Lote made the best Brioche

I want to smell the bread rising again and taste the yeast in these Brioche right as they come out of the oven. Cooking instructions and other memories can now be found on the web.

We couldn't find any of her directions, but i found a scrap (pictured below) of her old Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book that i'm pretty sure her recipe was based upon.

Below is my first attempt. Problems were that they were no where as yeasty as i remember. Thing is Lot's recipe called for 4 packages of yeast (for what was about twice the BH&G book recipe) and the Cooks.com recipe called for 1 package, which is what i used. Next time i might double or triple that. Then too the Brioche were overcooked when cooked for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Next time start watching them at about 8 minutes. Fact is that they ended up being quite heavey and even the dough was heavy when i was kneading it. Next time maybe let it rise more and put it in a warmer place like the oven for example.

Denise and Jason tried it and their reaction was, "Yeah that's wheat bread". But of course that was not the reaction i was looking for. This is suppose to be exceptional ... light and yeasty and delicious.

Stay tuned ...

Comments

Seth says

M 2009-10-19 17:18:37 12708

I think it is supposed to rise 2X so that the yeast can multiply. At least once in a covered bowl with a moist cloth & the second time in the pan. Or twice in the bowl and then in the baking pan.

I have another of Lotus' recipes for brioche - she was always perfecting the formula. I will scan it later.

Yep it rose to twice its size in the bowl with a moist cloth, then to twice its size in the muffin pans the next day before i baked it. Yes, thanks, a scan would be much appreciated.

Mark de LA says

Maybe 2X in the bowl & the final time in the pan for "proofing" (raising). I saw it done on the food channel by Emeril Lagasse in an all bread program which I can't find yet. Anyway, here are the scans of Lotus' recipe cards one for regular bread.

Seth says

Wow! Thanks for the scans. One thing that i can see right away is that she used pastry flower ... that would make a big difference, i had used all general purpose wheat flour. Then the baking is quite different: 350 for 25 minutes, i did 400 for 15 minutes and they were dry and the crust too hard. I'll do another batch soon when i get some pastry flour. I'll let it rise more and at a warmer temp, use more yeast, and bake at 350 and watch them carefully. Thanks again.

C says

On the back of a card with the similar recipe as the vertical card I copied above (except water is crossed out & 1/3 cup of water is over-written) is the following recipe for brioche:

I have yet to put them all in a spreadsheet to compare the relevant ingredients, amounts etc.

Mark de LA says

seth 2010-07-12 08:30:49 12708

Are you going to try your hand at baking brioche? I kind of gave up ... i was making so many mistakes, that i crossed my frustration threshold on this. Perhaps if i had an exact verified recipe, i would try again. Following an exact recipe and getting the same result must be a real blast

Maybe, once before I tried when I lived in San Francisco in the Haight, but it was going to be a disaster until Lotus told me to add more flour. I mostly wanted to get the cards scanned before they were completely unreadable.

Seth says

Of course the whole idea of making something that feels the same as it did when you were a child might be fundamentally flawed. I got some brioche from a home made vendor at the local farmer's market ... and while it was reminiscent ... it was totally not nearly the same. If we can pull this off ... it certainly is at least blog-able!

Mark de LA says
I tried Lotus' recipe substantially a few days ago. The texture & flavor was close. I mixed in a cup of leftover cooked 11-grain cooked instead of one of the cups of flour. I used pastry flour for the rest. I am almost there if I can master my oven (it is off temperature-wise). The loaf came out with a hard crust the buns were very close. I also used half water & half milk. The use of other sweeteners is fascinating, I might use mostly honey with a bit of sugar for the yeast. Someday I might try Agave nectar. Not ready for pictures yet. I used just a wood spoon, bowl & kneading board. I probably kneaded too much flour in the end. The bread didn't rise after a night in the fridge. I still like the notion of community bread baking discovered in latest issue of LILLIPOH from Warren Lee Cohen here .

Seth says

It's interesting how we must compete against the modern commercial industrial world for what we can do ourselves. In many cases, like making a loaf of bread, the equation is tipped outrageously in favor of the commercial. In other cases, like making a fast hamburger and fries, it is about even ... sometimes cheaper. The strange thing is, even where the equation tips to do-it-yourself, people opt for the commercial ... that happens frequently in my family. I think that says something about the ceremony of purchasing branded products in branded environments. Human habits ... go figure ...

Mark de LA says

M 2011-01-21 10:21:06 12708

I tried Lotus' recipe substantially a few days ago. The texture & flavor was close. I mixed in a cup of leftover cooked 11-grain cooked instead of one of the cups of flour. I used pastry flour for the rest. I am almost there if I can master my oven (it is off temperature-wise). The loaf came out with a hard crust the buns were very close. I also used half water & half milk. The use of other sweeteners is fascinating, I might use mostly honey with a bit of sugar for the yeast. Someday I might try Agave nectar. Not ready for pictures yet. I used just a wood spoon, bowl & kneading board. I probably kneaded too much flour in the end. The bread didn't rise after a night in the fridge. I still like the notion of community bread baking discovered in latest issue of LILLIPOH from Warren Lee Cohen here .

Finally got the formula close to correct by doubling the H2O while using the bread machine to to make just dough. It still suffers from crumbling which may be solved by one of these suggestions. This was bread not brioche. Formula: 350 - 1/2 hour (rainy day)

...

	flour	water	oil	sugar	yeast	salt	eggs
		milk	butter	molasses
			margarine
BM buns	2.5 C	8TBL	4 tbl	2 tbl	2 pk	dash	2
		none

Seth says

Mark de Los Angeles 2016-05-12 09:51:31 [item 12708#51956]

This recipe for Milk Bread resembles Brioche:
https://food52.com/blog/14852-the-most-addictive-bread-you-ll-ever-eat?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=Social – will try soon.

? … please let me know how it turns out

Seth says
Conversation forked to thought 22622

Lote made the best Brioche

Tags

Comments

See Also