Buttery Deliciousness, thy name is Brioche! Day 2

Ok, to start off with, I made a mistake in my last post.  I said I would post the recipe "below" but if you look there is no recipe.  Oops!  I had intended it to be one long post but halfway through the process I changed my mind.  So, today the recipe will be below.  :)

This morning I woke up after letting the dough "chill" overnight and split the dough into the pan for it's second rise.  It looked pretty good.

Here are the rolls after their second rise and egg wash.  Next step, oven!

These are the rolls right out of the oven.

And this is the finished roll right before I ate the $h!t out of it.

Needless to say my steamy love affair can now continue freely in privacy of my own home.  The only thing that can make this sensuous roll any better is a little less time in the oven, I used a whole 20 minutes.

Here is the recipe so that you too can be swept away by the buttery deliciousness that is Brioche!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup warm water (110°F to 115°F)
• 1/4 cup warm whole milk (110°F to 115°F)
• 3 teaspoons active dry yeast (measured from two 1/4-ounce envelopes)
• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg beaten to blend with 1 teaspoon water (for glaze)

PREPARATION

• Combine 1/4 cup warm water and warm milk in bowl of heavy-duty mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Sprinkle yeast over and stir to moisten evenly. Let stand until yeast dissolves, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.
• Add flour and salt to yeast mixture. Blend at medium-low speed until shaggy lumps form, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally, 1 to 2 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Beat in sugar. Increase mixer speed to medium; beat until dough is smooth, about 3 minutes.
• Reduce speed to low. Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until blended after each addition, about 4 minutes (dough will be soft and silky). Increase speed to medium-high and beat until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and climbs paddle, 8 to 9 minutes.
• Lightly butter large bowl. Scrape dough into bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.
• Gently deflate dough by lifting around edges, then letting dough fall back into bowl, turning bowl and repeating as needed. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and chill, deflating dough in same way every 30 minutes until dough stops rising, about 2 hours. Chill overnight. (At this point, use the dough to make 12 brioches, or 6 brioches and 1 tart, or 2 tarts.)
• Butter 12 standard (1/3-cup) muffin cups. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces; cut each piece into thirds. Roll each small piece between palms into ball. Place 3 balls in each prepared cup (dough will fill cup).
• Place muffin pan in warm draft-free area; lay sheet of waxed paper over. Let dough rise until light and almost doubled (dough will rise 1/2 inch to 1 inch above top rim of muffin cups), 50 to 60 minutes.
• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400°F. Place muffin pan on rimmed baking sheet. Gently brush egg glaze over risen dough, being careful that glaze does not drip between dough and pan (which can prevent full expansion in oven).
• Bake brioches until golden brown, covering with foil if browning too quickly, about 20 minutes. Transfer pan to rack. Cool 10 minutes. Remove brioches from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

  

Buttery Deliciousness, thy name is Brioche! Day 1

My love affair with Brioche started with a trip to Las Vegas, I mean what better a place to get carried away with sweet passion.  

It started innocently with a search for fantastic breakfast.   Previous research had indicated that D and I should head to a little French Bistro owned by Thomas Keller, Buchon, hidden away in the towers of the Venetian.  Now when I say hidden I mean it; to get there requires an elevator trip off the main lobby to the tower lobby that you cut through to get to a hallway, where at the end the restaurant lies.  This place is fantastic, their pastries divine, but the belle of the ball is the Croque Madam. My first bite sent me head-over-heels for the light buttery bread known as the Brioche(doesn't she just sound sexy and French!).  

Well, since that first bite, I have wondered if it could be possible for me to bring this luscious little loaf of wonderful home with me.  Today is the day we will find out.  It is my own "Weird Science" experience where I will find out if I too can make my own fantasy come to life.

I will be using the Brioche recipe from Bon Appetit.  For your convenience it will be listed below.  Also, despite some technical difficulties and due to lots of work on my part, there are pictures!

This is the start of the Brioche.  It is not like other bread doughs I have worked with so I am hoping it will be ok.  At this point it is covered with plastic wrap waiting to double in size.

Wait to see what happens tomorrow when this dough actually becomes rolls... at least I hope so.

Creamy Chicken Soup with Dumplings

Alright, I am going to try and get more serious about posting, but as an apology I am about to share my recipe for Chicken and Dumpling soup.

This recipe has been developing for about 4 years and for the first time I stopped and payed attention to what I was actually doing so that I could share it in it's now nearly perfected form.   I first got this recipe from a friend of one of my ex-boyfriends and the original recipe was really basic and used cans of Cream of Chicken soup and Bisquick dumplings.  Overtime I eliminated both Bisquick and cans of soup.

*Warning*   This soup is a little labor intensive and takes time, but the added flavor is sooooooo worth it.

Ingredients

1 whole chicken cut into pieces  The chicken has to have bones and skin people, without it the soup will be boring.  You don't have to cut the chicken at home like me but you do want all the pieces from a whole bird.

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cups chopped onion (1 large)

2 cups chopped celery,  use the heart of a bunch, leaves and all.  This will really impact the flavor of your soup (the heart is the inside bits)

2 cups chopped carrot (3 large)

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

4 cups low sodium broth  (this way you can control saltiness) 

2 cups  water

1-2 cup  corn  canned or frozen works

salt and pepper

Thats the ingredients for the soup itself and now the dumplings.

1 1/3 cup  flour

2/3 cup  cornmeal

1 tbsp sage

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp  salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 cup  buttermilk

2 tbsp olive oil

Here is how this all come together.  

1. Heat a large pot to medium high, I use a large dutch oven, about 6 quarts.  While the pan is heating, sprinkle the chicken on both sides with a little salt and pepper.  Once the pan is hot add the olive oil and let it get hot, you will know it's ready when it shimmers, or ripples.  Place pieces of chicken in to let it brown, flip it over so it browns on all sides.  Don't put all the chicken in at once or the pans temperature will drop to much.  The chicken will not get cooked through. This is just to help add flavor.  When the chicken is all browned place it in a bowl and set it off to the side.

2. The pan should have plenty of oil/fat (not to mention brown bits) left over from the chicken.  Add the chopped vegetables to pot.  As the vegetables cook, they will release moisture helping to clean all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, this is very good.  Just keep stirring the vegetables and scraping the bottom of the pan until the veggies are softened.

3.  Turn the burner down to medium and take your veggies and scrape them to the sides of the pot so you have a clear space in the middle.  Put the butter in the middle and let it melt.  As soon as it is melted, add in the flour.  Stir all the butter, flour, and veggies together.  You are going to want to wait till the flour starts to look golden, this keeps the soup from having a raw flour taste.  Some of the flour will stick to the bottom of the pan, this ok, we'll take care of it in step 4.

4. Once the flour is ready, start slowly adding your broth, probably 1/2 cup at a time.  As you add the broth stir/scrape the bottom of the pan.  This is going to help get all that flour off the bottom and make sure that it doesn't get all clumpy in your soup.  You will notice tat the broth will start to bubble and thicken pretty quickly, just keep slowly adding in the broth.  After you have added all the broth, add the water.  Bring all the liquid up to a boil.

5. As your liquid is getting to boiling take the chicken from the bowl and peel off the extra skin and fat.  When the pot is boiling add the chicken pieces in, lid the pot, and turn the temp to medium low so that the soup can simmer and the chicken can finish cooking.  By adding the chicken, bones and all, to cook, you are adding tons of extra chicken-y flavor.

6. When your chicken is cooked, pull it from the pot and put it back in the bowl from earlier to cool.  This is now the time when you add the corn and put the lid back on.  After the chicken cools, tear off the meat, break it into smaller pieces, and throw it into the pot.  Taste the soup now too, it is the perfect time to add salt or pepper if needed.  Dispose off any bones or unwanted chicken bits.

7.  Now we will assemble dumplings while letting the soup simmer.  Mix all the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl then add your liquids.  Stir till just mixed.  Start dropping big spoonfuls of dough into the soup.  You can decide how many dumplings you want or how big.  After all the dumplings are in put the lid on pot and let them simmer in the soup for about 4 minutes then remove the lid and flip them over to cook for another 4 minutes or so.  Those times could change if you make tiny or humongous dumplings.  

That is pretty much it.  Now, you might have noticed that I didn't really give times.  I did this because I pretty much play it by ear when I make this soup.  If it simmers longer, great. If not, that's perfectly ok.  The important part is layering all the flavors and using the chicken to its fullest ability because that is what makes the soup sooooo yummy.