Whole Wheat Brioche

This recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. This doctor and pastry chef duo have written a number of cookbooks full of recipes for easy no-knead breads. For most of the recipes, you spend a few minutes mixing up a large batch of dough, let it rise for two hours, and then put it in the fridge. Then, when you're ready to bake a loaf, you take out a portion of the dough, let it rise, and bake it. The batch of dough can stay in the fridge for one to two weeks, depending on the recipe. HBin5, as they call it, is the second in the series, which is focused on whole grain breads. I have made several recipes from this cookbook and enjoyed all of them, but still found it hard to believe that whole wheat brioche could actually be good. I imagined it would be decent, but would likely be too dense or otherwise not brioche-like. Turns out, I was wrong. I whipped up a loaf yesterday and it is DELICIOUS. I won't pretend this is healthy because it's whole wheat. It is still brioche after all and has plenty of eggs, butter, and honey. However, it is certainly healthier than traditional brioche made with all white flour. Now that I know this recipe is good, I can't wait to try Jeff and Zoe's recipe for pumpkin pie brioche. YUM!

Welcome!

About two years ago, I decided I wanted to create a blog about baking. I love to bake and I wanted to share my baking experiences with anyone who wanted to read about them. So, I set up this page, wrote one post, and haven't touched it since. I continued to think about the blog but always convinced myself I shouldn't do it because I wouldn't have time to to keep up with it and because there are plenty of cooking and baking blogs out there, so why would anyone want to read one more? Well, I decided it doesn't matter if I don't have time to post once a week or even once a month, I can post whenever I have time. And yes, there are plenty of other baking blogs out there, but I'm sure somebody wants to read mine, right? Even if it's just my family members. So, with that, I am officially launching (or re-launching?) my blog. Now, on to the good stuff.

As I've already said, I love to bake. Perhaps the only other thing I like to do as much as baking is exercise. This is fortunate, because otherwise I'd probably end up like Paula Deen. For as long I can remember, I've always liked to "make things," and while there are many other ways to make things, some of which I do (e.g. knitting), baking also allows me to fulfill my need for instant gratification. Sure, knitting a scarf is fun, but it takes a while before you have something to show for it. Baking allows you to have a completed product in a lot less time. Besides, scarves don't taste very good.

I think one of the reasons I enjoy baking and have success with it, is because I am a scientific person and therefore approach baking in a scientific manner. To me, recipes are like instructions in a chemistry lab manual and should be followed very carefully. It also helps that I am a rule-follower. I think a lot of the time that baking doesn't turn out well, it's more likely due to failure to follow the recipe rather than lack of skill. My grandmother used to say, "if you can read, you can cook," and I've always thought that to be very true. Sure, things like pie crust and meringue frosting take practice, but following the instructions is always a good start.

And on the topic of rules, that brings me to my list of baking rules that I (almost) always follow:

1. The first time you make a recipe, always follow it exactly. Don't try to make substitutions, "lighten it," or otherwise mess around with it. If you follow the recipe, and it doesn't come out well, it's a bad recipe. Don't make it again. If it does come out well, then feel free to make your own adjustments the next time. Then if it doesn't come out well, you know it's not the recipe, it's you. There are some exceptions to this rule, but you have to learn when it's ok to make them.
2. Desserts are not meant to be healthy. That is why they are so delicious. If you want something sweet that is healthy, have some fruit. I generally don't believe in substituting applesauce for oil or any of that nonsense to make desserts healthier. I'd rather have the real deal, and eat them in moderation. That doesn't mean that everything baked has to be unhealthy or that I never bake anything healthy. I make plenty of healthy whole wheat and multigrain breads.
3. Don't over mix. If a recipe says, mix until just moistened, do just that! Don't feel the need to mix it to death so it's perfectly smooth. This won't make it better, it will make it worse.
4. Most importantly, DO NOT OVER BAKE. Dried out baked goods are the worst.

So my plan for this blog is write about my experiences with baking, both good and bad. I will try to provide recipes whenever I can, but as I already mentioned I'm a rule follower and I'd also rather not go to jail for copyright violations, so I will not retype recipes from cookbooks. I will provide links for recipes that can be found online and I will type out recipes that I have created myself (or significantly altered from recipes in cookbooks). If you want a recipe that I haven't provided, send me an email and I'd be happy to send it to you.

With that, enjoy!