Cheesecake Brioche

Friends gave us cute puppy towels for housewarming. I love the vintage style.

The other day the First Reader was looking at something in the bakery section at the grocery. He does this often, and it's a toss-up whether we buy it, or I say 'I can make that for you?' depending on the schedule. So the Brioche/Danish thing he was looking at stayed on the shelf, and I opted to attempt something like it at home. He may not be a chocolate fiend, but baked goods will woo him every time. That, and the level of walking he does for work (miles daily) and I'm not worried about keeping him on a diet. More like feeding him enough, right now.

Sponge, after about an hour

I'd done Brioche years ago, and only had a vague memory of what it entailed, other than being a really rich dough. Rich, in the context of yeast doughs, generally involves adding milk rather than water, and eggs. In this case, boy, were there eggs. Brioche is also a very strongly worked dough to fully activate the gluten. I use the stand mixer and bread hook - this wouldn't be an easy recipe without that tool, so if you don't have one prepare for a workout. Hand mixers are right out- you'll toast the motor, and once the magic smoke is let out, it's never the same after.

Rich, buttery dough, worked for a long time to activate the gluten.

I looked up a recipe online, and the first sentence warned that you shouldn't try to alter or substitute in any way. After I stopped laughing...

Ok, confession time. I've been baking from scratch, solo, since I was nine. I literally do not remember when I started helping Mom in the kitchen. You know how they say that baking always has to have a recipe? No, it doesn't. Most of the time, I'm not using one. I do it by feel, by how the dough looks, by memory. Which doesn't help if I'm working on something I haven't done in (coff) many years, but still.

let it have a good long rise. You can't rush this for best results.

I looked at the recipe, shook my head, and did my own thing. The result looked like brioche, tasted like it, and was infinitely better than the last processed bakery brioche I'd had, so I think I was successful. But this recipe is done a bit by feel, so I don't recommend it unless you are already comfortable with baking. There are a couple of points where you'll be adding flour and measuring by looks, not mass or volume. Try it. Play with it. Have fun with it. That's the beauty of baking, it's an art and a delicious one.

Overbaked just a touch. Easy to do with a sweet loaf.

This is not a fast recipe. It is the epitome of slow food. I worked on it during a day at home with the family, and that includes a grocery run during the first rising which took about three hours (longer than planned but it worked well). But the long, slow process is perfect for activating the glorious gluten in the flour, leading to a flaky, chewy, delicate loaf that pairs fantasically well with the sweet rich cream cheese filling. You could do it without that, of course, but I was trying for something like the thing in the bakery, and created something I think is far better.

Sweet but not too sweet, rich, it's difficult to know where to stop with the superlatives on this thing.

Oh, and this loaf? Didn't even make it to all the way cool before it was gone. I'd planned supper for the family, but instead we had this.

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