Classic Brioche à Tête #BreadBakers

This classic brioche à tête recipe is simple to make, with very little hands on time, no stand mixer required, for a loaf that is rich and buttery. Start one day ahead. 

I own two proper brioche pans, one from my years living in Paris and yet another, believe it or not, that was purchased in Cairo, Egypt, It was made by the French manufacturer Tefal though so I guess that makes it authentic. 

If you search the internet for brioche recipes, you will find literally millions and millions. Google says an estimated 25.000,000 in fact. All the top hits seem to be baked in regular rectangular loaf pans though.

I was determined to create a classic loaf using one of my pans. Took me a bit but I finally figured out where I was going wrong! I needed to search for brioche à tête or brioche à Parisienne. Who knew? In Paris the bakeries just said brioche or possibly grosse brioche and petite brioche (sometimes with flavor options) on the boards.

Here's a little fun fact for you: While brioche in proper French translates to sweet bun, colloquially, it also means beer gut. In case you have a friend who needs ribbing in French. 

Back to my quest: I was delighted to find a video by baker extraordinaire Anna Olson making little brioche buns where she showed the proper way to make the tête or head that is supposed to poke out on top. Is my tête too small? Absolutely. Live and learn. Next time I will make it bigger! 

Classic Brioche à Tête

You can warm the whole amount of milk (3 oz or 90ml) needed, use a portion to activate the yeast then pour the rest in when making the dough. Please note that you do need to start a day ahead of when you want to bake the brioche. This gives the dough the time it needs to chill, making it easier to handle. 

Ingredients

To activate the yeast:

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1/4 cup or 60ml milk, warmed to body temperature

For the brioche dough:

2 1/2 cups or 312g flour

1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 eggs

1 fl oz or 30ml milk, warmed to body temperature

3 oz or 85g butter, softened at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the pan

For the egg wash:

1 egg

2 tablespoons water

Method

Step one is to activate the yeast. Put the yeast in a small bowl with the flour and warm milk. Stir to combine, set aside while you get the dry ingredients together.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. 

Add the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients, along with the rest of the milk and the eggs. 

Stir with a stiff spoon or Danish whisk until well combined. 

Add in butter and mix again until it is completely incorporated.

The dough will be super sticky so tidy it up as best you can into a ball using a spatula. 

Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rest at room temperature for one hour.

Put the bowl in the refrigerator for 12 - 24 hours to chill the dough. 

When you are ready to bake, generously butter your brioche pan with softened butter and a pastry brush. 

Turn the chilled dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and press it out. 

Fold it over a couple of times then shape it into a firm ball. 

Use the side of your hand to make an indentation near one end of the ball, like you are trying to form a neck and head of dough on a dough body. Make your small ball bigger than mine for a more authentic look to the finished brioche!

Use your fingers to create a hole through the dough.

Tuck the "head" under and up through the hole. This will give the brioche its classic shape with the knob on top. 

Place the formed dough into your prepared brioche pan. 

Cover with cling film (buttered or greased so that it doesn't stick to the dough as it rises) and leave to rise for about 2 hours. As it nears the end of rising time, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C in a fan oven or 425°F or 218°C in a conventional oven.

Whisk the egg and water together to create the egg wash. 

Working from the outside inward, brush the brioche very lightly with the egg wash.

Transfer the pan to the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350°F or 180°C in a convection oven or 375°F or 190°C in a conventional oven.

Continue baking until the brioche is deep golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 205°F on an instant-read thermometer, 25 to 30 minutes more.

Remove from the oven and let the brioche cool in the pan for just 5 minutes. Any longer and condensation starts to form and your crust won't be lovely and crisp. 

Unmold onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Let the brioche cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s time for my fellow Bread Bakers to share their recipes. Our theme today, you might have guessed, is brioche-style bread. Many thanks to our host Kelly of A Messy Kitchen. Check out the links below. 

• Almond Cream Brioche Buns from A Messy Kitchen
• Brioche Pull-Apart Loaf from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Classic Brioche à Tête from Food Lust People Love
• Individual Orange Cranberry Brioche from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Single Rise Brioche Dinner Rolls from Sneha's Recipe

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Roasted Pumpkin Gratin

The perfect post-Halloween use of the little pie pumpkins I use as indoor decorations, this roasted pumpkin gratin is flavorful, super rich and cheesy. 

Every year I buy the little mini pumpkins at the supermarket, mostly for a pop of Autumn color in the house but also because we love to eat them. When left whole, the little pumpkins last for ages in a cool house but once Halloween is past, I start thinking about cooking them. 

One of our favorite recipes is luscious creamy coconut curry baked right inside scooped-out pumpkins.  Another is a Thai-inspired pumpkin stir-fry with shrimp.  

And, of course, a third is this roasted pumpkin gratin featuring a French seasonal cheese called Mont D’Or, which is made with unpasteurized cow’s milk. It is produced in the cooler months only and is shaped by circling it with spruce bark. As it ages, it becomes runny and full of flavor. We adore it. 

Roasted Pumpkin Gratin

‘Tis the season but if you can’t find a Mont d’Or cheese, substitute your favorite soft rind cheese like Brie or Camembert, preferably made with unpasteurized milk, if possible. The stronger the flavor, the better is my attitude.

Ingredients 

2 mini pumpkins, about 1 lb or 450g each, seeded and cut in wedges

Olive oil

Fine sea salt

Red pepper flakes

1 Mont d’Or, chilled – weight 8.8 oz or 250g (See note above for substitutes)

Fresh ground black pepper

Cayenne

2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) for garnish

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and lightly oil a large iron skillet or another baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil. 

Arrange the pumpkin wedges in your prepared baking vessel. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and sprinkle with salt and red pepper flakes.

Roast the pumpkin wedges for 35-40 minutes or until they are fork tender. The skin on the smaller pumpkins is absolutely edible. In fact, it’s my favorite part. 

Slice the chilled cheese and cover the pumpkin with the slices. Add a few generous grinds of black pepper and a sprinkle of cayenne.

Return the pan to the oven and roast for a further 10-15 minutes. 

Take it out briefly to sprinkle on the pepitas and put it back in the oven. 

Roast for another 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is golden on top. If you’d like it a bit darker, you can put the oven on broil/grill for a few minutes but watch it carefully so it doesn’t burn. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for at least five minutes before serving or that molten cheese might burn your mouth. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today our group is sharing recipes to trick or treat you for Halloween. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out the links below.

• Sneha's Recipe: Keto Halloween Eggy Spiders
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Pumpkin Deviled Eggs
• Food Lust People Love: Roasted Pumpkin Gratin 
• Culinary Cam: Shrunken Head Apple Tart 
• Amy's Cooking Adventures: Spaghetti & Eyeballs
• Our Good Life: Witches Brew Vodka Cocktail

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Blueberry Cornbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

Bursting with fresh lemon flavor and juicy blueberries, these golden blueberry cornbread muffins are perfect for breakfast or snack time. 

I’ve undoubtedly mentioned this before but every day my husband gets an email from NYT Cooking with descriptions of dishes and links to the recipes online. And every day, he forwards those emails to me. Once in a blue moon, he actually mentions a recipe he thinks one of us should make. 

A couple of weeks ago, it was a version of these blueberry cornbread muffins. As Muffin Monday was coming up (end of the month sneaks up on me regularly) I was happy to oblige. I scoffed at the one commenter who said that just lemon zest was too much lemon and upped the ante by adding lemon juice as well. 

It was a good decision. In my opinion, lemons are life. You can never add too much lemon! 

Blueberry Cornbread Muffins

As mentioned above, this recipe is adapted from one on New York Times Cooking. Sadly, it's behind a firewall but I included the link so at least subscribers can access it. (Or people who have turned off Javascript for the site.)

Ingredients

Zest from 1 lemon

Juice from 1/2 lemon

< 1 cup or 240ml milk, poured into the measuring cup after the lemon juice up to the 1 cup mark (See method.)

1 cup or 155g grams fine-grain yellow cornmeal

1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour

½ cup, packed, or 100g brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup or 113g butter, melted and slightly cooled, plus more for greasing pan

1 large egg, at room temperature

2 cups or 280g fresh blueberries, plus extra for garnish

Method

In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Zest the lemon into the dry ingredient bowl and stir. 

Use a reamer to juice the lemon into a measuring vessel. Remove any seeds and discard. Add milk up to the 1 cup or 240ml mark. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, milk and egg until well combined. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold until just combined. 

Let the batter rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. This gives the cornmeal time to hydrate.

While the batter rests, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it generously with butter.

Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. 

Top with a few more blueberries, if desired.

Bake until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. 

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool further. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Enjoy! 

It’s the last Monday of the month aka Muffin Monday and the literal last day of the month. Those two days don’t often coincide! Can you believe it’s already October tomorrow? Check out the great muffin recipes my Muffin Monday friends are sharing below. 

• Banana Avocado Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Blueberry Cornbread Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Caramel Apple Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Molasses Bran Muffins with Cherries from Karen's Kitchen Stories

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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