Baking a brioche should be part of every cook's repertoire. There are as many ways to use them as there are variations. Here is a classic brioche that tastes just as good with savoury dishes as it does as a sweet treat, for example in a Bread pudding or as a fantastic sweet dessert or for brunch called "Orange Bostock".

Preparation and ingredients for 1 large brioche loaf

80 ml milk, lukewarm 2 eggs 40 g sugar 25 g fresh yeast 300 gFlour 90 g butter, cubed, soft

Prepare the brioche dough

Stir the milk, sugar and yeast together and leave to stand for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs to the milk mixture and beat with a food processor or hand mixer until light and fluffy. Sieve in the flour, add a pinch of salt and knead for 4 minutes using the dough hook.

With the food processor or hand mixer running, add the butter cubes piece by piece and knead the dough for a further 5 minutes. The finished dough should stick to the hook.

Leave the brioche dough to rest

Shape the dough into a ball, place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise for 2 hours at room temperature. Leave to rest overnight in the fridge.

Shape into balls and bake until crispy brown

Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan oven 180°C).

Roll the dough into 6 balls, place in a cake tin lined with baking paper and leave to rise until doubled in size.

Place the tin in the centre of the oven and bake the brioche for 40 - 45 minutes. A nice brown crust should form. Remove and leave to cool.