Patty Cake

I am very sad. Yesterday the girls didn't have school. That is not why I'm sad. I decided that instead of skipping school we would have a fun learning day. We also had a mother daughter event to go to later that evening... we were asked to bring our favorite dessert. Which I didn't even bother consulting Natalie for (as it was supposed to be her favorite dessert) because I knew right away that I was bringing dark chocolate walnut cookies. Besides, every dessert is Natalie's favorite! So I had a plan... I have been wanting to make Brioche (a very rich bread, even more so as I was planning on making "rich man's brioche" which has a high fat/flour ratio, 88% to be specific) and also I have been wanting to teach Kassidy some bread making technique. The plan was to have a baking day. I was Miss Delilah (so obviously a Plain White T's fan) and the children were my baking students... ha!

She looks so happy and unsuspecting... don't you think?


Well I suspected it. *sigh*

It all started with the sponge (it's a type of pre-ferment) after sitting 20 minutes with minimal rise I thought hmmmm...

But I ignored it. You know 20 minutes isn't that long and it's been a while since I made bread so I thought, well maybe thats all the more it's supposed to rise. Though tapping on the container didn't collapse it which made me even more suspicious. Gave it a few more minutes.

We made our cookies in the mean time (which were delicious of course)!!

Small oversite on my part... I knew it was a 2 day recipe, (didn't I?) they all are in my book. lesson over for the day... Shake it off Jill.

*moving on*

Day 2- So we refrigerated over night and here we are. Kids were so excited to bake it today... we rolled it... we patted it... we marked it with a B (for brioche of course) Blatant lie... we actually tied it in a knot and threw it over our shoulder like a continental soldier...where it landed on the counter to proof without incident :) (We really did tie it in a knot! It's the brioche way you know!)

Proofing... where bread goes to rise.

Or in our case,not...


That is why I am sad... our bread didn't rise. Dang yeast! I actually don't know why. After the kids went to bed I was thinking (not my specialty) and my brain said to myself, "hey, why don't you put the non-risen dough in the oven and turn it on for a second? (ok like one minute) "Thank you brain" I say, sounds like a good idea...

I think it might have even helped if I had remembered to turn the oven off after one minute! "Thanks a lot brain, forgetful much?" It was almost to 350 degrees before I noticed! Ak! I love the smell of melting plastic wrap in the evening don't you?

The kids are going to be so sad when they wake to see the dough plopped in the can, lifeless and smelly. It's not a nice thing when you're expecting fresh baked bread in the morning. Especially when that bread has 88% fat ratio!

Can someone teach me some bread baking technique so I can pass it on to my kids?

TIA!