Surfas Breadmaking Class: Bread #5: Brioche

Posted by Hirono

I think it was my mother who once told me that if I want to quit eating sweets, I should make them myself. She said that if I see, first hand, how much sugar and fat are in it, I will surely quite eating it. Her point was valid because I no longer consume buttercream frosting after learning how much artery-clogging butter went into making the frosting during my cupcake-making days.

Because of that reason, I was very hesitant to bake Brioche at the bread workshop at Surfas Culinary District in Culver City. I just wanted to forever stay in a sugar-coated world where I was completely oblivious to the amount of butter and eggs that were packed in those cute, seemingly innocent French pastry.

But I suppose I can’t stay sheltered forever. It was time for me to face the music. Here I go!

A stand mixer definitely comes in handy in making the dough. I can’t imagine trying to do this by hand.

First you need to dissolve the yeast by whisking it with milk. Then add the flour and mix in a stand mixer with a dough hook. Add eggs and mix for 4-5 minutes.

Increase the speed to medium, and slowly add the butter (BUTTER!), tablespoon or two at a time. Continue to mix for 15 minutes to develop the gluten for a light, airy structure in bread.

Now add sugar and salt and mix for 5-8 minutes. Conduct the “window pane” test (spread a tiny dough piece with your fingers into a thin translucent layer). If you can see through the layer without it ripping, you are ready to transfer the dough onto a buttered sheet pan and cover it with a plastic wrap.

Let it sit for at least 6 hours, or overnight.

After the dough has rested for at least 6 hour, or overnight, turn the cold dough onto a greased pan. Divide the dough in half. Then press one portion of dough into an even rectangle about 2 inches thick.

Take the rectangle in half lengthwise and cut it crosswise into 6 equal portions. The recipe makes a total of 12 equal pieces.

Roll the dough into balls.

You have many option to shape the Brioche (i.e. in a loaf pan) but we made many small ones with little 2-3 balls per baking cup.

Place the Brioches in a pan. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and set them aside for about 45 minutes until the dough has risen to the level of the pan rim.

Unwrap the dough, brush them with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degree F for 30 minutes, rotating the after 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degree F and continue to bake or 25-30 minutes, or until they are golden brown on top.

Transfer to cooling rack and let them cool completely.

Look at these cute little Brioche! They look like baby’s little bums!

So making Brioche wasn’t as scary as I thought. Yes, there are quite a bit of butter (almost two sticks, to make two 8-1/2 inch loaves) and eggs (three altogether) but it’s not that bad as long as you just eat only one or two of the little ones. It’s difficult to stay disciplined though because these little morsels are lovely, so lovely that you really can’t decide if they are bread or actually pastry.

I ate one in class while it was still warm, and another one with a cup of coffee when I got home that afternoon.

Everything about Brioche was a music to my ears … and my tummy.

Surfas Breadmaking Class: Bread #3: Cream Biscuits

Posted by Hirono

The second quick bread we made during the two-day bread workshop at Surfas Culinary District in Culver City (the first was Irish Soda Bread) was Cream Biscuits, perfect vessels to deliver gravy or honey into your salivating mouth. I don’t eat biscuits much at home but I do love me some of those crumbly goodness drizzled in honey, with an occasional (yes, occasional!) fried chicken from KFC.

The best part of it all is that these biscuits come together in a cinch, possibly quicker than trying to figure out how to safely unwrap Pillsbury’s air pressured can without exploding in your face.

For the recipe, we used White Lily brand flour. According to the recipe, “The soft bleached gluten in the flour results in light, tender baked products.” If White Lily flour is unavailable, you can substitute it by simply adding 1-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of salt to each cup of White Lily flour.

To start, make a well in the center of the flour ina bowl and slowly pour in the heavy cream. Mix by pulling the flour into the liquid.

Stir to form a sticky dough. The texture you’re looking for here is “shaggy” and “wettish.” These adjectives make me chuckle.

Turn the “shaggy” and “wettish” (hee hee) dough onto a work surface.

Fold the dough into half …

… and roll it into a 1/3 to 1/2-inch thick round.

Cut the biscuit using your favorite cookie cutter. Make sure to flour the cutter and work swiftly, as the dough is super soft and crumbly.

Brush each biscuit with cream.

Finally, place the biscuits onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper and bake in a 450 degree F oven for 10-14 minutes or until golden brown.

So, a little lesson learned here:

My group partner Heather and I both fell in love with the square cutter with ridges and made our biscuits using it. Big mistake. The biscuits came out thick and doughy, and the finished product wasn’t as cute as we’d envisioned.

We agreed that our biscuits would have came out crispier and more flavorful using the regular round kind, like the one you see here being used by Chef John.

Despite our little hiccup, the biscuits were still very yummy. We smeared the fresh butter and strawberry preserves and devoured them while they were piping hot! Heavenly!

All I needed to make these biscuits even more perfect was a bucket (or two) of KFC!

Next up: Ciabatta!

Surfas Breadmaking Class: Bread #2: Pain de Epi

Posted by Hirono

I love baguettes. For me, they are the epitome of bread, and Pain de Epi is just another variation, and perhaps the most visually appealing, of the famous French loaf family.

Its shape resembles an ear of grain, thus the name “wheat stalk bread,” and you can just place it in the middle of the dining table for everyone to tear a piece while they gather for supper. No serving plates necessary. It’s so romantically rustic. Needless to say, I was most excited to bake this crusty bread during the two-day bread-making workshop at Surfas Culinary District in Culver City.

Making a Pain de Epi can be a two-day process because you need poolish that needs to be set aside overnight. Poolish is the French version of its Italian cousin, biga (or also goes by other names like starter and sponge), a fermented starter made out of flour, water, and yeast. Lucky for us, Chef John had already prepared poolish for us so we were able to go through the entire baking process in less than three hours.

To begin, mix bread flour, warm water, yeast, salt, and poolish in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook for 3-4 minutes in low speed, and speed it up to medium speed for another 2-3 minutes. Let the dough rest in a greased bowl, wrapped in plastic, for 45 minutes.

Two things I learned during this process is that: 1. Don’t mix salt with the yeast, as it can kill the bacteria, and 2. It takes about six minutes for the mixture to develop gluten.

Remove the dough from the bowl and turn the dough onto a floured surface. Now, gently stretch the dough and fold it in third, then in third again, like you’re folding a letter. Repeat, this time starting with the bottom edge closest to you.

Return the dough to the greased bowl, with seam side facing down and let it sit for another 45 minutes covered in plastic wrap.

Place the dough in a floured surface and divide it into four equal portions (sorry, you only see three here). It’s best to use the scale to create an even portion. Gently pat down each dough to remove any large gas bubbles.

Shape the dough, according to Chef John’s instruction,” by rolling short edge of dough toward center, then wind dough from the back edge forward to from a short log.”

Place the dough log on a linen dish towel, with seam side down. Lightly cover the log with plastic wrap or the towel and let them rest for 20 minutes.

Return the dough to the work surface, seam side up. Gently but firmly press the dough to release large gas bubbles. Shape the dough “by turning up the bottom edge of the dough, then winding the dough from top down to meet the bottom. With heel of a hand, work from left to right to seal the same into the dough. Then using palms, applying even pressure, working from the middle of the baguette outward, roll the dough until it extends to approximately 14 inches in lengths. Pinch the ends of the loaves to taper them.”

I wish I can paraphrase it to make a simpler explanation but I’m not even going to attempt.

Now, place the baguettes onto a baking pan. To create the Epi design, make a 3/4 cut through the baguette at a 30 degree angle and turn each piece of dough to alternating sides.

Place pan filled with water on the bottom of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the baguettes become golden brown. Let them cool to room temperature before serving.

Aaah, look at these beauties! The freshly baked Pain de Epi was absolutely incredible.

Up next: Cream Biscuits!

Surfas Breadmaking Class: Bonus: Fresh Butter

Posted by Hirono

I used to think that the only way to make fresh butter at home was by shaking the jar filled with cream vigorously until your arm falls off, but thanks to the bread-making class I took at Surfas Culinary District in Culver City, I now know that churning a melt-in-your-mouth spread is as easy as turning on the food processor!

In addition to five amazing breads I baked in class, I also learned how to make fresh butter from scratch during the two-day workshop! There are only two ingredients you need here: fresh heavy cream and crushed ice cubes. That’s it! You’ll need some sea salt or herbs if you like to add a dash of flavor, but those are optional.

To make butter, simply pour the heavy cream into a food processor and “process the cream until the butter begins to separate from the buttermilk and the butterfat granules are about half the size of pea,” according to Chef John’s instruction. “With the machine running, pour in the ice cube.”

You can also listen for the changes.

Once the large mass is formed, turn off the machine.

Then transfer the entire content into a container lined with a cheesecloth.

Let the mass drain for a few minutes. Just a quick caveat here. We took out the mass slightly too early from the food professor, hence the white color. If you let it process a little longer, the mass will produce a more, yellow hue that’s much closer to the actual butter. Ours ended up tasting pretty good but was definitely a little too watery and too “fluffy” in texture.

Squeeze out all the water. The strained liquid is buttermilk.

Optional: If you want additives, like salt or herbs (or even fruits and preservatives for sweet butter), this is the time to add them in. We added a generous amount of coursed sea salt in ours.

Tada! The fresh butter is made! As I mentioned, ours wasn’t the best (and our group ended up going to other tables to sample other’s creations frequently) but it was still pretty darn good.

And I’m happy to report that my arm is still intact!

Surfas Breadmaking Class: Bread #1: Irish Soda Bread

Posted by Hirono

If you live in the Los Angeles area and are interested in a bread-making class, I highly recommend Surfas Culinary District in Culver City. I attended the two-day bread-making workshop a few months ago (thanks to my husband who got it for me for Mother’s Day) and had an absolute blast.

During the two days, the class got to bake five different kinds of bread from scratch, including Irish Soda Bread, Pain de Epi, Brioche, Cream Biscuit, Ciabatta, plus one bonus which was fresh butter.

I decided to document the adventures here so I can refer back to them in the future but I won’t be sharing the actual recipes. They are proprietary, mostly created by Chef John Pitblado, who was the instructor for the course. You can get a hold of all the recipes, plus other great information, like The Basics of Bread and Bread Baking Issues, if you attend the class.

Speaking of Chef John, I truly appreciated his teaching style. He was knowledgeable and explained the science in a way that we rookies can understand, and he was incredibly patient with answering our questions. He was definitely the main reason why this class was so enjoyable for me.

First up: Irish Soda Bread!

Irish Soda Bread is one of the two quick breads that we baked in class (other one is Cream Biscuit). It uses no yeast, hence “quick,” so it lacks the airy, chewy texture, but its dense, biscotti-like crumble is delicious with jam and / or butter and can be quite addicting. The ingredients are white pastry flour, buttermilk, salt, baking soda, and butter.

To make the bread, you begin by mixing the ingredients in a bowl (a little elbow grease required) and slowly add buttermilk to form a soft dough.

You then turn the dough onto a floured surface and lightly knead to incorporate everything (careful not to over mix).

You next shape the dough into a flat round.

Place it in a Dutch oven or a pan, and cut across the top of the dough. Cover the Dutch oven or the pan and bake for about 30 minutes in 400 degree F oven. Remove lid and continue to bake for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove the bread from the pan and cool it on a wire rack. And you’re done!

The class sampled the beautiful fruit of our labor while the bread was still nice and warm. Of course, we smeared the freshly-made butter on it. I’m sure you can hear the swoon that echoed in the test kitchen.

Up next, Fresh Butter!