Brioche
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brioche is a highly enriched French bread, whose high egg and butter content give it what is seen as a rich and tender crumb. It has a dark, golden, and flaky crust from an egg wash applied before and after proofing.
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[edit] Forms of brioche
Brioche à tête is perhaps the most classically recognized form. Brioche à tête rolls are panned in fluted tins with a small spherical piece of dough placed on top. Brioche Nanterre is a loaf of brioche panned in a standard loaf pan. Instead of shaping one piece of dough and baking it, two rows of small pieces of dough are placed in the pan. Loaves are then proofed in the pan, fusing the pieces together. During the baking process the balls of dough rise further and form an attractive pattern.
Typical core ingredients for brioche dough are:
- flour
- eggs
- butter
- sugar (optional, when used only in small quantity as food for yeast; not to sweeten)
- milk
- yeast
- salt
[edit] History
The word brioche first appeared in print in 1404, and this bread is believed to have sprung from a traditional Norman recipe. It is argued that brioche is probably of a Roman origin, since a very similar sort of sweet holiday bread is made in Romania ("sărălie"). The cooking method and tradition of using it during big holidays resembles the culture surrounding the brioche so much that it is difficult to doubt same origin of both foods.
Despite its French origin, in France itself the brioche is included in the category of viennoiserie (breads supposedly in the style of Vienna in Austria), which are made in the same basic way as bread, but which have added ingredients (any of the following: eggs, butter, milk, sugar, cream) that give it a richer and/or sweeter character approaching that of pastries. This sub-group of viennoiserie also includes pain au lait and pain aux raisins; they are commonly eaten at breakfast or for snacks. Brioche is often gussied up with fruits or chocolate chips and served as a pastry or as the basis of a dessert, with many local variations in added ingredients, fillings and toppings. Less rich versions are also used with savoury preparations, particularly stuffed with foie gras; and it is sometimes used in other meat dishes.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in his autobiography Confessions (published posthumously in 1782, but completed in 1769), relates that "a great princess" is said to have advised, with regard to peasants who had no bread, "Qu’ils mangent de la brioche", commonly translated as "Let them eat cake". This saying is commonly mis-attributed to Queen Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI; one writer also speculated that he may have actually been referring to Maria Theresa of Spain, the wife of Louis XIV. The meaning and intent of the statement is also debated due to its historical context.[1]
[edit] Etymology
The word comes from Old French, from broyer, brier, to knead, of Germanic origin (bhreg).[2]
