Brioche Mince Pies | Bread Recipes | Jamie Oliver (2024)

FAQs

What was traditionally in mince pies? ›

Mince pies were first served in the early middle ages, and the pies were quite sizeable, filled with a mixture of finely minced meat, chopped up fruit and a preserving liquid. Mincemeat originally came about as a good way of preserving meat, without salting, curing, smoking or drying it.

Crimp the crust to have a high rim that will act like a dam to stop overflowing filling. Check your oven for being level, so whatever filling that escapes the slashes will be distributed evenly instead of going to one side of the pie.

The fat in butter can also extend the shelf life of your baked goods. Consider a baguette and a loaf of brioche. The baguette contains absolutely no fat, so it goes stale and becomes dry within a day. Brioche, on the other hand, is loaded with butter and, in turn, will stay moist and soft for several days.

Brioche is different to most breads because it's made with an enriched dough and tastes a little sweeter. . Because it's an enriched dough, you get that famous brioche texture of soft bread, the classic golden colour and quintessentially rich taste. It's bread made “magnifique”.

Mincemeat pie is a dish that isn't very common in the American kitchen, which can lead to some confusion for cooks, even those on the Allrecipes staff.

Ingredients included dried fruits like raisins prunes and figs, lamb or mutton (representing the shepherds) and spices like cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg (for the Wise Men). By late Victorian England, mince pies ceased to contain meat and had all fruit fillings (with suet).

English tradition demands that the mince meat mixture should only be stirred in a clockwise direction. To stir it anticlockwise is to bring bad luck for the coming year. Another English custom is for all the family to take a turn in stirring the mincemeat mixture whilst making a wish.

If the bottom crust doesn't set before the filling soaks in, it's going to be gummy. A metal pie pan placed on a preheated surface will set the bottom crust quickest; once cooked, the liquids from the filling above won't soak in, and as a result: no soggy bottom.

If the fat melts before a strong gluten structure has formed, the pastry will end up soggy. Overly moist fillings can also contribute to a soggy bottom as the liquid will drop to the bottom of the pie and ooze into the pastry. To ensure crisp pastry, the base can be blind baked before adding the filling.

It is possible to add too much butter to bread dough. Too much butter will result in a very soft, sticky dough that's difficult to shape, and bakes up greasy and dense.

Why does brioche need to sit overnight? ›

Overnight Proof: By letting the dough rise slowly in a cold environment, it not only develops more depth of flavor, but also gives you more flexibility with the timing of baking the loaf. Cold brioche dough is also much easier to work with!

Use good-quality flour with a high gluten content, ideally a fine pastry flour (T45 in France). Classic French brioche recipes use half as much egg and butter as flour. For 250g flour, for example, you will need 125g eggs and 125g butter.

Brioche is one of the costliest bakery products because of its high proportion of butter and eggs.

The origin of Brioche

The name "brioche" comes from the old French word "brier," which means "to crush the dough". Over the centuries, brioches spread to many regions, and there are now over 30 different types of brioche in France, with almost every region having its own specialty.

“Brioche contains a high amount of carbs and fat, making it a less than ideal bread,” Richards cautioned. “The carbs are from refined flour which means it will spike blood glucose as well as cause inflammation.”

A mince pie (also mincemeat pie in North America, and fruit mince pie in Australia and New Zealand) is a sweet pie of English origin filled with mincemeat, being a mixture of fruit, spices and suet. The pies are traditionally served during the Christmas season in much of the English-speaking world.

Markham's recipe called for an entire leg of mutton and three pounds of suet which were mixed with salt, cloves, mace, currants, raisins, prunes, dates, and orange peel, a list of ingredients that, save for the meat, which is remarkably like that used today.

Mince pies have been eaten as part of a traditional British Christmas since at least the 16th century. Then they were made of a spiced, sweet minced meat mixture (often lamb), but they are now commonly made with sweet mincemeat, a mixture of dried fruits, sugar, spices, and brandy.

By the 18th century it was more likely to be tongue or even tripe, and in the 19th century it was minced beef. It was not until the late Victorian period and early 20th Century that mince pies dropped the meat and had all fruit fillings (albeit with suet). Even today there are traditions associated with mince pies.