Red, White and Blue Brioche Tartlettes for the 4th of July!

4th-tartlettes07

With the 4th of July coming up I’ve been on a quest to create perfect picnic treats. Small and tasty fits that bill. Earlier this week I made Bakewell tarts on ZoeBakes and realized that it would be such an easy dessert to recreate using brioche dough, something I always have on hand.  The tarts are made with a brioche crust, a spoon of jam, a layer of frangipane (almond cream) and topped with fresh fruit. I used cherries and blueberries to create red, white and blue tarts. Read More

Brioche Berry Pudding – something gorgeous for Mother’s Day!

berry pudding

This is a post I did a couple of years ago on Mother’s Day. It is bright, cheery and gorgeous, just the thing to make for mom,especially after such a long winter. We MN mom’s need a bit of sunshine!

Some things are worth a little more effort, right! Like a dessert for your mom on Mother’s Day.  This berry pudding is really very simple to make, but I admit it will take just a bit longer than 5 minutes to put together. Berry puddings are a slightly retro English sweet and I think they deserve a come back. Their drop dead gorgeous color comes from the dark berry juice soaked brioche, hiding a treasure of sweet, slightly drunken berries within.

You just can’t resist something this wonderful and if you have a bucket of brioche on hand it will go together really very easily. Happy Spring to you all! Read More

A Sneak Peek at the Red Star Yeast Test Kitchen!

This is Roberto, one of the luckiest people I have ever met. He and Mark, who run the test kitchen at Red Star Yeast, have what I consider a dream job. They work in this amazing kitchen to come up with all kinds of yeasty treats. The equipment is top notch, the ingredients limitless and the space is massive. I have kitchen envy in a big way. No wonder they are such fantastically nice guys. They were kind enough to invite Jeff and me into their kitchen to play with them. We baked all kinds of breads from our books and did presentations to the rest of the Red Star team. Read More

King Cake for Mardi Gras!

King Cake for Mardi Gras | Breadin5

King Cake, named for the three kings who came to bring gifts to Jesus, is traditionally served during Mardi Gras in New Orleans and throughout the South. Not only is it decorated with the colors of the festival, but it also has a hidden trinket in the dough. I’ve used an almond, but in New Orleans bakers often use a ceramic or plastic doll to represent the baby Jesus. The person who gets the slice with the trinket is responsible for making the King Cake the following year.

There are many versions of this sweet bread, depending on the traditions of different families. Our version from Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day is made with Brioche dough which has nutmeg, cinnamon, and raisins added into it.  The dough can be Braided and/or formed into a Couronne (crown shape) as I have done here. Some bakers even use a cream cheese and praline filling, but we went with a more traditional filling. Read More

Soft Thanksgiving Pull Apart Buns!

Happy Thanksgiving! We wish you all a wonderful holiday and lots of fresh bread at your table to share with family and friends. I’m making these soft pull apart buns for our dinner tonight. They are perfect for sopping up gravy and making little turkey sandwiches.  You can do this with any of our doughs, but I used the brioche from ABin5 to get a luxurious texture and the soft crust that so many people associate with this style bun.

Read More

Mini Brioche a Tête (Video of Mixing Brioche Dough in a Stand Mixer, Shaping and Baking!)

You can mix our doughs in a big bucket with a Danish dough whisk, which is our standard, or you can mix in a stand mixer. The bucket’s great, because it’s one less thing to wash, but some people find that it is easier to make the doughs in a mixer and then transfer them. Either way produces wonderful dough…

In this video: some tricks for mixing up Brioche that are even faster than what’s in the books. The mini versions are wonderful because they take a fraction of the time to rest and bake, and make perfect soft buns for dinner. Or spread them with preserves for breakfast.

Read More

Mother’s Day Danish Braid

danish-braid191

This weekend I over did it. Not with buckets of dough, but in my garden. I am determined to recreate the organic urban farm I had last year, but this time I am doing it without the aid of a professional farmer. Just me, a bunch of compost/manure and my dad, who happens to be a long time green thumb. I spent 12 hours prepping the beds and getting in some seeds. At the end of the day my right hand (the hand I write with) was so swollen I couldn’t move my fingers, tendonitis. The Dr. says not to use it for 2 weeks ~ 2 WEEKS! (I am typing this with one hand.) In order to do this post I enlisted my friend Jen to help make a Danish Braid. She is a great sport and it turns out quite skilled at modeling/braiding/baking.

The braid is made with the Brioche from ABin5, but you can do this same thing with any of the enriched doughs from that book or HBin5. We’ve done this same technique with savory fillings, so let your imagination go wild and let us know what you come up with.

Happy Mother’s Day! Read More

Cinnamon Swirl French Toast

cinnamon-swirl-bread

It is Sunday morning, the sun is shining, the snow is finally melting and I’m as happy as could be! Seems the perfect time to have a lavish, albeit easy, breakfast. Last night I took out my bucket of brioche dough, rolled in some cinnamon sugar and baked a gorgeous swirly bread. This morning I sliced it, soaked it in custard and made it into sublime French toast. Nothing better than that and with a bucket of dough on hand it is quick and easy.

Here are some other great breakfast ideas from our books/website:

Bacon & Egg in Toast

Homemade English Muffins

Aunt Melissa’s Granola

Almond Bear Claws

Fresh Fruit “Muffins”

Apricot Pastry

Breakfast Pizza

Read More

Julia Child’s Beef Wellington, With Our Brioche Crust (Filet de Boeuf en Croûte)

Julia Child's Beef Wellington, With Artisan Bread in Five Brioche Crust (Filet de Boeuf en Croûte) | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking has a terrific French bread recipe, but it takes about three days to prepare—still, it was one of the first loaves I ever was really, really happy with years ago. Back then, I wasn’t thinking about brioche, or brioche-wrapped beef tenderloin, but you can bet that I am now. The brioche recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is one of the most popular ones in our book. Recently I remembered that Julia Child’s Beef Wellington recipe actually calls for brioche rather than the more traditional puff pastry (it’s in Volume Two of “Mastering the Art…”). Voilà! Easy Beef Wellington? Well, all I can tell you is that the pastry part becomes easy if you have our brioche dough in the freezer or fridge. And the result is scrumptious and festive. But five minutes a day? Well… Read More