Bread in Nigeria is always soft and sweet. If you've ever bought bread from a Nigerian fast food restaurant, you've probably noticed that it is even softer, richer, and more flavorful than the loaves sold by roadside vendors and small neighborhood shops. The downside, of course, is the higher price.
Ever since I started baking my own bread, I have experimented with countless tweaks to my sandwich bread recipe in search of that irresistible Nigerian bakery-style texture. Then I tried making brioche, and everything clicked. I immediately knew I had found the perfect base recipe to recreate the bread I want.
A regular loaf of bread usually lasts about a week in my home. A loaf of this brioche-inspired bread, however, barely survives three days. In fact, once it comes out of the oven, everyone rushes to grab a slice. These days, I almost always bake two loaves at a time.
This is a high-hydration dough that requires patience and planning. Unlike a standard sandwich loaf that can be mixed, proofed, and baked within four hours, this bread takes at least 16 hours from start to finish. It can also be quite messy to work with. Because of its high butter and liquid content, kneading by hand can be very demanding, so I recommend attempting this recipe only if you have access to a stand mixer.
This recipe makes one standard loaf.
Ingredients
- 400g all-purpose flour
- 200g salted butter
- 5 medium eggs
- 50g sugar (increase the sugar to about 60-70g if you want it sweeter)
- ½ tablespoon vanilla extract or 1 tablespoon vanilla powder
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 100ml whole milk
- About 2g salt (use 4g if using unsalted butter)
Method
Day 1
1. Mix the dry ingredients
In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Start mixing on low speed.
2. Begin Kneading
Add the milk, vanilla extract, and eggs to the dry ingredients. Knead on medium speed until the dough becomes stretchy and elastic.
Because of the high liquid content, the dough will be very sticky. Resist the urge to add extra flour. Keep kneading and allow the gluten to develop naturally. In my Ankarsrum mixer, this process took about 12 minutes at medium-high speed. Depending on your mixer, you may need to pause after this step to let the machine rest before continuing to the next step.
3. Incorporate the Butter and Continue Kneading
Once the dough is sufficiently stretchy, add the butter in small batches while still kneading with the mixer running at medium speed. Many brioche recipes call for cold butter, but I find that butter left at room temperature for about 20 minutes is much easier for my mixer to incorporate. Keep kneading until the dough looks smooth and shiny. It will still be quite sticky, which is completely normal.
4. First Rise and Cold Fermentation
Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with cling film or a kitchen towel.
At this proofing stage, the goal is not for the dough to double in size, but to kick-start yeast activity. Leave it at room temperature until you notice some rise. Depending on the temperature of your kitchen, this may take more or less than an hour.
Once the dough has visibly risen, transfer it to the refrigerator and leave it for at least 12 hours.
The slow, cold fermentation helps develop a deeper flavor while also firming up the buttery dough, making it much easier to shape.
Day 2
1. Shape the Dough
Remove the cold dough from the refrigerator and shape it as desired.
You can divide it into equal portions and place them side by side in a loaf pan for a pull-apart style loaf, or shape it as a traditional sandwich loaf.
2. Final Proof
Allow the shaped dough to come to room temperature whileundergoing a second proofing . This usually takes about one hour, though it may take longer in a cooler environment.
3. Bake
Bake at 170°C for approximately 25 minutes, or until the loaf develops a beautiful golden-brown color.
4. Cool and Enjoy
Remove the bread from the pan and allow it to cool.
Then enjoy every bite of this incredibly soft, rich, and buttery loaf. If your household is anything like mine, you may want to bake two loaves from the start.
Final Thoughts
If you've been searching for that soft, sweet, almost luxurious Nigerian bread sold in certain bakeries and fast food restaurants, this recipe comes remarkably close. The process requires time and patience, but the result is worth every minute. The overnight fermentation creates a rich flavor, while the generous amount of butter gives the bread its signature tender crumb.
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