...and my first attempt at making brioche. I love the versatility of this rich French bread, which can be complemented by both savoury and sweet flavours- you can just as easily serve brioche with paté as you can with the more traditional accompaniment of a fruity confiture. Similarly, brioche can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, evening dessert and, frankly, anytime in between (it tastes just as good unadorned, picked off the side of the loaf when nobody's watching).
I fell at the first cooking hurdle in that my yeast didn't rise; I tried again, this time adding a teaspoon of sugar which, my mum informs me, gives the yeast something to 'feed on', and was successful. The raw dough itself, before any risings, was sloppy and stuffed full of butter; I was despairing slightly at the sight of it, but put trust in the recipe before me and persevered. I soon got an encouragement in that the first rising took half the time it was supposed to whilst producing wonderful results (see right) and from thereon it was plain-sailing.
When it came to the cooking, I didn't have a proper brioche mould (and have been assured that it is not essential) so made the same two-tiered shape in rectangular form, using a normal 1lb loaf tin (brioche shouldn't be baked in batches more than 1lb heavy if a light, fluffy crumb is to be achieved). This didn't really work: the top bit flopped to the side in the oven and ended up looking life a half-amputated limb. I soon put the poor thing out of its misery, forming one proper loaf as well as a smaller baton on the side (I'll call it that to make it sound as though it were planned).
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