Brioche with A Espresso Chocolate Cake Twist

A cakey bread or a bready cake?

Something I did when I can't decide what to bake.

Bread or cake....

This is done on a sheet of brioche dough, I used whole egg with milk so it's a bit toned down simple brioche, and a layer of espresso chocolate butter cake batter, rolled up and cut into scrolls, proofed again and baked into little cup cakes.

Brushed on a bit of egg wash on the bread sheet.

So, do you call it a cake, or a bread roll?

Simple Brioche Loaf

I've decided to make a brioche loaf this week for the boy's school lunch....

• 500g Strong Bread flour
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp instant dried yeast
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 egg yolks plus 4 whole eggs, lightly beaten
• 150g softened butter

Method
Mix flour, salt and yeast. Warm milk and sugar slightly, stirring, until sugar has dissolved, then allow to cool a little. Mix flour, salt and yeast in bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Combine egg yolks and warm milk mixture. Make a well in flour, then pour in liquid and mix to a dough. Work until dough forms a smooth ball, about 10 minutes. Continue beating while adding butter in two lots. The dough should be shiny and smooth and will come away cleanly from sides of bowl.
Cover bowl with a clean cloth and leave dough to double in size in a draught-free place for about two hours. Knock back dough, tip onto workbench and briefly knead by hand. Shape loaf shape in greased tin.

Allow to rise again, covered, for one hour, apply egg wash.

Bake at 180C for 30 minutes. Extra little loaf for the 3 year old....
Thanks for the support of yeastspotting!

Mother's Day... Brioche, Roti, Panfried Dumplings & Handmade Noodles

Mothers day today...
Hubby made pancakes for brekky... We had lunch out yesterday to avoid the rush and something simple today... as I got my Kaffir Lime tree and a persimmon... We digged the composting out of our bin and planted them... Amongst all the lime trees in Bunnings, I was happy to find the Kaffir Lime because I can use the leaves as well.... I was tossing between some fig trees but was hoping the cuttings from neighbour's big fig tree will live... otherwise, I will go back for a fig - I love it, and love to cook with it...
Below is from the children... simple heart warming presents and they rememberred I like pink...
I was preparing some doughs from yesterday, what's a weekend without my "play" doughs...
One of them is the Roti dough, but then I sorta changed my mind... I'm making Chinese tonight, and maybe I should make spring onion pancakes - and what I end up with, is Spring Onion Roti... I stretched the doughs (I can't flip like the pros) as paper thin and fold up some spring onions in them, bit of canola oil and made up those little envelops...

And the other overnight dough is the Brioche dough, hmm, usually they don't need overnight proving... but I used sourdough starter - I'm bad am I - I must say, the yeast is still better, but hey, I wasn't happy with ciabatta yesterday and somehow... I came up with these...

and to make things so not tradtional.. I even added a banana - I know I know, too many bananas. The children shaped the brioches, the older one made the bottom and little one made the top... so excuse the different shapes... and they even put on the egg wash... I do have little tart sheels, but it's just as easy to use the muffin tins...

And this is what they look like after second proving and 25 minutes baking in 180C oven.

For dinner tonight, I found some beef mince mixture from the "bao"s (Chinese buns) I made the week before in the freezer and decided it's better to get rid of it... It's a mixture of Beef, Onion, Parsley (not exactly chinese but hey it does taste alright) with Fish Sauce, Shaoxin Wine, Light Soy, Ginger and bit of sugar. I decided the family might be sick of yeasty buns, so I made dumplings - family like panfied version, so in the pan they go.... sit the dumplings in a lighly oiled pan, and watch it sizzle to make them ready, traditionally you just need to add a bit of boiling water and close the lid, so the steam will cook the dumplings thoroughly... I made my own dumpling skin today, normally I was lazy and just buy dumpling skins - must say the hand made dumpling skins are so much better, however, I do need some lessons from dad!

And they came out like these.....

The rest of the dough, I made them into noodles - I wish I did it with the pasta maker! But I managed to roll them out really thinly and they are bit like papadelles' shape... however the dough hasn't got any eggs... It's just a simple thin sliced beef broth with bok choi and sliced birdeye chilly, spring onion and the flavour came from a bit of fish sauce and salt.... some home made oil chilly sauce to make it even hotter...

And I'm pretty tired after all those doughs...