Brioche

There’s something about brioche which really dings my dong – like croissants but without all that irritating flakiness. Not that I would ever put down a croissant (literally and metaphorically). This recipe by Dan Lepard for the Guardian worked brilliantly. It was so fun to do and the end result was the most divine buttery loaf, with a texture somewhere between bread and cake, and a little denser than a shop bought brioche.

A few comments…

1) Dan says that this will make two large loaves, but I only had one loaf tin so I loaded in all my dough and made one really large one. It worked fine.

2) I dread to think what the calorie content of this brioche is. It contains An. Entire. Pat. Of. Butter.

3) Of course, the ideal thing is to have the brioche ready for breakfast but that would involve getting up at about five in the morning which I’m not sure is very realistic. For that reason doing it in one day is probably better. And to get that fresh out of the oven feeling microwaving a slice for 15 seconds worked for me.

The recipe in pictures...

  

Soda Bread

This is incredibly simple, and a genuine option if you realise at the last minute that you have no bread and can’t be arsed to go out and get some. Soda bread does not rise in the conventional way with yeast, but an interaction takes place between the bicarb and the buttermilk which gives it a rise in the oven. For ultimate impressiveness, this is best made in conjunction with whipping up some homemade butter because a waste product of butter production is buttermilk, which can be used to make soda bread. The butter that I made using 1.2 litres of cream produced exactly 400ml of buttermilk. How very satisfying is that?! Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall saw me through this one. Recipe here.

500g plain flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

400ml buttermilk (or live yoghurt)

1)      Pre-heat the oven to 200C.

2)      Sift all the dry ingredients into a bowl.

3)      Make a well and add the buttermilk.

4)      Stir it all up. It may be quite wet but don’t worry if it is. If it’s dry add a tiny bit of milk.

5)      Flop it out on to a floury surface.

6)      Kneed for a minute, no need for longer.

7)      Mould into a round shape.

8)      Cut a deep cross into the surface.

9)      Bake for 45 minutes.