Tag Archives: brioche

Brioche Revisited…

I must admit, I fell in love with this bread.  Since New Year’s Eve dinner included filet mignon I thought I’s take it up a notch and make boeuf en brioche.  Since the Middle Class brioche was a bit soft, I used the Poor Man’s brioche recipe.  The dough was much closer to a traditional bread dough in terms of its consistency and handling.  The fact that this recipe could be done in a few short hours was attractive.  After an hour’s ferment, I divided the dough into 6 pieces and rolled them into 8″ circles.  I placed 1/2 oz of fois gras in the centre of the dough, placed the seared filet (about a minute and a half on each side) on top and carefully wrapped it.  Gave it an hour’s proof and slipped it into a 400 degree oven.  The recipe said 25-30 minutes but they started to become well browned at the 12 minute mark so I covered them with foil.  They came out nearly the size of softballs!  Next time I will roll the dough out a bit more thin.  And I’m sorry to say that I was not able to photograph them since my dinner guests devoured them before the thought occurred to me!

The next morning I took out the loaf of the Middle Class brioche which I had frozen, sliced it into 1/2 inch pieces and made French Toast.  If you’ve never had French Toast using brioche, you’re missing out!!  It’s a little slice of heaven!

Brioche

Brioche is the Queen of all breads. Whether it’s poor man’s or rich man’s brioche, biting into a slice will cause your taste buds to dance! I choose the middle recipe for this venture. I was too chicken to attempt the rich man’s recipe and the poor man’s one sounded so terribly pedestrian. So I chose the middle road. Though it is suggested by Peter Reinhart that the dough retard (be placed in the fridge) overnight, I made it the same day chilling the dough for almost 6 hours. It was quite firm and not as easy to work with as I would have thought. I made 11 brioches a tete (since I can’t find my 12th brioche tin!!) and 1 loaf. Next time I will make the little ball on top with less of a “neck” as I don’t think I rolled it out thin enough. The loaf took much longer to proof, about 3 hours. I suppose this is due to the fact that the dough retains the cold much longer due to its volume.

To echo the author’s sentiments, this is THE definitive bread to make french toast (and if you dare, the nest for an awesome Eggs Benedict). The texture reminded me of powdered sugar; just melted when I bit into it with a pronounced butter flavour. I will surely be making this recipe again! I wonder how this would taste with a portion of goat butter substituted?