Chocolate Brioche

While in New York City with my family last week, we made a bee-line to Aux Merveillex de Fred, a French pastry shop in the West Village that just opened this year on January 9th and is chef Frederic Vaucamps' first shop outside of Europe.

Their menu is simple, just meringue and cream coated Merveilleux Cakes and soft brioches that the shop calls Cramiques. We had to try something but weren't in the mood for a sweet cake so we went with the very last Chocolate Brioche on the shelf. It was a good choice. It was absolutely delicious —  yeasty, light, airy and filled with large dark chocolate chunks. I was also impressed with the $1.75 price, very fair considering the quality and prime location.

The tongs are behind the very last chocolate brioche on the shelf at Aux Merveilleux de Fred.

My husband Joe and our daughter Eleanor with our delicious purchase.

So beautiful and a bargain at $1.75.

Once home,  I decided to try my best to recreate the taste and so I spent yesterday experimenting and created this recipe. These chocolate brioches are especially delicious warm right out of the oven but if you can manage to set a few aside, they would make a fabulous bread pudding. My husband has requested that making these doesn't become a habit because they are just too hard to resist.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Brioche
(makes 15 large rolls)

1 1/3 cups milk
2/3 cups sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into small pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
3 eggs
1 1/2  teaspoons sea salt
6 to 8 cups unbleached flour
10 oz. dark chocolate chunks or chips
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
Swedish pearl sugar (optional)

In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the milk with the sugar and butter. Heat just until the butter is almost completely melted

Pour the milk mixture into a large bowl and let it cool until it is still warm but not above 115-degrees.

It's important to make sure the milk mixture is warm, not hot, or it will kill the yeast.

Add the yeast and stir until dissolved. Add the three eggs and salt and mix well to combine. Add the flour, a cup at a time until a soft dough forms. Flatten the dough in the bowl and pour on the chocolate chunks or chips.

Adding the chocolate chunks.

 Knead the dough for 5 to 7-minutes, adding additional flour as necessary. It takes a while to get the chocolate evenly distributed throughout the dough. Don't rush this process.

The chocolate is beginning to get incorporated but it still needs some more kneading time.

Now it's ready for it's first rise.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel. Let the dough rise for 60 to 90 minutes or until double in bulk. Punch the dough down and let it rise a second time until double in bulk.

Divide the dough into 15 portions and shape rolls. Place the rolls on a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving about 1.5 inches of space between them.

The rolls ready for their last rise of 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375-degrees and let the rolls rise for 30 minutes. After rising, whip the egg with the 1 tablespoon of water to make a wash and brush it over the tops of the rolls.

Adding the egg wash.

 At this time, you can also sprinkle on some Swedish pearl sugar if desired.

 Bake the rolls for 25 minutes or until done and golden brown.

The finished chocolate brioches. I added pearl sugar to some and left some plain.

The inside of a warm brioche. The chocolate is gooey and this is my preferred way to enjoy them.

The inside of a cooled brioche. The chocolate has set but they are still a treat to eat.

Crescent Rolls

Crescent rolls that are ready for the oven.

I had to make these Crescent Rolls for our Easter dinner because whenever there's a family gathering at our house, it's a must that these rolls are in attendance. They are soft, tender, light, flaky and so good that we gobble them up and don't even think about adding butter.

I first baked them in 1993 when my husband Joe and I were living in Northern Ireland. When we moved there, we knew we would be living in furnished student housing on the University of Ulster's Coleraine campus so we packed light, actually too light. I regretted that I hadn't brought a single cookbook with me and these were the olden days when you couldn't just whip out your cellphone and find recipes on the internet.

Lucky for me, another American student had the brains to bring one big fat Betty Crocker Cookbook with her and was willing to share. To show my gratitude, I baked pies, cookies and these wonderful crescent rolls for her and others on campus.

These rolls were even the highlight that year's Thanksgiving meal that Joe and I hosted in our small space. The rolls were a hit then and they're still a hit today because nothing you can buy or bake from a can even comes close.

It also doesn't hurt that they are simple and fairly quick to make —  the dough needs just an hour for the first rising, 30 minutes for the second and 15 minutes to bake.

Thanksgiving 1993

Here's the recipe:

Crescent Dinner Rolls 
(makes 16 large rolls)
4 3/4 cups flour
1 package yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 eggs
3 tablespoons melted butter
additional flour

In a saucepan heat the milk, 1/3 cup butter and sugar until the milk is warm and the butter nearly melted.

In a large bowl combine 2 cups of the flour with the yeast and salt. Add the warm milk mixture and whisk until smooth. Add the two eggs and whisk again until smooth.

Add enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough and knead it until it is smooth and elastic

Place the dough in a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set it in a warm spot to rise for one hour or until double in bulk.

Punch the dough down and divide it in half. Let the halves rest for about 5 minutes. This resting period will make them easier to shape.

Roll out one half into a large circle, about 16-inches in diameter. Spread on half of the melted butter.

Cut the dough into eighths.

Roll up the pieces starting at the wide end to form crescents.

Let the rolls rise, covered lightly with plastic wrap for another 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Bake them for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown and done.

Bread Art

Eleanor and Olivia getting creative with bread dough.

My daughter Eleanor and I invited our friend Olivia over to make homemade French bread during spring break but our baking project morphed into an art project when the girls decided they wanted to shape bread characters instead of loaves.

With just a bit of flour to keep the dough from sticking, a knife and some raisins for eyes and other features, the girls created the most adorable characters.

Eleanor's work in progress.

Olivia's creation just needs to rise for an hour before baking.

Bread art is definitely something we are going to have to tackle again. The soft dough was easy to shape and the the results were fun to eat. It is important though to keep an eye on your creations as they bake since the baking times will vary depending on size.

Eleanor's art.

Olivia's art.

This is Anpanman which is a popular character in Japan. Translated, the name means "Bean Bun Boy." Eleanor shaped him and brushed him with an egg wash right before baking to highlight his eyebrows, nose and cheeks.

 Anpanman didn't stay intact for too long. Warm homemade bread is just too delicious!

Here's my favorite recipe for French Bread:


French Bread
(makes 4 loaves)
2 packages yeast
2/3 cup tepid water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
7 cups bread flour (additional may be needed)
2 tablespoons rye or whole wheat flour
4 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups cold water
(cornmeal for sprinkling on sheet pan or parchment paper)

Combine yeast, sugar and tepid water. Let set for 5 minutes. Combine the remaining ingredients then add yeast mixture. Knead.

Let rise 40 to 60 minutes in a clean, dry bowl. Then deflate and punch into a 14-inch rectangle and fold into thirds.

Return dough to bowl and let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Punch down the dough and shape into loaves, place them on baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal or lined with parchment paper and let them rise for an hour.

Use a sharp knife to slash the top of each loaf in three places and place the sheet pans in a preheated 450 degree oven. Toss in 1/4 cup of water and quickly close the door. The steam makes for a nice crust. Bake the loaves for 20 minutes and then bake an additional 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

A loaf of just-baked French bread.

Pretzel Rolls

My husband Joe gets credit for these delicious and easy Pretzel Rolls because a few nights ago he asked me to make homemade garden burgers for dinner and headed off to the grocery store to get hamburger buns.

From the store he texted me, "I'm craving pretzel rolls and they don't have any." A few minutes later he sent me a link to a pretzel bread recipe from the allrecipes.com site. 

I texted him back, "Do you want me to make pretzel rolls for the gardenburgers?"

He immediately replied, "Want to? I bet they'd be kickass."

With that kind of encouragement, how could I say no?

By the time he got home from the store, the dough was already rising. This was such an easy recipe that I couldn't even earn bonus points for it being an imposition.

The dough comes together quickly and after it rises and doubles in bulk (this takes about 45 minutes) then you just need to shape the rolls, boil and bake them. The boiling step is what makes them pretzel rolls because the dip in baking soda infused hot water before baking is what creates that dark pretzel crust and flavor. Soft pretzels are made this way and bagels are boiled too but without the addition of baking soda.

I'm so glad Joe had a craving for a burger on a pretzel roll and found the recipe for me. I did make a few changes from the original since I happen to have pretzel making experience. I skipped adding an egg wash, I added a sprinkling of sea salt to the tops before baking and when I boiled the rolls I used the baking soda and water ratio I've always used — 1 tablespoon of baking soda to every cup of water. The recipe wanted me to boil 3 quarts of water and add 3/4 a cup of soda. Even though baking soda is cheap, I couldn't bring myself to use that much. I used 6 cups of water and 6 tablespoons of baking soda.

Here's the recipe:

Pretzel Buns
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons or 1 envelope yeast
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
3 cups flour
Additional flour as needed
baking soda
sea salt

Heat the butter and milk in a sauce pan until it is warm and the butter is melted. Remove it from the heat and transfer it to a large mixing bowl. When the mixture cools to between 105 and 115-degrees F, add the yeast, brown sugar and salt and stir until the yeast dissolves.

Adding the yeast, sugar and salt to the warm milk and butter mixture.

Once the yeast has dissolved, add the flour to the milk mixture and stir until a soft dough forms.

Add enough additional flour to knead it into a soft dough.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until it doubles in bulk. This takes about 45 minutes.

After the dough has doubled, it will look like this.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and divide the dough into eight pieces.

Shape the pieces of dough into rounds and flatten them.

Bring a sauce pan of water and baking soda to a simmer. For every cup of water, add 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Also, have a greased or parchment lined and greased baking sheet ready. Boil the rolls a few at a time for 1 minute, then flip them and boil for another minute. Use a slotted spoon to lift them out of the water and shake off excess water.

Place the boiled rolls on the prepared baking sheet.

Use a serrated knife to add a deep cross on top of each roll and sprinkle each with a touch of sea salt. Bake the rolls at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temp to 350 and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes or until the rolls are dark brown and done.

Eat the rolls warm with mustard just like a pretzel or let them cool and slice them for burgers and sandwiches. These are best consumed within a day of making them.

Logan Bread

As soon as I saw the recipe for Logan Bread I was fascinated and wanted to bake a batch.

You see there is a claim at the beginning of the recipe that states that a 2-by-2-inch square of the bread will sustain a man for a day. And at the end of the recipe it says the recipe yields enough squares of the bread to sustain two men for 16 days.

The statement at the beginning of the recipe that caught my attention.

The recipe makes 32 squares or as the recipe states, enough to sustain two men 16 days.

The cookbook from my childhood. I remember loving the cover art.

The recipe for Logan Bread comes from "The New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook," by Jean Hewitt and published in 1971. According to the book, the recipe is called Logan Bread because it was developed for numerous Canadian ascents on Mount Logan.

The cookbook was passed onto me from my parents and as a teenager I remember making a really good recipe for Oatmeal Bread from it but somehow missed seeing the Logan Bread recipe until a few weeks ago when I was just flipping through the pages.

Now of course sustaining and satisfying are not the same, so I think eating just a square of this bread for a whole day wouldn't be much fun. But after making and tasting the bread, I can definitely see why you wouldn't starve.

The bread is dense and made with nutrient rich ingredients like wheat germ, sesame seeds, powdered dry milk and whole wheat flour. There also is a good amount of sweetness from honey, molasses and raw sugar.

The bread is made by mixing all of the ingredients together in one bowl and it requires no kneading or rising. 

In the recipe it states to bake the bread in a roasting pan, with no mention as to the size of the pan. I ended up baking it in two pans, one was 9x13 and the other was 10x14. I also increased the baking time by 25 minutes.

The original recipe called for baking the bread for one hour but when I checked it I could tell that it was still doughy in the middle. 

After baking, you should cut the bread into squares and set them on a cooling rack to dry out a bit before individually wrapping and enjoying when you are in a rush and need some serious sustenance. Store the bread in the refrigerator.


Here's the recipe with my alterations:

Logan Bread
1 quart water
4 pounds whole wheat flour
1 1/2 pounds raw sugar or brown sugar
12 ounces non-fat dry milk solids
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sea salt
2 cups honey
1 cup blackstrap molasses
1 1/2 cups oil (I used canola)
1 cup sesame seeds
1 1/2 cups wheat germ

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and grease two baking pans (9x13 to 10x14).

In a very large bowl mix all the ingredients together very well. Divide the batter between the two baking pans and bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes or until brown and baked through.

Put all the ingredients into one bowl.

Mix well.

Divide the dough among two greased baking pans.

Bake for an hour and 25 minutes and cut into 2x2 squares.

Cut the bread into 2x2-inch squares and allow them to air-dry until semi-dry. Individually wrap the squares with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.

Let the squares air-dry until they are semi-dry before individually wrapping.

Cardamom Bread

The wonderful aroma of this Cardamom Bread as it bakes immediately transports me to a cozy Scandinavian kitchen. Add some brewing coffee to the mix and your house will smell unbelievable. I really wish I could bottle it up.

Cardamom is not a commonly used spice here in the United States but it is prevalent in Indian cooking and Scandinavian baking.

This Cardamom Bread is made with a lightly sweetened dough containing eggs, milk and butter and I find the texture of it reminiscent of Challah bread. And like Challah,  I braided the loaves but you could also bake them in standard loaf pans.

I also topped the loaves with a sprinkling of pretty Swedish Pearl Sugar. My friend Ann recently gave some to me and I've been looking for an opportunity to use it. Swedish Pearl Sugar can be found in specialty food stores and Ikea Swedish Markets.

This recipe makes two loaves and is so delicious. My family and I had a really hard time keeping ourselves from gobbling up an entire loaf still warm from the oven.

Cardamom Bread
(makes 2 loaves)

1 1/3 cups milk
2/3 cups sugar
4 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
3 eggs
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into small pieces
6 to 8 cups unbleached flour
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 egg yolk
Swedish pearl sugar (optional)

In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the milk with the sugar, cardamom and butter. Heat just until the butter is melted.

Pour the milk mixture into a large bowl and let it cool until it is still warm but not above 115-degrees.

Add the yeast and stir until dissolved. Add the three eggs and salt and mix well to combine. Add the flour, a cup at a time until a soft dough forms. Knead the dough for 5 to 7-minutes, adding additional flour as necessary.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel. Let the dough rise for 60 to 90 minutes or until double in bulk. Punch the dough down and let it rise a second time until double in bulk.

Punch the dough down and divide it in half.

Divide the dough in half.

Divide each half into thirds and roll the pieces into even lengths that are 16 to 18-inches long.

Divide each half into thirds.

Roll the thirds into even sized lengths, 16 to 18-inches long.

Pinch three of the pieces together and braid into a loaf, also pinching the ends together. Place the loaf on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Place the braided loaf on a parchment lined sheetpan, cover and let rise for 20 to 30 minutes.

Repeat with the remaining three pieces and again place on a lined baking sheet. Cover the loaves with plastic wrap and let rise for 20 to 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375-degrees.

In a small bowl combine the egg yolk with the cream. Brush the mixture on the top of each loaf. Sprinkle with Swedish Pearl Sugar if desired.

Mix together the egg yolk and cream.

Brush the egg mixture on top of the loaves and sprinkle with Swedish Pearl Sugar.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!