Brioche

From the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a day" by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoey Francois, a delightful incredibly easy Brioche! This easily lends itself to many pastries, cinnamon rolls, apricot danish, let your imagination be your guide!

• Ready In: 3 hrs 35 mins
• Yields: 4 1 pound loaves

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups water, lukewarm
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons  yeast (I use instant)
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons kosher salt (If using table salt, cut down by one quarter)
• 8  eggs, beaten
• 1 1⁄2 cups  melted butter
• 1⁄2 cup honey
• 7 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
•  egg wash

Directions

1. Mix the first 6 ingredients in a stand mixer, or by hand until combined. Without kneading, mix in the flour, a cup at a time.
2. Put the dough in a large Tupperware container. You may have lumps, but don't worry, they will disappear during the resting time. Remember, you are NOT kneading this dough!
3. Let sit on the counter until it has doubled and collapsed in on itself, about 2 hours.
4. You can form it now, and bake, but it is such a soft dough, it is difficult to work with, so I put it in the refrigerator, covered loosely, overnight.
5. When you are ready to form into a bread or pastry, take it out, cut off a grapefruit sized portion, about a pound, form it into whatever shape you want, rolls, loaves, etc. and brush with the egg wash.
6. Let sit for one hour and twenty minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350°F.
7. Bake as directed , loaves 35-40 minutes or so, rolls, slightly less.
8. The dough will keep in the fridge for a week, just cut off a hunk when you want some fresh sweet bread.It can also be frozen for up to 2 months.