After making liège waffles, which is essentially brioche-dough based, I was thinking about trying my hand at making brioche bread. I happen to see a tutorial at The Kitchn just as I was thinking this so it was meant to be.
Aside from the waffles, I have just a little experience with brioche dough from making Smitten Kitchen's chocolate chip brioche pretzels, but I wanted to make a straightforward loaf so that's what I endeavored to do. I'm pretty happy with what I ended up with.
Going into any kind of bread-making, I never know what to expect so I try not to expect too much! And when the yeast actually rises, the steps fall into place, the bread bakes up, and you end up with a fresh loaf of bread - in this case, a rich, buttery, sweet bread (just like it's supposed to be) - it's a very satisfying feeling.
We enjoyed our loaf of brioche plain, toasted, with a little jam, all by itself, and...as French toast. I added a little orange zest to the custard and served the French toast with some strawberries, which I've been buying a ton of lately.
