Brioche Easter bread

To make the dough, put the yeast in a bowl, pour in warm milk (its temperature should not be higher than 50 °C), stir until the yeast dissolves. Add flour and stir again until smooth. Cover with film and let the dough stand for 45 minutes. It should at least double in size and air bubbles should appear in it.

Remove the eggs from the refrigerator in advance - they should be at room temperature. Cut the butter into cubes (2*2 cm) and put in the refrigerator. Rinse the raisins with running water and soak in boiling water.

Install the paddle attachment (for cake dough) on the planetary mixer. Transfer the dough into a mixer bowl. Add eggs, vanilla and regular sugar and mix on low speed until ingredients are combined. Mix flour and salt in a separate bowl, add this mixture to the mixer bowl.

Knead the dough at low speed for about 5 minutes, then at medium speed for 10-15 minutes. It should become shiny, elastic and easily move away from the walls of the bowl.

Change the mixer attachment to a hook. Turn on medium speed and add 1-2 cubes of cold butter to the bowl. It should be completely incorporated into the dough (this usually takes about 5-7 minutes). Next, continue to add the same amount of oil, each time making sure that it combines well with the dough.

After this, knead the dough at medium speed for about 5-7 minutes. It should become smooth, shiny, and not very thick. You can do a gluten window test. Pinch off a piece of dough and stretch it in different directions with your fingers. The test is passed if a thin translucent film is formed. If the film does not stretch well and breaks, then knead the dough for about 10 minutes.

Drain the raisins and dry them with paper towels. After this, roll in flour. Place the dough on the table in a rectangular layer, sprinkle evenly with raisins, roll into a roll and knead the dough a little with your hands.

Grease a large bowl with butter and place the dough in it. Cover with cling film or a lid and leave to ferment at room temperature for 1 hour. After this, put the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours (maximum 24 hours).

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, weigh it and divide it on a scale into 2 or 4 equal portions (this amount of dough can make 2 medium or 4 small Easter cakes).

Mash each piece of dough with your fingers into a layer, gather the edges of the dough into the middle, connect, then turn the resulting ball over with the seam down. Use your palms to round and roll the ball so that the surface of the workpiece is stretched. Cover with film and leave for 10 minutes.

Place the dough balls into the Easter cake pans, keeping in mind that the volume of the Easter cakes will double. Cover with film and leave to proof for 2-3 hours. You can check readiness like this: dip your finger in the flour and gently press on the dough; if the hole straightens out slowly, then the brioche cake is ready for baking.

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Bake the cakes on a rack on the lower level of the oven for 30-40 minutes. Check readiness with a skewer; it should come out clean from the middle of the cake. If the cake is very browned but not baked inside, cover it with foil, shiny side up, and continue baking until done.

Remove the cakes from the oven. If you are using metal molds, immediately remove the cakes and then cool them on their sides. If the cakes are in paper forms, then wait 5 minutes, and then also cool them on the side.