Petite brioche à tête…World Bread Day 2007
Here in the lovely Madison area we have some delightful bakeries. Anything baked at Madison Sourdough Company is crusty and satisfying, Café Soleil turns out an Epi roll that I long to have with a double shot latté for breakfast each morning, and we have a soft spot for Clausen’s boysenberry bread and they make an awesome rye.
But alas, very few turn out brioche on a regular basis. For me, this is the most indulgent, celebratory bread imaginable…the perfect bread to give you to celebrate today, World Bread Day 2007.
Over the past few weeks I’ve browsed through many bread books. Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice includes 3 different recipes with varying degrees of richness and a step-by-step guide to form the brioche into the classic tête shape. Unfortunately for me it was a library book that I had already returned.
I ultimately used Nancy Silverton’s recipe from Julia Bakes. It was well written, offered encouragement in just the right places, and produced a bread that had the perfect texture, crumb, and flavor of the classic brioche.
If you’ve never made this bread before I can give you some advice: don’t be in a hurry. It involves a sponge, 5 eggs, 6 ounces of butter, about 25 minutes of mixing on medium (must use stand mixer), and then several long rises…including an overnight stay at spa refrigerator. This bread takes time, and then surprise…it bakes up super quick. While they baked some of them lost their heads and they all came out of the oven looking like drunken babies…and then they disappeared, gobbled up by my hungry men.
The finished product may not have looked perfect but the taste was superb…not too yeasty, sweet but not too sweet, soft yet strong…this is a bread full of contradictions…I love it. I can’t wait to make it again. Happy World Bread Day and thanks to Zorra of Kochtopf for hosting the party.
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13 Responses to “Petite brioche à tête…World Bread Day 2007”
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That looks so, so tasty right now!
Lovely looking brioche and crumb! I’m on a brioche baking kick right now, and absolutely want to make the brioche à tête variety since that is what I grew up with in the Paris area. Yours look truly authentic and lovely!
Beautiful! You can practically smell them from the photo. My husband, (the Dutch ex-pastry chef), was impressed at the color. He always complains that Americans eat raw dough…not Vanessa!
What jam is that?!? I bought a small jar of Lee’s “Apricot Blackberry” last week–divine. Even though we make a lot of our own preserves. We have TONS of homemade peach(from the CSA) and grape(from the Concords next to our house). Want some??
Cedar, thanks so much for the kind words.
Astrid, your compliment made my day!
MadLisa, my sweet GH always eats raw dough…I have no idea why. But I must confess I adore raw cake batter. The jam is actually a citron honey and of course I want jam, grape please…thank you much.
I’m a Brioche-addict. ;-) These look so awesome! Thank you for joining World Bread Day.
I like a lot Brioche,and I will try your recipe thats looks delicious
Hey Vanessa, we’ll have to meet up in the Willy Coop parking lot so I can give you the goods…!
Nice brioche. If you want some tips on getting the shape just right, the Professional Pastry Chef (Bo Friberg) has a good step-by-step for the shaping.
I’ve seen them made about 5 different ways, I’m sure you’ll find one you like and stick with it. Just make about 200 more and everything will work out!
Zorra, thanks for promoting World Bread Day…you;ve done a great job.
Sylvia, thanks. Your blog looks delicious too.
MadLisa, I love jam…I’ll send you some times.
Jef, so glad you chimed in as I knew you’d have some ideas. My next big project is to tackle your macaroons.
Love, love, love that picture of the empty brioche pans!
You’ll find the macarons aren’t much of a job. The latest recipe I have up is just about foolproof - italian meringue + no drying times = easier macarons. I really noticed a huge improvement on my success rate with those two changes.
Now I’ve got to get me some mini-brioche tins like those and make myself a batch; you just can’t buy decent brioche around here.
very nice looking brioche
Jennifer, they’re my tin soliders. Thanks for the love!
Jef, that macaron post is so excellent.
Ed, thank you very much.