Brioche

Holidays mean feast (not dinner, but a celebration) - and that means baking. Brioche is my favorite holiday bread to make, because not only is it really tasty as a basic bread, it is a blank canvas that you can use for all sorts of things. The dough is infinitely flexible: chop some Kalamata olives and fresh basil for the dough, and you have olive loaf. If you're patient, you can make cinnamon rolls, too.

I have to warn you, though - these can cause fist fights, if you try to save them for a late sleeper.

Now brioche is french, which means that it can get infinitely elaborate. Both my readers know that we don't often do elaborate here. In fact, I like to cheat whenever I can get away with it. This is a cheat, but it's also a pretty good win.

First, start the yeast. Put one packet of yeast in 1/4 cup warm (to the hand) water, with a pinch of sugar. In 5 minutes you should have swinging yeast bachelor pad, foaming as the yeast makes more yeast.

Brioche is an enriched bread, so now you need to enrich it. Beat 2 eggs and a cup of milk, and then (here's the cheating part), microwave it to take the chill off. You're going for room temperature, so be careful. You're going to add it to the yeast, so if it's hot, you kill the yeast, which is bad baking juju. When it's room temperature, add it to the yeast.

UPDATE: Doh! I forgot to mention the butter. Add 4 tablespoons melted butter to the egg/milk mixture, which is another reason to have it room temperature (so it doesn't congeal). This isn't a low-fat bread.

The flour is by nature tricky. While you will likely use the same amount every time, how much you use will probably be different than how much I use. Humidity is a big factor, and can change the quantity by a half cup per loaf. I go by feel, which isn't much use in a description.

Add a cup of flour (for this, I like bread flour, but usually buy whatever is on sale - I said I cheat), and stir into the yeast. Now add a half teaspoon of salt.

Bread Tip #1: Probably the biggest mistake new bakers make is to forget the salt, which gives a very odd taste to your bread. It will be very obvious if you forget the salt.

Now add another cup of flour, and stir it in. Then another. By this time, you'll probably be mixing (kneading) with your hands. The kneading is important because it develops gluten, an elastic protein structure which gives bread its texture.

Bread tip #2: You'll never over-kneed. You will under-kneed, and this is a crying shame. You should kneed for around ten minutes, which is why I like to kneed as I add flour (I said I like to cheat).

I kneed by feel, which means I stop adding flour when the dough stays together in a big mass and doesn't stick to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm place for 2 hours (I said it would be easy, not quick). I like to turn the oven on for 2 minutes, then turn it off. You now have a warm-but-not-too-hot place to hide the bread to rise.

After 2 hours, punch the dough down and divide into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, and then drop the balls into a loaf pan. Cover with the plastic wrap and let rise for another hour.

Bread Tip #3: This method of dividing the dough and letting the balls rise together will give you an interesting shape to the finished loaf, for that special ooh - aah moment at the table. If you want, you can get all french and jiggy, and weave strings of brioche dough together. The result is wicked impressive, but you could just drop the dough en masse into the loaf pan if you want.

After the second rise, bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or so. The loaf should should hollow when you tap it.

Bread Tip #4: When you pre-heat the oven, add a pan with an inch or so of water: the added moisture will give you one last hail-Caesar-we-who-are-about-to-die-salute-you rise for the loaf.

Now, as I said, brioche is a canvas. So unleash your artistic side, and triple the recipe. Make a loaf as described above with the first third. Kneed in 1 cup chopped olive and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil to the second third, and bake as above.

For cinnamon rolls, roll the last third out to about1/4" thick. Cover with brown sugar and cinnamon, roll into a log, and slice into 3/4" pieces. Put the pieces into a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with more brown sugar and cinnamon, and put a thin pat of butter on the top of each roll. Cover with plastic wrap.

Now comes the cheating/magic part. Leave it on the counter overnight. It will rise all night and you'll get huge cinnamon rolls for that special ooh - aah moment at the table.

In the morning, you heat the oven (don't forget the pan of water) and bake for 22 to 25 minutes (more surface area than the loaf means quicker baking time).

Now I'm certain that Brigid would do an insanely good Cinnabon-style-only-good frosting, but that would require skill and work, and so would violate my cheating philosophy. Besides, I don't think that the rolls would last long enough to frost.

Hmmm - you could probably use this to make a very passable Venison Wellington, though ...

UPDATE 1 January 2009 17:04: Oops, forgot the butter. Added now.