Brioche Two Ways

Heaven, if heaven was actually just butter

I have a complicated past with brioche. I've tried a few times, but I am always too impatient. I even own a traditional French baking mold, but my attempts have proven stodgy and overbaked. After getting my Ankarsrum fixed, I told myself there is no excuse for a bad job this time. And boy am I glad! Since the recipe today makes 2 loaves, it was a bit of a "choose your own adventure." My husband and I both have fond memories of babka from the Jewish grocery stores in South Florida, Dorie's preamble to the recipe shot us right in the hearts, so that was a must. But what about the second recipe?

I've been listening to a podcast about how the ballet world shares a lot of qualities with cults, with a specific focus on George Balanchine (I have tickets to the Balanchine Nutcracker this year, how morose!). In one of the stories, a young ballerina who was so eager to please Mr. B spontaneously offered to make him Coq Au Vin, despite never cooking a day in her life. But the dish is so elegant, so European! I realized that I, myself, have never even had it. But I do have all of Julia Child's cookbooks! My co-op even sells older, heritage chickens which is the one necessity for this recipe! Seeing that Dorie and Julia worked so closely, it felt only apt to make the dinner rolls to go with this very Old-World dinner.

Knowing that Julia and Dorie were driving, I let my entire 20oz wheel of butter sit on the counter overnight because lord knows I'd be using it all day. And I did, plus a 1/3 of another wheel. It starts the night before and with a good mixer. I don't know how anyone in history made brioche without mechanical help though the medieval people absolutely lost their minds over enriched breads. They must have had marvelous biceps. It was a lot of steps but mostly hands off, as long as you can set a timer and check on the mixer, the ship sails itself. I erred on the side of overworked just because of my past failures. 

The dinner rolls were the easiest, I chose to make 9 smaller rolls because my children, well, have small hands. My balls could have been better formed, but I tend to shape too coarsely because I learned to make rounds through cheesemaking (forming mozzarella balls is an art!) I have some lovely local finishing salt and knew that butter and flaked salt have a lovely symbiosis. The babka was more challenging, but this is the best filling recipe I've ever used. All the others I have tried wound up too runny or too stiff, this was just right! This recipe also spoiled me because the only other babka I have made was from sourdough discard. More utility than artistry. I love how much cinnamon it called for, I am so excited for my daughter to come home from school and be surprised by the autumnal perfume it's left behind. Finally, I chose to use my pullman pan with straight sides so that the beautiful plait would rise as high as it could, proudly displaying its crumbly chocolate goodness.

Nestled in a warm parchment blanket

When the rolls were out of the oven, I popped one into my husband's office while he was in a meeting. I am pleased to say he muted his microphone and screamed "THESE ARE SO GOOD." I will have to wait until later to pair these sumptuous, buttered rolls with the sumptuous coq au vin. The babka will also wait for later, because I have many stories of being an impatient child and ripping open a still-warm babka, only to have it seep into my lap as a soggy heap. 

A queen on her soapstone pedestal

The Brioche recipes start at p28 in Baking with Dorie. There are many more listed that I will have to make, especially for Thanksgiving! If you would also like to try Julia's intrepid Coq au Vin, then it's published for free on her Foundation's website. Just be sure to get the peeled pearl onions frozen or you will be cursing in the kitchen with a paring knife. You can also watch all of the original French chef from the PBS YouTube channel; I love playing it for my kids and as a backtrack to folding laundry.