‘Let us all eat cake’: Puratos takes brioche to the next level

Easy Soft’r Brioche is a powdered 10% concentrate mix that can be combined with other Puratos ingredients to create a variety of premium quality brioche products to answer specific customer demands. Recipes can also be created with sourdough to naturally enhance particular flavours.

Brioche is believed to have been invented by Vikings, who settled in France in the 9^th​ Century and brought the art of making butter with them.

The word ‘brioche’ (purportedly derived from ‘bris’ and ‘hocher’, meaning ‘to knead’ and ‘to stir’) first appeared in a 1404 Normandy cookbook, however legend has it that - like many pastry recipes - it was born out of a mistake. The story says it started as a bread recipe that went array when a baker’s apprentice kneaded in a generous portion of butter to ‘loosen’ the dough.

Numerous other fables abound, but the appetite for the butter and egg-enriched pastry grew and by the 17^th​ Century, was a customary addition on any gracious Parisian table.

It was Marie Antoinette who, during the French Revolution, really vaulted it onto the world stage, commanding “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” (“Let them eat cake”)​ when told the starving peasants had no bread.

It was only during the 19^th​ Century - with the rise of the boulangerie​ - that brioche spread throughout the country and beyond, and today has taken the UK bakery sector by storm. Brioche is a popular product among Brits and has seen great success as a premium alternative to burger buns, hot dog rolls and sandwich carriers.

Creating hybrids and expanding credentials

According to Puratos, Easy Soft’r Brioche is simple to use and extremely versatile, suitable not only to make the standard brioche, but to add the luxury of brioche to hybrid formats such as hot cross buns, bagels and packaged croissants.

“The brioche is one of the UK’s bakery success stories and has firmly secured itself as a mainstream offering. But there is still ample opportunity for growth by adapting traditional recipes or formats to align with the priorities that consumers have today,”​ said Ben Leger, bakery marketing manager at Puratos UK.

“We’re uniquely positioned to help bakers do this, thanks to the breadth and depth of our product portfolio and experience and the detailed consumer understanding we obtain from Taste Tomorrow, our proprietary research programme.”​

The primary attraction of the mix is its ability to work alongside other Puratos ingredients, allowing bakers to develop differentiated brioches precisely suited to their local market.

For eco-aware consumers: By using MIMETIC, Puratos’ plant-based butter, a brioche-style product will be 100% vegan and can hold a credible sustainability position. This is because MIMETIC has an environmental impact almost three times lower than dairy butter.

For health-conscious consumers: It’s also possible for bakers to offer brioche with healthier credentials by including Puraslim in the recipe. This reduces fat content and calories, while also enhancing freshness, retaining a clean label with no compromise on taste. In addition, the Puraslim range of mixes and improvers can unlock cost efficiencies (up to 20% of recipe costs).

For consumers seeking the ultimately indulgent brioche: Easy Soft’r Brioche can be enhanced with the addition of Puratos’s Sapore Medea, which accentuates additional buttery notes. A toasted, dried, fermented wheat flour added in only small quantities, Sapore Medea is a sourdough flavour that is both convenient to use and effective in creating a rich taste.

“Easy Soft’r Brioche has been developed to add as much value as possible for bakers by offering convenience while improving texture and extending shelf life, but also giving them the freedom to customise their product ranges in the ways they want to,”​ added Leger.

Easy Soft'r Brioche is currently only available to the UK market.