Brioche is Challah With Lots of Butter

I've been intrigued by brioche for a while, particularly as it has made its way onto hipster menus over the past few years as a vehicle for grilled cheese sandwiches and french toast. These are all delicious, but also have a bit of a decadence to them. Curiosity point 1: I wanted to know what went into brioche.

Another point of intrigue was the apparent similarity to challah. Both are egg breads. Both are sweet and taste a bit like cake. Both can be made with raisins for special occasions (with challah this is called "round challah for Rosh Hashanah;" with brioche it's called "pain aux raisins"). Both make fabulous french toast. What's the difference?

Finally, I wondered if brioche was tricky to make, as the dough can be used for lots of other treats as well (sticky buns, brioche aux chocolat, etc.). Looking at cookbooks, they seemed to suggest that you start with a basic loaf of brioche. I wondered if I could do it.

It turns out that the answers to the first two points are related. Brioche is rich and decadent because it's loaded with eggs and butter. For 2 loaves of brioche, I used 6 eggs (including the one used for brushing  the crust) and 2.75 sticks of butter. Lesson one: think twice before ordering that grilled cheese.

The butter is also what separates it from challah. Challah also has a bit of fat, but vegetable oil is used so the bread remains pareve. (For the uninitiated, "pareve" is the word used to describe foods that contain neither milk nor meat. This matters for people who keep kosher and try to avoid mixing these two things.) Thus challah can be served with a meat dinner. What's less clear is why challah and brioche are so similar in the first place. Some Googling does not answer this question, but suggests that the term "challah" has historically referred to a range of breads used in Jewish rituals. The current egg bread is most common in the United States and a seemingly recent tradition. I'd be curious to know how egg bread became the standard, if anybody has a lead on this.

As for the third point, well, I had to try to make some brioche. I'm pleased to say that this went very well. I used Joanne Chang's recipe from Flour (are you sick of hearing her name yet? Her book is just so good...). The recipe calls for a blend of all-purpose and bread flour, some water, yeast, salt, sugar, and eggs. These get mixed together first. Once combined, you add the butter one piece at a time, mixing thoroughly so each piece gets incorporated. This is then mixed with the dough hook for about 15 minutes to allow the dough to come together. It really does change form in this process, as you'd expect.


The dough then sits in the fridge overnight, at which point it has the texture of slimy silly putty. I then divided it in half and pressed each half into a 9" square. The squares then got folded up into thirds (like a letter) and allowed to rise for most of the day in a warm place. These were then brushed with lightly beaten egg, and baked for about 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

The result is delicious. Rich and cake-like. I'll probably share it with friends and maybe toast it for breakfast a few times. And rest happily with the knowledge that I could easily make it again.