of another 2 1/2 hours. The dough balls should double in size. Keep the egg wash in the fridge. You will need it later. All you can do for now is preheat your oven to 350.

Brush the dough balls again with the egg wash and bake 20 minutes for loaves. Start checking buns at 10 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Cinnamon and Coriander at https://cinnamonandcoriander.com/en/thomas-kellers-brioche-deluxe-a-bouchon-bakery-recipe/.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: When baking brioche, an electric scale offers best accuracy