Brioche

My new found love for brioche started when I tried Peter Reinharts’ Brioche from "The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread”. I love that recipe and use it for all kinds of things like brioche a tete, hamburger buns, French toast, etc. I was eager to try this recipe to see if Chef Keller’s recipe was as good or better. This recipe was as good as Peter’s. They both have similar methods and go into great detail describing the whole process just as if you had never baked brioche before. I do like that Peter Reinhart included steps if you didn’t have a stand mixer, since I didn’t back when I first tried his recipes.

I did find it was a little difficult to tell when the Brioche was done. The recipe states 35-40 minutes and well browned on top, but I didn’t see a noticeable difference in brown starting from 20 to 35 minutes. I wish the recipe including baking temperature like Peter Reinhart’s. His recipe suggests the Brioche is done anywhere between 180 and 190 degrees. When I took the Brioche out after 35 minutes, the temperature was 200 degrees. That is still not high enough to overcook it, but it was a bit unexpected because I took it out at the lower end of the baking time suggested.

I do like the suggestions for keeping the brioche fresh, since it makes so much and usually goes stale very quickly.

Overall the recipe makes an excellent Brioche loaf and I love Chef Keller’s other uses for Brioche, namely Brioche Croutons (p 273) and, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (p 288) that I have tried and I can’t wait to use it in other new uses like Banana Bread Pudding .