Brioche

I learned about brioche in my search for the perfect bread for making french toast.  I had no familiarity with brioche and no idea of what to expect.  I tried a couple of recipes and was happy with this brioche recipe.  It
explains the whole process clearly, including photos and a description of the dough consistency you want at each step.  This kind of information is so valuable when making new and unfamiliar foods!  The resulting bread tastes very similar to a croissant.  However, unlike a croissant, it has a fairly dense, tight crumb.  It's not quite fluffy and not quite chewy, but something in between.  Most importantly, it absorbs egg mixture nicely—perfect for french toast!

It should be stated for the record that making brioche is an involved process.  I learned the hard way that you must use a stand mixer to get the right texture.  But once I finally got it right and had two lovely bread loaves, I beamed with pride for a moment.  Then in the subsequent moment, I thought, "I wonder if I could have just bought this at a bakery." Then I felt like an idiot.  Still, this is fun to bake on a laid back weekend.  You can start the dough on Friday night and make french toast Sunday morning.  But it's involved enough that it falls into my special occasion category.

Another reason to reserve brioche baking for special occasions: the nutrition facts!  Here they are, as calculated by me.  The whole batch nutrition information can be used to calculate for servings of various sizes.

Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1/20th of batch Calories 226 Fat 25g Cholesterol 101mg Sodium 244mg Carbohydrates 19g Sugars 4g Protein 4g

Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 batch Calories 4513 Fat 507g Cholesterol 2022mg Sodium 4870mg Carbohydrates 382g Sugar 82g Protein 86g