Abbey's Making Whoopie...: Week 2, The Goods: Enriched Breads

"Bread, milk and butter are of venerable antiquity'. They taste of the morning of the world"~Leigh Hunt

Who knew that some British writer had come up with the concept of 'breakfast dessert' 200 years before I did? For those of you who aren't familiar with my strange eating habits, I'm a firm believer of dessert with every meal, breakfast included. It can range from a bite of chocolate to a piece of leftover birthday cake. The cereal/oatmeal/whole wheat toast is just a necessary evil before I can enjoy breakfast dessert with my coffee.

So I was thrilled to learn we'd be making brioche-a gateway to bring breakfast dessert to the masses! Shockingly, I've never actually had brioche before. During my 48 whirlwind trip to Paris I exclusively ate croissants and nutella crepes-there simply wasn't time for this brioche business. But, I'm happy to report it is delicious. I can't wait to try it at home and use the leftovers as french toast!

Parisian Brioche:

After mixing the sponge of yeast, water, flour, you mix in the eggs, flour and salt until fully mixed. After that, comes the fun part; the butter. You take room temperature butter (and a lot of it) and squeeze it through your fingers bit by bit until it is fully incorporated. It's a fantastically icky, but fun, exercise.

As a class, we made a ton of variations: cinnamon raisin, dried fruit, chocolate hazelnut-yummy yummy!

Here's the final product-well worth all the waiting around:

Brioche for days

Dried Fruit Brioche

Cinnamon Sugar & Raisin, with Apricot Glaze

Next up I made baba, or savarin. There are two reasons I like this cake. 1. It is something I'll be able to say, even when drunk; alternatively it sounds like a Harry Potter House. 2. It is soaked in alcohol. After the cake bakes and slightly cools, you submerge it in either rum or kirsch (a cherry liquor).
Again, this was my first time tasting, nevermind making, this cake. But what can I say, I fall fast!