Let Them Eat Cake!

i'm officially into french breads until i can locate some rye flour and do some back work on my basic loaves!

today i made these:

brioche tetes

brie and brioche packages

in the book Paul Hollywood's explanation of brioche says "The immortal line uttered by Marie Antoinette, allegedly, 'Let them eat cake,' is more likely to have been 'Let them eat brioche.'"

after making these, i believe him.

the texture of these "muffins" is unbelievable. between bites i found myself staring at the pores and air pockets, admiring the consistency and the unexpected sweetness. it's not that i expected them to be bland or sour--they have quite a bit of sugar in them after all. it was the nature of sweetness, its flavor... it was so rich and somewhat mellow. it was decadent.

the brie+brioche calls for one entire 9oz wheel of brie. i took some creative liberties and made a few with goat's cheese and a few with small squares of brie instead of an entire wheel. the point of this was 1) to save money because i simply can't see two of us eating an entire wheel of melted brie cheese in one night, and 2) E wasn't even home when i made it, so it would have just been me trying to eat it. bad on soooooo many levels.

i'm going to modify mr. hollywood's recipe just a tad. i don't know how different flour is in the UK, but almost every recipe, this one in particular, has required more flour. fyi, i used a combination of bread flour and all purpose white flour. they cost nearly the same when you buy in bulk (which we do!) and the bread flour definitely adds an element of sweetness and fluff, for lack of a better word, that plain all purpose does not have.

brioche tetes

about 3c, maybe more, flour
1/3c sugar
1 package or 3/4 tbsp yeast
1 tsp salt
1/3c milk
3 eggs, +1 for an eggwash
1 1/2 sticks butter
cupcake liners (about a dozen)

mix everything except the butter and the eggwash egg until smooth. then add the butter, mix until smooth. (don't ask me why you can't add the butter with all the rest, you just can't, and i won't question the method because these were outstanding) cover the bowl and stick it in the refrigerator overnight.

next morning! the dough will be pretty stiff. get out your muffin tins and liners. line 'em up and grease 'em up!

make balls from the dough that are approximately 1.5 inches in diameter. it's not rocket science, just eyeball it. they should fit cozily into the cupcake liners. top each one with a smaller ball-- about 1/2 inch in diameter. do that until you have no more dough!

leave your happy little snowmen out in a warm place to rise for one hour. once time is up, preheat your oven to 400 and brush your little guys (or gals!) with the eggwash.

bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

you don't need to put anything on these guys. they're amazing. Uh. Maze. Ing.

to make the brie and brioche, do all of the same things the night before. the next day, on a VERY VERY VERY well and evenly floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/4inch thickness instead of forming it into balls. cut out circles big enough to completely envelope discs or squares of brie or goat's cheese. brush each one with eggwash, refrigerate for 1 hour.

preheat the oven to 400. take the packages out and brush once more with eggwash, bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

eat while warm.