Brioche

Thursday, May 4, 2006
I include this picture just to prove that I don't only talk about my successes. The topknot of this brioche was not exactly on top. First Sarah told me that it was "charmingly askew." Then, after it continued to tilt as it baked, she told me it was more like a monster child you've given birth to but love anyway.
Not only was this loaf aesthetically challenged, it was on the burnt side of normal. However, once I cut off the bottoms and sides of the loaf, I had a slice of delicious crust-less brioche: golden, buttery, and lush. Even though this bread didn't turn out perfectly, I'd like to try it again. I think that it could be spectacular if it didn't list and if I didn't burn it.
I actually started making this bread two days ago. I've gotten to the point where I feel that something is missing if I don't have a loaf of bread ready to eat, or at least in the process of becoming edible, so I started putting this together Tuesday night. I read the directions, but didn't add up the various 1 1/2-hour, 1 hour, and 2 hour segments until I had already started. Then I realized that I'd be up until 3:00 a.m. if I didn't fudge a little. As it was, I finally put the dough in the refrigerator for its two-day rest at midnight. (Having a full-time job really cuts into your bread-baking schedule). I was pleased whenever I looked in the refrigerator and saw the dough, and I was excited when I came home from work and started shaping the bread. Some of my younger friends would (and, in fact, do) scoff at my excitement over baking a loaf of bread. But baking bread has enriched my life so much that I can't understand why everyone isn't nuts about it. Really, if Osama bin Laden were tending to a loaf of brioche in his Pakistan cave, wouldn't he be a friendlier, homier sort?