by A.J. Coltrane
For Thanksgiving I thought I’d try baking Beranbaum’s Bread Bible Basic Brioche.
The recipe is here on Epicurious. The process involves many steps, and I had to re-read it multiple times to parse what she really meant and to make sure that I had the timing right. (For the “loaf”, use Steps 1-6, then skip down to Step 7 in “variations”. Plan to start 1-2 days ahead of when you intend to bake the bread.)
I thought it came out well. Here’s the crumb. (Note the white tablecloth… it was a “nice” dinner):
The loaf prior to slicing. The far side didn’t rise quite as much as the near side:
I used the “optional” eggwash, which is why the top is so shiny.
The recipe makes one 8-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ loaf. That gave me a chance to use a smallish loaf pan that I’ve had forever, but only ever used for marinading or mixing things:
I’ve had that pan so long that I have no idea where it came from. I think I might have inherited it from one of a zillion previous roommates.
As a bonus, the No Knead breads decided to be cooperative too. I used half AP flour, and half Bread flour. One of the breads split along the slashes, the other was very craggy… rustic!
Thanks for Iron Chef Leftovers for the invite and the terrific dinner, and to everyone for the great Thanksgiving company.
