Low-Fat Brioche

Rich and delicious, and you choose to knead or not to knead

Source: Inspired by Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients

Taste: 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients
- 1 ½ tbsp active dry or instant yeast
- 1 cup lukewarm water (between 100-110F)
- ½ cup honey
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup honey
- 8 egg yolks / about half cup liquid yolks
- ½ cup canola oil
- 7 - 8 cups flour (more for dusting while shaping the bread)
- 1 tbsp salt
Total: 2 large (2 lb) loaves

Directions

1. In a large bowl mix the water and the yeast with 1 tbsp of honey, and let stand for 5 minutes, until the yeast dissolves and looks bubbly.
2. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix. Then add 3 cups of the flour, the salt, then another 4 cups of the flour.
3. If you are not using a mixer it’s better to stay with a wetter dough, so just mix all the ingredients with a wooden spoon and once everything is incorporated. Cover the bowl with a wet cloth, a wet paper towel, plastic wrap or a lid, and let it rise on the counter for 2 hours.
4. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook (like my beloved KitchenAid), knead the dough with the mixer for 10 minutes. After about 5 minutes start adding the flour gradually. Eventually the dough should not stick much to the sides of the bowl, when kneaded. I ended up using 7.5 cups of flour. Cover the bowl with a wet cloth, a wet paper towel, plastic wrap or a lid, and let it rise on the counter for 2 hours.
5. By the end of 2 hours the dough should have doubled in volume. Now you are ready to shape it. If you have kneaded the dough, it will be easier to shape, so you can flour a working surface and braid your loaf (like Challah), or roll small balls and place them next to each other in a pan to make small buns. If you are using wet dough, it might be too sticky to shape, so it’s best to make 2 loaves in 2 9x5 loaf pans.
6. Once you’ve shaped the dough, let it rise for another hour, again covering the bread with wet cloth. After about 40 minutes, turn on the oven to preheat it to 350F. It should be hot enough for the bread just in time.
7. Before baking, brush the top of the bread with egg wash (egg white, mixed with 1-2 tbsp water and optionally 1 tsp sugar).
8. Bake the bread for 45-50 minutes. I baked both loaves together for 50 minutes.
9. After removing the loaves from the oven, wrap the bread in a kitchen towel, to keep the crust soft. Let cool to room temperature before serving.

Afterthoughts
This bread turned out to be great - moist and soft and rich. I would not suspect it of being low fat if I did not know better :-). I will be making much more of it.