Round Braided Brioche

I can never tired of breads...sometimes it is just the same bread all over again but I'm making it or trying it using a different element. This brioche recipe is the same recipe that I used for the past few years but I don't think I have ever put it on in this blog. Normally I will use a strong flour but today I am making it using unbleached plain wheatflour (10% -11% gluten) and mixed it with a small amount of strong white bread flour (13% gluten). The texture of this bread recipe using a strong bread flour is more chewy because of the high percentage of gluten inside it (see Challah) whereas if using an unbleached white plain flour, it produces a slightly flatter and denser texture as seen below. It is a bit crumbly, but not as crumbly as a cake. But the taste it still the same. So, if you want a slightly denser bread, you may want to add up to a 1/2 cup of strong flour on top of 500gm unbleached plain wheatflour. I think, the one using strong bread flour is a bit lighter...

Ingredients:

200ml warm milk

2 tsp active dry yeast

60gm sugar

90gm melted butter

2 eggs

500 gm strong bread flour, more if needed

1 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Combine the warm milk & sugar in a mixing bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Lightly whisk to blend and let it stand for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
2. Add the egg, butter, 500gm flour and salt. Place the bowl on the mixer with a dough hook. Knead on low speed for 8-10 minutes. If using unbleached flour, you may want to add one tablespoon at a time and up to 1/2 cup of flour until the dough does not sticking to the sides of the bowl.
3. Remove the dough from the bowl. Form it into a ball, transfer it into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place until double in size, about 1.5 hours. 
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and lightly knead, add more flour if needed. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. With flattened hand, roll each piece back and forth, forming a 15 inch rope with tapered ends.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat and lay 2 ropes horizontally and 2 ropes vertically on the sheet crossing each other, just like lattice pastry. Weave or braid the ropes together accordingly into a round shape. Pinch together the four ends and tuck them under the bread.
6. Cover the braid loosely with oiled plastic wrap or clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place, let rise 40-50 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180 degrees C a few minutes before baking.
7. Glaze the braid with beaten egg and bake in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes until golden.
8. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing it with serrated knife.