liege waffles

liege waffle 0683

Liege waffles are like not like those waffles you had for breakfast over the weekend. Though they are made on the same iron as those waffles, liege waffles are unique in both flavor and texture.

Unlike your soft and fluffy breakfast waffle batter, liege waffles are made with a brioche dough that is studded with pearl sugar. The brioche dough imparts a denser texture with a buttery richness to it, while an overnight rise gives the waffles a deeper flavor with a slight tang, and the pearl sugar lends pockets of molten sweetness and the liege waffle’s trademark crunchy, caramelized exterior.   Continue reading

flour bakery’s sticky buns

sticky buns flour bakery

Sticky buns are like cinnamon roll’s edgier, fancier cousin. Brioche dough filled with cinnamon sugar, rolled tightly, then baked with a caramel glaze and toasted pecans.

Divine.

It’s really hard to justify consuming all of those calories for breakfast, which is why it’s OK that they take forever to make. Mine were done just in time for a post-lunch snack (or in-place-of-lunch snack… same thing). No worries, there are a number of shortcuts you can take to ensure yours are ready in time for breakfast.

I wasn’t particularly worried about spending my whole Saturday baking, though, so being in no rush I made my brioche dough the night before, left it in the fridge overnight, and proceeded to make my sticky buns the following morning. The dough makes enough for 2 sets of sticky buns or, in my case, a set of sticky buns and a loaf of brioche. A magical loaf of brioche.

I hope you were all very good in January, because diet time is over.

Over.

(PS – Thank you BF for my wonderful Christmas gift – my Flour Bakery cookbook) <3

Learn from my mistakes –

  • Don’t skimp on the pecans. You don’t want to see what the rolls look like under there
  • Make sure your “goo” thickens appropriately, but still be careful not to burn it. I was overly paranoid about burning it, which left my goo a little on the “runny” side. Still delicious, but thinner than it should have been.

Flour Bakery’s Sticky Buns

[ Printable Recipe ]

Goo:

  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks; 170 grams, 6 ounces) unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 cups (345 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup (110 grams) honey
  • 1/3 cup (80 grams) heavy cream
  • 1/3 cup (80 grams) water
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Rolls:

  • Basic Brioche Dough
  • 1/4 cup (55 grams) light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup (100 grams) pecan halves, toasted and chopped

First, make the goo. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the brown sugar and cook, stirring, to combine (it may look separated, that’s ok). Remove from the heat and whisk in the honey, cream, water, and salt. Strain to remove any undissolved lumps of brown sugar. Let cool for about 30 minutes, or until cooled to room temperature. You should have about 3 cups. (The mixture can be made up to 2 weeks in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.)

Make brioche dough and divide in half. Use half for this recipe and reserve the other half for another use. Can be made up to 1 week in advance.

On a floured work surface, roll out the brioche into rectangle about 12 by 16 inches and 1/4-inch thick. It will have the consistency of cold, damp Play-Doh and should be fairly easy to roll. Position the rectangle so a short side is facing you.

In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and half of the pecans. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the entire surface of the dough. Starting from the short side farthest from you and working your way down, roll up the rectangle like a jelly roll. Try to roll tightly, so you have a nice round spiral. Trim off about 1/4- inch from each end of the roll to make them even.

Use a bench scraper or a chef’s knife to cut the roll into 8 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2-inches wide. **(At this point, the unbaked buns can be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 1 week. When ready to bake, thaw them, still wrapped, in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours, then proceed as directed.)

Pour the goo into a 9 by 13-inch baking dish, covering the bottom evenly. Sprinkle the remaining pecans evenly over the surface. Don’t skimp on the pecans.

Arrange the buns, evenly spaced, in the baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm spot to proof until the dough is puffy, pillowy, and soft and the buns are touching-almost tripled in size, about 2 hours.

Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat to 350 degrees F.

Bake until golden brown, about 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool in the dish on a wire rack for 20 to 30 minutes. One at a time, invert the buns onto a serving platter, and spoon any extra goo and pecans from the bottom of the dish over the top.

The buns are best served warm or within 4 hours of baking. They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, and then warmed in a 325 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes before serving.

brioche

brioche-bread

beautiful brioche

you make my belly happy

buttery and sweet

Is that the first haiku you’ve read about brioche? It’s definitely the first I’ve written.

This was my first time making brioche. It was actually a byproduct of making sticky buns. The recipe said to “reserve half of the dough for another use”, since I was already making the dough, and had already resigned myself to spending the day baking, (and I have a jar of jam in my refrigerator from Bouchon)  my “other use” was a loaf of bread. A loaf of rich, buttery, brioche to be exact.

rich and slightly sweet

 with a moist and tender crumb

my new love, brioche

Even though I got tired while I was making it, and I thought my Kitchen Aid was going to start smoking from how hot it was getting, I will admit part of that may be do to my inability to read directions clearly. As I was making the dough, I remember thinking that it couldn’t possibly be worth the effort… that I would never make it again. Screw this bread.

As I was eating the bread, however, I was in pure bread bliss. Bread Heaven, if you will. It’s so good. I sliced it and, even though I could’ve easily taken down the whole loaf by myself, I wrapped it tightly and stuck it in the freezer to use for weekend breakfasts.

After making my own loaf, I can’t imagine making french toast or bread pudding out of it. All that hard work to make such a delicious loaf of bread, just to soak it in egg and fry it in a pan? Sacrilege. Blasphemy even. I don’t know how people do it. I assume when you make it a lot, you probably get used to it and get into a rhythm, but for now I can’t imagine eating it any way but plain, or perhaps lightly toasted with a slight smear of heavenly Bouchon jam. I don’t want any flavors overpowering my buttery, rich, slightly sweet new love, brioche.

Brioche – makes 2 loaves

[ Printable Recipe ]

Brioche Dough:

  • 2 1/2 cups (350 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
  • 2 1/4 cups (340 grams) bread flour
  • 1 1/2 packages (3 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast or 1-ounce (28 grams) fresh cake yeast
  • 1 3/8 cups (2 3/4 sticks; 310 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 10 to 12 pieces
  • 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (82 grams) sugar
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup cold water
  • 6 eggs

1. Using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the all-purpose flour, bread flour, yeast, sugar, salt, water, and 5 of the eggs. Beat on low speed for 3 to 4 minutes, or until all the ingredients are combined. Stop the mixer, as needed, to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure all the flour is incorporated into the wet ingredients. Once the dough has come together, beat on low speed for another 3 to 4 minutes. The dough will be very stiff and seem quite dry.

2. With the mixer on low speed, add the butter, 1 piece at a time, mixing after each addition until it disappears into the dough. Continue mixing on low speed for about 10 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. It is important for all the butter to be thoroughly mixed into the dough. If necessary, stop the mixer occasionally and break up the dough with your hands to help mix in the butter.

3. Once the butter is completely incorporated, turn up the speed to medium and beat until the dough becomes sticky, soft, and somewhat shiny, another 15 minutes. It will take some time to come together. It will look shaggy and questionable at the start and then eventually it will turn smooth and silky.

4. Turn the speed to medium-high and beat for about 1 minute. You should hear the dough make a slap-slap-slap sound as it hits the sides of the bowl. Test the dough by pulling at it; it should stretch a bit and have a little give. If it seems wet and loose and more like a batter than a dough, add a few tablespoons of flour and mix until it comes together. If it breaks off into pieces when you pull at it, continue to mix on medium speed for another 2 to 3 minutes, or until it develops more strength and stretches when you grab it. It is ready when you can gather it all together and pick it up in 1 piece.

5. Put the dough in a large bowl or plastic container and cover it with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap directly onto the surface of the dough. Let the dough proof in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or up to overnight At this point you can freeze the dough in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

TO MAKE THE LOAVES

  1. To make two brioche loaves, line the bottom and sides of two 9 by 5 inch loaf pans with parchment, or butter the pans liberally.  Divide the dough in half and press each piece into about a 9-inch square.  The dough will feel like cold, clammy Play-Doh.  Facing the square, fold down the top one-third toward you, and then fold up the bottom one-third, as if folding a letter.  Press to join these layers.  Turn the folded dough over and place it, seam-side down in one of the prepared pans.   Repeat with the second piece of dough, placing it in the second prepared pan. (Pardon the poor lighting, the sun was not out yet)
  1. Cover the loaves lightly with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to proof for about 4 to 5 hours, or until the loaves have nearly doubled in size.  They should have risen to the rim of the pan and be rounded on top.  When you poke at the dough, it should feel soft, pillowy and light, as if it’s filled with air – because it is! At this point, the texture of the loaves always reminds me a bit of touching a water balloon.
  1. Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  1. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining egg until blended.  Gently brush the tops of the loaves with the beaten egg.
  1. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the tops and sides of the loaves are completely golden brown.  Let cool in the pans on wire racks for 30 minutes, then turn the loaves out of the pans and continue to cool on the racks.

The bread can be stored tightly wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

home-made hamburger buns

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I’ve been thinking about making my own burger buns all summer long, but for some reason they always get bumped. Probably due to my lack of patience… I don’t want to mix and wait and roll and wait and … so much waiting with bread. I want to eat it nowwwwww. Naturally, since summer is drawing to a close, I decided it would be the perfect time for me finally make them. No excuses. Even though after I started making them BF decided he wanted to go out to dinner, so we wouldn’t use them that night anyway. No excuses. I was doing this.

Was it worth it? Do you want to have buns you can happily declare you made yourself? Buns that you can say you know exactly what is in them? That you can customize to suit your taste? Most importantly, do you want your house to smell like rich, buttery deliciousness for hours to come? Then these, sir (or madame) are for you. They certainly run circles around those flavorless things you find at the grocery store.

The recipe made BIG buns, though. Like really big, like gourmet-size big (1/3-lb patty big). I think next time I will make them smaller, maybe even slider small. Eh, probably not, that sounds like a lot of rolling – but definitely smaller. I bet you could get 12 regular-size buns out of this recipe (instead of the 8 giant buns it makes as-is). The recipe itself seems pretty foolproof and there isn’t a lot of “active” time and it yields a light, airy bun with a subtle buttery flavor (and intense buttery aroma). You can top them with anything you like – I did most of them plain, but then added salt to some and onion to others (per BF’s request). If you can’t use them all right away, just slice them then wrap them tightly and freeze them. Take them out to use as you need them.

Home-Made Hamburger Buns

[ Printable Recipe ]

  • 1 cup warm water
  • 3 tablespoons warm milk
  • 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 cups bread flour
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter, cubed

1. In a small bowl, combine the warm water, milk, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. In a separate small bowl or ramekin, beat 1 egg and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter cubes and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs. Stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Scrape dough onto clean, unfloured counter and knead, scooping dough up, slapping it on counter and turning it, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. (You could use a mixer if you wanted, but it’s really not necessary)

3. Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel or greased plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place until doubled again – 1 to 2 hours.

5. Set one oven rack on the lowest level, and another in the middle. Place pan of water on lowest rack and preheat oven to 400*F. Beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Yield: 8 large buns, I suspect 10-12 regular-size buns.

[ Adapted from NYT, June 2009 ]