Long chilling of brioche dough?

Question

What benefit should I expect from longer chilling of brioche dough? My recipe calls for kneading, allowing the dough to rise until doubled, chilling (without deflating) for one hour, deflating, chilling another hour, deflating by business envelope folding twice, then chilling for at least 6 hours up to two days.

The recipe says longer chilling allows the dough to "ripen". I kind of understand that as it relates to a tangier dough like a ciabatta or certainly a sourdough, but brioche is so cake-like, I can't imagine how "ripening" will affect the flavor? Also, I plan to braid the loaf. Will longer chilling make that easier? Are there any cons to resting/chilling longer than the minimum 6(+2) hours that I should consider?

Answer 1

The effect of long retardation of brioche dough is going to be driven by the same basic processes as in any bread dough:

• Slowed but longer yeast activity, producing more of the flavorful byproducts (lactic and acetic acids) which give bread the pleasant, yeasty flavor.
• Gluten development through autolysation, as the glutinan and gliadin react in the presence of water, forming bonds that create the gluten network.

All of these processes will be modified by the extreme levels of enrichment, so there will be less gluten development and less yeast activity than in a leaner dough. I suspect (but do not have a reference to document) that that the enrichment will place a ceiling on the absolute amount of gluten development possible, as the gluten sheets will not able to grow as long and strong as they otherwise would, being physically interrupted by the lipids.

Answer 2

You chill brioche dough because you don't want your butter to melt.

Brioche doughs, especially the richer ones, are tricky. You can get the butter inside it, but it requires a lot of handling, and the more you handle it, the hotter it gets due to friction, the temperature of your hands, and the temperature of the air in your kitchen. Warm brioche dough can be too soft to handle, and in the worst case will start weeping butter while it is still being shaped.

This is why it is recommended that you chill your dough thoroughly (and this does mean a few hours in the fridge or overnight) to give the butter the chance to solidify before the final shaping. Of course, the slow gluten development is also beneficial. Especially if you added the butter at the beginning, you probably couldn't develop that much gluten, so the later autolysis helps.

Answer 3

My understanding is that the longer rest time allows the gluten to develop more fully, while the chill will slow down the speed at which the yeast acts, resulting in a more elastic dough.