Category: bread

ok quick – take a piece of paper and a pencil and write down three of your favorite foods. don’t think about it, just write them down. are you finished? good. let’s review. the correct answers were onions, cheese and bacon. how’d you do? 2 out of 3? not bad, you get a gold star. hang your work on your fridge. now let’s get started.

the instructions for these buns look a bit complicated, but believe me, this recipes is easy. there are 2 hour-long rising periods for the bread, but you can also leave it in your fridge to rise overnight and whip them up in the morning for brunch.

and the best part? these buns are basically an entire breakfast on the go. you’ve got your bread, bacon, and cheese – slap a fried egg on one of these, and you almost at a fully balanced meal (just add OJ).

a.k.a challah atcha girl, a.k.a challah like it’s hot.

it’s no fun to bake when it’s hot out. and right now, we’re being subjected to some ungodly death-heat that’s driving temperatures (at least here in dc) up around 110 F. but i don’t like to let anything stop me from baking, so i am forging ahead. sure, with the oven on, my kitchen might hit something like 125 F but it’s totally worth it for delicious baked goods…

challah is the first yeast bread i ever made, and it’s pretty special to me because taking those loaves out of the oven the first time really opened up a world of new possibilities for me. like many, i was afraid of using yeast the first time. and again, like many, it was a girl that actually gave me the confidence to face my fear. my intention was to impress the girl for rosh hashanah (she is jewish and i am not, it would be my first rosh hashanah). i didn’t actually expect the bread to come out looking good, but when it did, my heart skipped a beat. then, when it actually tasted good, it was like the flood gates had opened.

completing my first yeast bread gave me a rush and an incredible desire to take on every recipe i saw. i had tackled something that i considered way over my head and come out victorious. i was let in on the secret that anyone can bake anything – all you’ve got to do is try.

now let’s get back to the challah – the bread is soft and inviting, good for any meal. in fact, after baking, i always leave one loaf for eating and freeze the other so the girl can make bread pudding later. and this time, half of the the loaf for straight up eating is going to become french toast. i’ve made the simpler three braid challah here – there are step by step photo instructions below.

paris was the first place i had ever eaten a brioche, and up until yesterday, it was also the last place i had ever eaten one. the girl and i were staying on the border of the 6th and 14th arrondissements for a week, and since it was my first time in france (and i don’t speak french), brioches became one of the only things i felt comfortable ordering myself because we call it the same thing in the states.

we fell into the routine of visiting the cafe down the street from our hotel for a quick cup of coffee and a pastry before heading out to see pretty much every historic point in the city (on foot) and collapsing back in our hotel room 10 to 12 hours later. while i can’t claim that my brioches are anything near what i assume most french bakers can whip up in their sleep, biting into these soft flaky rolls shorty after i took them out of the oven instantly took me back that parisian cafe.

the recipe couldn’t be easier – there are no tricks or special techniques you need to know.

the only consideration you may need to take is having the dough prepared the night before so it can rest in the fridge overnight.

getting the unique brioche shape is a matter of pressing a tiny dough ball into a slightly larger dough ball. i don’t happen to have brioche molds so they don’t have the fancy ridges, but each one came out differently, each a special little golden brown explosion of flaky goodness.

the dough is full of egg and butter, which makes them soft and delicate, perfect for breakfast or dessert. there are brioche variations that have chocolate, cheese or jam baked right into the center of the roll. try brioche in bread pudding, serve it with ice cream, toast it and make sandwiches…