When I’m deciding whether to make a recipe, it’s not uncommon for me to do a Google search to see how other bloggers have fared. I like reading their reviews, and if it’s something I’ve never made before, I really enjoy seeing their photos to get a sense of how the finished product might look. Sometimes I’ll search for a blogger’s photo even if the author has included one in the book since it tends to be more representative of the result I can expect in my kitchen.
As I was making this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe – golden brioche loaves, selected by my buddy Margaret of Tea and Scones – I began to sense it might not be going all that well. The first sign of trouble – the dough wasn’t behaving as Dorie described (did anyone else find their dough never pulled away from the sides of the bowl?). I forged on before I burned out the motor on my mixer, and the dough did rise, so I had renewed hope. After a stint in the fridge, I shaped half of the dough into a loaf and it rose again. Things were looking up! In the oven, though, my loaf became misshapen and sort of sunk in the center. Before taking it out, I checked the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer to verify it was baked through, and it was. Once removed from the loaf pan, I confirmed my loaf looked nothing like the beautiful photo Dorie shared in the book. Off to Google I went to find blogger photos.
What I didn’t expect to see in the results was a post I’d written about Dorie’s brioche loaves over 3 years ago. Not only did I have no memory of making them, but somehow I was able to produce a better looking loaf of brioche back in my novice days than I can currently. Call it beginner’s luck, I guess! 🙂 In any event, though my loaf wasn’t pretty this time, it was still delicious. Rich and buttery, but so light in texture. What I’m most excited about is the other half of the dough in my freezer, which I’ll turn into another batch of ooey, gooey sticky buns sometime soon…
Many thanks to Margaret for hosting this week. She shared the recipe for the brioche loaves on her blog today, or you can find it on pages 48-50 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.
Lemon Bars
Glazed Grapefruit Cake
Orange Sherbet
Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
Well this loaf right here could not look more gorgeous. If you make more, and run out of room in your freezer, I will happily store it for you.
Haha… love that you made these 3 years ago and have no recollection. That’s something I would do. Aging… ain’t it fun!
🙂
ButterYum
It looks very beautiful and very tasty!!!
Not pretty?!?
Well I can honestly say yours is much prettier than the original recipe’s photos! No offence to the other blogger tho!
I think your pics turned out just fine. But I’m wondering what the weather was like the day you made this. The humidity can really wreak havoc on yeast.
Karen
This sounds amazing! I can’t wait to try.
If that is a misshapen loaf I would be really impressed with a perfectly shaped one. Beautiful pics, Tracey.
Thanks for baking with me this week.
PS Mine never pulled away from the sides either.
I think your loaf looks fine. It does taste heavenly. How’s that lingonberry jam I see you have taste? Someone gave me a jar recently and I haven’t opened it yet. Is it tart?
Too funny! Sounds like something I’d do, too. I’ve made this delicious brioche, and agree that it’s hard to work with. Yours looks great…despite your doubts 🙂
@Karen – Oh, really? I hadn’t thought of that. Though it wasn’t terribly humid when I made the bread, and I had the a/c on in my house so I wouldn’t think it played a big role. Who knows? 🙂
@Katrina – I love the lingonberries! I always grab a jar when I’m up at Ikea. I usually combine it with mashed potatoes in the winter. It is tart, but not overly so. If you like cranberry sauce, I think you’d enjoy it.
That is so funny, Tracey! I am going to have to make the recipe again, just so I can make the sticky buns!
Forgot about looks–though there’s certainly nothing wrong with yours–it’s the taste. I took a class at the New School years ago on brioche and croissant and am ashamed to admit I’ve only made each once!
Well it looks pretty nice in your photos. Mine didn’t pull away from the bowl either, but it worked out in the end. I missed all of the brioche recipes the first time around, so I’m excited that I got to make the snails and I have the sticky buns in the freezer.
I think your “not so pretty” loaf looks great. I posted the raisin snails and sticky buns that I had made previously, which were both very good!
When are you making the Sticky Buns–I’ll be there!
LOL. What a great story! I have a terrible memory and could totally see this happening. Your brioche still looks beautiful. And if it tastes good, that’s all that really matters.
Mine didn’t pull aside either and although it did not fall down in the middle, the whole thing fell a little so I had a flatter loaf but it was do good, who cares>
Your photos are wonderful. If you had not shared, you had a problem, no one would have known.
it looks flawless to me!
Ha, that’s where my friend got the jam was IKEA. We have one here in Utah and she was visiting me from KS and her favorite place in the world is IKEA and she stopped there right before coming to see me and got me a jar. I’ll try it soon. Thanks.
How funny that you made this before & didn’t remember it. That happens to me sometimes. =) I’m glad that you enjoyed the brioche, even if it didn’t look quite the way you wanted it to.
Hi. How did you freeze your extra dough to use for something other than a loaf? I made the dough yesterday and want to make one loaf today and something else another time.
Thanks.