Brioche warning : butter at critical levels

To be honest, I have NO idea why I made brioche in the first place. I have a wonderful book all about how to make bread, but every time I open it, I get turned off by the sheer number of steps required and the days ahead that I need to plan things to actually make any of the breads I really want to make.

Like the one time I tried to make a sourdough starter? And ended up with a gigantic breathing pile of mold and slop that was bubbling in the hallway? Yeah... that's why I stick to easier breads.

But as with all good things, it's time to branch out. So that's where brioche comes I suppose. I don't think I would make it again, simply for health reasons (it's basically a croissant bread but somehow manages not to taste like the least healthy food in the universe, which is SUPER dangerous). But Man Candy, my husband, loved it. As all men love butter and crap like that.

The recipe is from my book, Crust and Crumb: Master Formulas for Serious Bread Bakers, by Peter Reinhart, which is totally awesome. I'm not going to post the recipe, because I feel like I probably shouldn't, but you should try making brioche at least once. It was an... experience :)

This dough feels like... butter. Surprised?

if I space them, it looks like one complete photo!

I'm rolling the little logs of brioche dough into baby rolls. You make a shape like below, then poke a hole in the large part and pass the small end through it to form a classical brioche roll.

How cute! All risen up.

Brushing the dough with egg wash, love those cute little shapes!

After baking... this is why you don't leave your bread out - cat will bite on it. See the bottom of that roll? Yeah, I kill him. Note to self - don't wait 3 days to take a photo of the finished product because you're too busy eating the brioche to make it go away. It doesn't work out well.