Brioche and Croissant

Having made the dough for brioche (cakey!) and croissant (flaky!), today way worked it into forms and baked it. Because it was made on Friday, we had to freeze it and retard yeast activity to allow it to be worked with today (Monday).

The Long Island Lolita joined Dirty Kim and myself in speeding through the relatively simple steps of shaping, filling and baking everything. For the brioche a tete (brioche heads), one ounce of brioche dough was rolled into a ball and placed in a small buttered, fluted baking pan. One quarter of an ounce of dough was also rolled into a ball, then tapered into a tadpole shape. The bigger ball is thumbed in the middle to make a well, then the tadpole placed in the middle. By hand, the little head is tucked in to help it bake without melding into the body. Egg wash, proofed to rise a bit, then into the oven.

For the other half of the dough, we had the choice of going sweet or savory. The sweet involved frangipane, plumped raisins and candied citrus rind, and the savory sausage, ham and mustard, so the choice was easy. We crumbled the sausage and browned the hell out of, dash of salt, softened diced onions, tossed in some pre-cooked ham. The brioche dough was rolled out into a big rectangle, covered in dijon mustard, then sprinkled with the sausage mixture. Carefully it was rolled up and sliced, brushed with egg wash and laid out, proofed and baked.

The croissant dough was rolled out into big rectangles. One was cut into triangles, rolled from wide base to point for croissant shapes. The other was cut into rectangles, two bittersweet chocolate batons (sticks) laid in the middle, egg wash brushed on the edges, then both sides folded over, then laid out seam-side down. Brushed with egg wash, proofed, and into the oven.

Bread n' whatever tomorrow...Wednesday, PIZZA!

ADDENDA:
Just signed up for three different pizza rec classes over the next few months. One is basic home-made pizza, one is contemporary modern Italian pizza, and the third is pizza of Rome. Mmmmmm!

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, good yogurt with honey, raw cashews, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM TASTINGS: 9-11am, 1 brioche a tete, a couple of baby croissants, 1 brioche a sauicisson, some ham n' sausage on a piece of french bread, 6 or so semi-sweet chocolate battons, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM WATERING: 1pm, quart of water


PM SNACK: 4pm, green salad with tomato, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5:45pm, bread, hummus, zucchini pancakes, lamb skewer with mint sauce, a small amount of roasted potatoes, a square of cheese cake with dry figs in port reduction, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Fancy dinner out with B before wine class, the food really did not justify the prices. Some of the lamb was dry and overcooked, B's "medium" salmon was undercooked.

EVENING SNORT: 7-9pm, equivalent of 1 glass of wine
Explorations in the Bordeaux region, most just whatever, they all smell of, well, alcohol and a little bit of vomit. Except for the sauternes we tasted, usually hate sweet desert wines but this was delicious.