Category Archives: Kitchenaid

Brioche Beautiful Part 1

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Dorie Greenspan is a delight. I had the incredible good fortune of meeting her recently at The Greenbrier. In fact, I had the funny and near-silly experience of sharing a bar of Vosges Chocolate Bacon bar with her. Picture about 10 avid food writers, food literature readers, food magazine editors…I think it was Dorie who did the honors of breaking it into pieces for everyone to experience. It was passed around the table like a communion plate. We all took a shard of chocolate…Then someone read the near zen-like instructions from Vosges on how to enjoy the chocolate…At one point we all had our eyes closed…no sounds were being made…and then you couldn’t keep us quiet…because of COURSE we all had opinions. (For the record, we didn’t like the chewy texture of the bacon left in our mouths when we let the chocolate melt first…some of us liked it more when we chewed right into it, releasing salty, smoky, sweet all at once…)

But this post isn’t about the chocolate. It’s about my discovery: Dorie’s Brioche. I got the lowdown from the insiders: The Brioche is to die for. And the sticky pecan buns–to die for a second time…So when my signed copy of Dorie’s Baking: From My Home to Yours arrived in the mail (no way I was dragging those pounds and pounds of books home on the plane…), I had to get started on the brioche.

I knew enough that the process would be easier if I made the dough the day before…Clever me: I’ll throw it together at 10 PM and get it right into the fridge. Mmmhmmm.

Like any bread, the ingredient list is short. Yeast, water, milk, flour, salt, sugar, eggs and butter. Lots of butter. But it is lovely. Once again, Kitchenaid comes to the rescue. When discussing this with Dorie, her first question was: Do you have a mixer? Apparently her first experience was with this dough, a wooden spoon and her aching shoulders. At any rate, it starts as an ugly, mealy dough.

Then the eggs go in and it looks a bit better. And then you start beating the butter in, about 2 tablespoons at a time. Here’s me holding the mixer to keep it from walking itself off the counter as it works that dough…
When all is said and done, you are left with a glossy, silken mass of dough.
It is gorgeous (I happily had about 1/2 pound of lovely, yellow Irish butter on my counter to use here…)

Oh, back to my cleverness…First punch down: after one hour. Then every 30 minutes or so FOR THE NEXT TWO HOURS. Until it stops rising. And THEN you get to go to bed…I mean and THEN you get to put it in the fridge (and go to bed…)

It will be a late night…This last shot is of the dough rising on the back porch, where it’s warmer.
Just did the first punch down..The dough is just so nice to touch…Do you think anyone else is out on her balcony punching down brioche dough? Now it’s 12.43 a.m. Do you know where your brioche is?

Bread Like Sam’s

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After making pizza after pizza the other day, I browsed the same book, Carol Field’s Italian Baker, and found a recipe I made a lot for a little while..Pane Pugliese. This recipe reminds me of the bread you get at Sam’s Italian Market in Willow Grove, PA, a bit north of Philadelphia, near the PA Turnpike. Sam’s is an incredible Italian grocery in a suburban blank spot (my opinion only; we lived and liked it near there for six years…Sam’s was one thing that helped us like it) and the bread that place turned out: moist, dense, full of flavor. Flavorful, in fact.

So my penciled notes from way back when(date: 3/23/92. Sam was not even 4, Ian just 2 1/2, Bryn not even a thought) say, “Great texture, moist. Reminds me of Sam’s. Relatively easy, slightly messy (sticky).”

All true.

Like the pizza, I did have a strike…well, not a strike so much as a fire in the oven…With the first batch of bread yesterday. So here’s what happened: I use an oven thermometer. Oven was at 450. I put in the loaves, ran to pick Bryn up and got back to a…very toasty smell, shall we say? The oven thermometer was reading 550. The third loaf, the one that was on the lower rack? A blackened door stop. A large piece of charcoal. The parchment paper? Gone. I can only guess it self-combusted (oh, I know, nothing self about it!)…Luckily, the two loaves on the top shelf seemed okay…

The little loaves went fast. I had promised one to a friend, and the rest barely made appetizers for this family.

So today, I wanted more. I did only two loaves (same recipe, bigger loaves) and baked both on the top rack. All went well. But oddly enough, the oven was registering 550 when I took the loaves out. Weird, but worth watching.

Anyway, this bread is every bit as good as I remember it. This is a loaf made with a “biga” or starter, which is what I think gives it its texture.

Every time I make bread, I wonder why I don’t do it more often. I own a Kitchenaid. The flour
costs pennies. And homemade bread? This is real food.


Bread Like Sam’s

Leave a reply

After making pizza after pizza the other day, I browsed the same book, Carol Field’s Italian Baker, and found a recipe I made a lot for a little while..Pane Pugliese. This recipe reminds me of the bread you get at Sam’s Italian Market in Willow Grove, PA, a bit north of Philadelphia, near the PA Turnpike. Sam’s is an incredible Italian grocery in a suburban blank spot (my opinion only; we lived and liked it near there for six years…Sam’s was one thing that helped us like it) and the bread that place turned out: moist, dense, full of flavor. Flavorful, in fact.

So my penciled notes from way back when(date: 3/23/92. Sam was not even 4, Ian just 2 1/2, Bryn not even a thought) say, “Great texture, moist. Reminds me of Sam’s. Relatively easy, slightly messy (sticky).”

All true.

Like the pizza, I did have a strike…well, not a strike so much as a fire in the oven…With the first batch of bread yesterday. So here’s what happened: I use an oven thermometer. Oven was at 450. I put in the loaves, ran to pick Bryn up and got back to a…very toasty smell, shall we say? The oven thermometer was reading 550. The third loaf, the one that was on the lower rack? A blackened door stop. A large piece of charcoal. The parchment paper? Gone. I can only guess it self-combusted (oh, I know, nothing self about it!)…Luckily, the two loaves on the top shelf seemed okay…

The little loaves went fast. I had promised one to a friend, and the rest barely made appetizers for this family.

So today, I wanted more. I did only two loaves (same recipe, bigger loaves) and baked both on the top rack. All went well. But oddly enough, the oven was registering 550 when I took the loaves out. Weird, but worth watching.

Anyway, this bread is every bit as good as I remember it. This is a loaf made with a “biga” or starter, which is what I think gives it its texture.

Every time I make bread, I wonder why I don’t do it more often. I own a Kitchenaid. The flour
costs pennies. And homemade bread? This is real food.