Manzke - Baking at République: masterful techniques and recipes

MARGARITA MANZKE is the co-owner of Rpublique and two more restaurants in Los Angeles plus five other caf/bakeries in the Filipino capital, Manila. She is a five-time semifinalist for the James Beard Foundations Outstanding Pastry Chef award. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and business partner, chef Walter Manzke, and their two children.

BETTY HALLOCK is a former staff writer and editor at the Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal. She lives in Los Angeles with her partner, chef Josef Centeno.

Brioche

My favorite thing to make is anything with dough but especially bread, and particularly brioche because its so rich and buttery. I love making this dough, shaping the loaves, baking the bread, and seeing it come out of the oven. Its so gratifying. It still makes me really excited to come to work in the morning, even at 3:00 AM .

The ingredients in brioche are straightforward: just eggs, milk, flour, salt, yeast, sugar, and butter. Brioche is truly easy to master, and once you do, you can make so much with the same dough. Make the brioche dough the day before shaping and baking because it rests overnight in the refrigerator. Once the dough is chilled, you can shape the dough and freeze it. Before baking, thaw the dough in the refrigerator overnight, shape, and then proof at room temperature (between 75 and 80F) until doubled in size.

Brioche is such an important part of the bakery, used not only for fluffy, buttery loaves of bread but also for tarts filled with pastry cream and the best of Californias fresh fruit. The bread is cut extra-thick for caramelized French toast, and any leftovers are mounded into a cast-iron pan that overflows with molten custardy bread pudding.

I especially like the richness and texture of brioche, with its fine, uniform crumb. Getting it to turn out like this requires care in the mixing: Pay attention to the temperature of the ingredients, the order in which theyre used, and how long theyre mixed. The key is making sure the dough doesnt get too warm before everything is thoroughly incorporated.

Brioche Dough

Makes 1.8kg / 4 lb (enough for 2 loaves)

440g / 2 cups high-fat European-style butter

725g / 5 cups plus rounded 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

150g / cup granulated sugar

9 eggs

75ml / cup plus 1 Tbsp whole milk

10g / 2 tsp fine sea salt

5g / 2 tsp instant yeast

Take the butter out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before you plan to use it so that its pliable but still cool. Cut the butter into -inch cubes and set aside. Measure the flour and sugar separately and place in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the eggs and milk and mix on the lowest speed just to blend. Add the flour, salt, and yeast. Mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes to incorporate the ingredients.

Stop and scrape down the bowl. Increase the speed to high and mix for another 2 minutes.

With the mixer still on high, rain in the granulated sugar slowly and evenly. Let the sugar become incorporated before adding morethis should take at least 5 minutes and up to 7 minutes. The dough will start to come off the hook at this point and get a little softer as the sugar is incorporated.

Turn off the mixer. Add the butter all at once. Mix for 10 minutes on high speed to fully incorporate the butter. Stop and scrape down the bowl once or twice during the process. The dough will form a mass around the dough hook and pull away from the sides of the bowl with a slight thwacking sound. The dough is done when it is glossy and smooth and moist but not sticky (1) .

To confirm that the dough is properly mixed, perform the windowpane test: Take a small amount of dough, grasp it between your thumbs and forefingers, and carefully stretch it until it is thin and nearly transparent. It shouldnt break. If it does, return it to the mixer and mix for another 2 minutes and test again.

Coat a large bowl or container with cooking spray. Place the dough in the bowl and roll it around to coat with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place (between 75 and 85F) for 30 minutes.

Lightly dust your work surface with flour, remove the dough from the bowl, and set it on the work surface. Gently fold the dough into rough thirds, as if you were folding a letter (2). Turn it 90 degrees and fold it the same way again. Return the dough to the bowl, cover, and let it rise for another 30 minutes until doubled in size (3) .

Transfer the dough to a large bowl coated with cooking spray. Place the dough in the bowl and roll it around to coat with the oil. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside at room temperature. Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator to chill for 12 hours. After chilling, your brioche dough will be ready to use for recipes that call for it.

Brioche Loaves

These are tall, dark, and handsome loaves. Brioche is such beautiful bread. Once proofed and baked, these loaves rise high during baking, so that theyre quite substantial. I like brioche thats extra-brown, well beyond golden. These ones look ultra-impressive.

Makes 2 loaves

1.8kg / 4 lb Brioche Dough ()

Egg Wash

1 egg

1 egg yolk

5ml / 1 tsp whole milk

Pinch of fine sea salt

After the brioche dough has chilled for 12 hours, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Lightly grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans with butter.

Deflate the dough and divide it into 4 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball and place 2 balls in each loaf pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside to rise in a warm place (no warmer than 90F) until doubled in size, about 1 hours. The dough balls will have come together into one loaf, and the proofed dough will have filled and risen above the rim of the pan.

Heat the oven to 350F.

To make the egg wash: In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, egg yolk, milk, and salt. Carefully brush the loaves with the egg wash, making sure it is only on the top of the loaves. Bake until dark golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 200F, about 30 minutes.

Invert the pans over a cooling rack, lift off the loaf pans, turn the loaves upright, and let cool for 30 minutes. The brioche will keep, wrapped in plastic, for up to 4 days. The loaves can be frozen, tightly wrapped, for up to 3 months.

Thick-Cut Caramelized French Toast

French toast is a no-brainer if you have brioche on hand. We developed this recipe when we were opening our Wildflour bakery-cafs in the Philippines, where French toast was typically made with thin-sliced bread. We wanted something differentreally simple but different. Thats when we thought of cutting the brioche super-thick. You cook it in butter, sear both sides, and then you have to finish it in the oven for a good 5 minutes to cook it through. Its like a steak. After you take it out of the oven, you sprinkle sugar in a pan (we use steel pans at the restaurant, but nonstick works) and wait for that to caramelize. Then you put the French toast in and caramelize one side. Serve it caramelized-side up, so theres a thin layer of crunchy sugar on top.