Brioche

 

This month’s Movies &  Munchies pick was The Taste of Things, a French historical film taking place in the late 1800’s.

It was a slower moving, meandering film about the love of food (with a little love story thrown in for good measure).  

Most of the film took place in the kitchen with the preparation of very classic French cuisine. I have to say, I was feeling rather proud of myself for identifying (and having made) several of the recipes before they were actually mentioned by name, so I knew classic French food was something I could prepare.

Of course, I watched the film just after the cold snap with temps in the 30’s  that would’ve been perfect for a nice comforting French stew, and instead watched as the temps soared back into the 90’s (the weather in May is all over the place).  So instead of stew I decided to try my hand at brioche bread.  

A lovely classic brioche, baked in the fluted pan with a knob on top was seen in the film, but I don't have a brioche pan and one was not to be found at the local kitchen store, so I went with a braided bread instead.  

For the bread I used this recipe from Sugar Geek Recipes and even weighed the ingredients.  You guys.  I am not an ingredient weigher.  I’m more of a “feel the spirit” baker, especially with bread, but there I was and it was not going well.  Instead of a sticky dough ball, I had soup, so I felt the spirit anyway and got it resembling what it should look like, then it went into the refrigerator overnight to proof.

Then instead of proofing, it deflated.  And instead of flipping out of my bowl like bread dough, I had to scrape it out like cookie dough.

I’m not gonna lie, I almost quit right there.  This was not behaving like any bread dough I’d made in my life.

Yet, I dutifully beat the dough into submission, making long ropes, braiding and setting it in the sunshine to proof again.  It took much longer than the recipe suggested (but given its density, I wasn’t surprised), but the dough actually did rise!

And as it baked it smelled right!  It was dark brown!  It was glossy!

Imagine my shock when I cut open the bread and it was soft, pillowy, buttery perfection!  The rich, light bread made absolutely heavenly grilled sandwiches.  I do believe my kids will be requesting brioche again very soon!

I guess I never should have doubted!  

I was so skeptical of this recipe that I quit writing ingredient conversions and directions half way through, so go ahead and see the recipe I used, but note that I did need about ½ cup more flour and significantly more rising time to achieve my bread.