Holiday Baker Man: Whole Wheat Brioche

We eat mostly Whole Wheat bread at home. Unless there is something special like the raisin cinnamon bread I made a couple of days ago. My better half asked for a whole wheat brioche. So....here goes....

When you make this yourself be prepared...this recipe takes two days.

I used the recipe from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads - New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor.

Whole Wheat Brioche

More after the jump.......
For my 4 small loaves of Whole Wheat Brioche I used:

1 3/4 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Whole Milk, Scalded and cooled
8 Ounces of Melted and Cooled Butter

then:
1 3/4 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 Teaspoon of Instant Yeast
4 Large eggs, Slightly beaten

then:
1/2 cup of Whole Wheat Flour (but up to a 1 cup could be needed)
5/8 Teaspoon of Salt
2 1/4 Teaspoons of Instant Yeast
3 Tablespoons of Sugar
Egg Wash

The night before I wanted the Brioche I started:

I mixed the Whole Wheat Flour, the Salt, the scaled and cooled milk, and the butter together until it was well mixed into a nice ball. I placed the ball in a covered bowl into the fridge overnight.

Whole Wheat Brioche - Ingredients

I then mixed the whole wheat flour, the yeast and the eggs into a nice ball as well. I let is sit for a couple of minutes then kneaded it for a couple of more minutes. I formed a ball and placed it in a bowl and covered it. I placed the bowl in the fridge over night too.

Whole Wheat Brioche - Ingredients

Whole Wheat Brioche - Mixed and Waiting

The next morning I cut up each of the dough balls into 12 pieces with my bench scraper and put them in my mixer with the dough hook. I add the salt, yeast, and sugar to the bowl as well. I mixed everything for 4 minutes on low speed.

Whole Wheat Brioche - Mixture Cup Up and Ready to go

Having never made this kind of bread before I was skeptical that it would all come together...but it did!

Whole Wheat Brioche - In the Mixer

I dusted the counter with flour and stared kneading my hand. Adding more flour as I went along. I incorporated 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour (you may need up to 1 cup) until the dough was cold, firm and slightly tacky.

Whole Wheat Brioche - Waiting to be Kneaded

Whole Wheat Brioche - Kneaded

While the dough was resting, I sprayed 4 small loaf pans with spray oil.

I then formed 4 small loaves and placed them into the pans. I placed the pans on a baking sheet and covered the whole tray with a lightly oiled cover of plastic wrap. Off to the warm place these went for 3 1/2 hours.

After the rising was complete I heated the oven to 425°F - 218° C.

I brushed a light egg wash on each loaf and put them into the oven on the middle shelf for 15 minutes. I then rotated the pans and baked them until they had an internal 195°F - 91°C temperature.

I removed the pans from the oven and emptied the loaves onto a cooling rack for 2 hours.

Then we enjoyed! Best eaten the day it is made!

Happy Baking

More pictures......