"The Bread Baker's Apprentice" by Reinhart

[Laura B]

Note how the big one in the back looks like a bunny, I fully intended for it to like like this  .

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Elie, I love the bunny brioche!

Just curious - which formula did you use? I made the dough for the Middle Class Brioche today, and I am giving it an overnight rest. I'll make dinner rolls and craquelin in the morning. That's too bad you didn't have any sugar cubes. You should definitely try the craquelin next time you make brioche!

[FoodMan]

Note how the big one in the back looks like a bunny, I fully intended for it to like like this  .

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Elie, I love the bunny brioche!

Just curious - which formula did you use? I made the dough for the Middle Class Brioche today, and I am giving it an overnight rest. I'll make dinner rolls and craquelin in the morning. That's too bad you didn't have any sugar cubes. You should definitely try the craquelin next time you make brioche!

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I always use the middle-class brioche which is plenty rich.

elie

[jgarner53]

I lost my tête!

I made the middle class brioche, and made a dozen mini brioche à têtes and one large one (which, in retrospect, was a bit too large, but c'est la vie). Most of the minis lost their caps in the oven, turning into just high-domed mini brioches. And I thought I jammed the ball down in there good! (following the instructions in the Rich Man's Brioche).

Here are photos, with some homemade strawberry jam alongside:

And a close-up of the sacrificial mini (quality control, you know)

Great buttery flavor and really fine texture to the crumb. I probably could have baked them all a few minutes longer to enhance the browning of the crust, but lesson to be learned for the next time.

[FoodMan]

I lost my tête!

I made the middle class brioche, and made a dozen mini brioche à têtes and one large one (which, in retrospect, was a bit too large, but c'est la vie). Most of the minis lost their caps in the oven, turning into just high-domed mini brioches. And I thought I jammed the ball down in there good! (following the instructions in the Rich Man's Brioche).

Here are photos, with some homemade strawberry jam alongside:

And a close-up of the sacrificial mini (quality control, you know)

Great buttery flavor and really fine texture to the crumb. I probably could have baked them all a few minutes longer to enhance the browning of the crust, but lesson to be learned for the next time.

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Very, very nice, Jennifer, BTW I love your show .

What kind of eggs did you use? Free range? The reason I ask is because my brioche made with good old supermarket eggs is no as nice and yellow as yours.

Ok, now can we discuss what is everyon'e favorite use for leftover brioche? I always seem to make French Toast.

Elie

[jgarner53]

What kind of eggs did you use?

I use Trader Joe's large Cage-Free eggs. The carton advertises no antibiotics, no hormones, and all-natural feed. The yolks are almost always a very deep yellow-orange, which gave me that lovely yellow (pale, buttery yellow) crumb.

[Behemoth]

Bah. I love brioche but there is no way I am making them unless I have three or four houseguests who can reliably dispatch them in a day or two. My jeans are tight enough as it is...

[jgarner53]

That's why I ate the smallest one and sent the rest in to my husband's work! Let them have the calories!

[fiftydollars]

This is just a random comment:

I absolutely love the Rich Man’s brioche. It is ridiculously more rich and much, much better than the middle-class version. I made both recently and I ended up using most of the middle-class brioche dough for sticky buns (effin disgustingly good!) because the rich man’s brioche is just too good. On it’s own the lower fat brioche is still damn good, but you can’t compare the two recipes because the one with a FULL POUND of plugra is always going to win. It is much easier to work with the version with only a half-pound of butter, though...

[Laura B]

So, I am finally posting my pictures from Sunday's baking! First, the pull-apart rolls. I weighed out 2 oz balls and used a rectangular cake pan.

Next, the craquelin. These pics show the sugar cubes, which I rubbed on the outside of an orange, then pressing the cubes into the dough, and then covering the larger piece of dough with the smaller one.

The dough would not cooperate and make a nice circle, but it didn't really matter. As long as it will fully wrap up the sugar-filled dough, no problem!

Here are the two loaves. One of them exploded on one side. Why did it do this?

[jgarner53]

Beautiful rolls and brioche! How did the craquelin with the orange sugar taste?

[FoodMan]

Laura (aka brioche queen), absolutly wonderful bread and I am so itching to try the craquelin!

[Laura B]

Beautiful rolls and brioche! How did the craquelin with the orange sugar taste?

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Thanks! The orange sugar is amazing! I would like to try it with lemon next time.

[Behemoth]

I made the multigrain bread last night. Wow, that stuff smells great coming out of the oven.

I liked it a lot, and (as PR says) it makes great toast. But I would like a recipe for something a little more "whole grain" -- sort of like those 9-grain breads you get at health food stores. I really love how they go with tomato sandwiches and BLTs -- I found this loaf a little too sweet for that kind of use.

[jgarner53]

Since I had some extra cream cheese after making some cream cheese icing, I had to make bagels, didn't I?

Unfortunately, I only had half a pound of high-gluten flour on hand, and the hippy co-op didn't have it either (I guess it's time for a trip to Whole Foods), so I used the King Arthur bread flour I did have instead. I think the bagels, while definitely chewy on the outside, thanks to a minute and a half boil on each side and baking soda in the water, they are softer on the inside than I'd like. Which isn't to say they aren't tasty, though!

The sponge took nearly 3 hours before I said, "To hell with it," and proceeded anyway, even though it hadn't fallen. And it wasn't a particularly cold day, either.

I wound up kneading the dough mostly by hand, for fear that such a stiff dough would overwhelm my Kitchen Aid mixer. Forming the dough into bagels was easier, too, than when I've used all high-gluten flour. I forgot the step of leaving them at room temp for 20 minutes or so before retarding, but it didn't seem to hurt them any.

So this morning I cranked up the oven, put the pot on the stove, and got to work:

Half the bagels, ready to boil:

The first two lucky kids in the pool:

Half a dozen "everything" ready to bake: (with caraway, sesame, and poppy seeds, kosher salt, onions, and garlic) If some of these look kind of deflated, they are. I made the mistake of pulling the pan out of the fridge while the oven was still heating, and I think they overproofed somewhat.

One everything bagel, fresh out of the oven:

One plain (which I am now munching on with a schmear of cream cheese):

The taste is great, the crust, like I said, nice and chewy. Worlds away from what you can get at N**h's. These ain't going to the office. They're going smack into my freezer for bagely goodness anytime!

Edited May 20, 2005 by jgarner53 (log)

[Jake]

They look fabulous, Jennifer. How would you compare them to New York style and Montreal style bagels?

[Behemoth]

Wow, that is definitely next on the list then.

[jgarner53]

How would you compare them to New York style and Montreal style bagels?

Ummm, I don't know what Montreal style bagels are, so I can't do any kind of comparison. I'd say they were definitely softer than NY style bagels, most likely due to the lower protein in the flour. At least, based on the few NY bagels I've had. And I usually eat my bagels toasted, which changes the texture, of course, and makes comparison trickier. But I just couldn't wait to eat one of these this morning and ate it without toasting.

Edited May 20, 2005 by jgarner53 (log)

[Jake]

If you like your bagels dense and chewy try a Montreal bagel if you're ever in Quebec or certain areas of Ontario. I think I'll give these a try this weekend, yours looked delicious.

[ellencho]

Can anyone help? I attempted the basic sourdough, and while I had excellent SD flavor, I overproofed apparently and ended up with an ugly brown disk with a dense crumb with absolutely no oven spring. I was going to bake right after proofing but ran out of time, so after 1.5 hrs of proofing at room temp (71 degrees F) I stuck it in the fridge to retard overnight. Did my proofing out at room temp plus the overnight fridge retarding cause my SD failure? And for when I attempt this next weekend, do you have any tips or tricks for knowing when my dough has proofed enough?

[glossyp]

Did my proofing out at room temp plus the overnight fridge retarding cause my SD failure?  And for when I attempt this next weekend, do you have any tips or tricks for knowing when my dough has proofed enough?

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You may already be familiar with it but the best resource on sourdough is Jackal10's class plus Q&A. Here is the link if you don't have it already.

Jackal10's Sourdough class plus Q&A

I'm sorry I can't be of help but hopefully you'll get some ideas from others who've been more successful with sourdough.

[McDuff]

I made the bagels a couple of weeks ago, following the recipe to the letter, and mine collapsed a little also. They were kind of underwhelming after all, but then, I have an Iggy's bagel for lunch some days.

I haven't looked at the recipe for the multigrain in a while, but I seem to recall that it was Struan by another name, and that's a fabulous bread.

[Behemoth]

I haven't looked at the recipe for the multigrain in a while, but I seem to recall that it was Struan by another name, and that's a fabulous bread.

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That's the one. I think I want to try the 100% whole grain one next, to compare.

I really want to try sourdough. I very nearly ordered the starter from Jackal, but if we are moving our household in a few months, with me staying behind for about a year, I'm not sure it makes that much sense. I could hold off for 6 months, and order it to Germany, but then I need to know that the stuff could sit untouched in a jar for a few months and not suffer for it. Any thoughts?

[FoodMan]

My first time attempting the Kaiser rolls was a great success this weekend. I was a little skeptical about the size at first. Since I wanted to use them as buns, I went for the larger ones (about 4oz each). After forming the buns they just looked too small, but sure enought after proofing and baking they came out perfect.

I do think the ones pictured in the book have egg wash on them or something for that glossy finish even though the recipe does not ask for one. Next time I will do this to get a nicer shine on these "bulkies".

I served the buns stuffed with grilled chicken burgers, homemade "hummus" mayo, lettuce tomatoes and pickles alongside a carot salw and French fries.

Elie

[jgarner53]

Those look great! Do you have a Kaiser roll mold, or did you do those by hand?

[Richard Kilgore]

Wow! Elie, those are beautiful rolls. I'll have to try those sometime.