Happy Sunday, you baking fools. If the day of rest has you hankering seasonally appropriate yeast breads and some light morning reading, you have come to the right place! I have your weekend round-up of things to eat, wear, and read, plus a blueberry brioche that just might be the baking challenge your week needs. Let’s get started!

Bon Appetit’s Take on The Bachelorette

You don’t have to be an avid viewer of “The Bachelorette” to know that these people rarely eat on camera. Do they over-imbibe? Yes. Do they engage in childish antics? For sure. Do they get way too dressed for a cocktail party in their living room? 100%. But I absolutely love this list of food not eaten during the last part of Becca’s season. And PS, I’m totally making eyes at the bundt cake on Colton’s dining room table.

A French Woman’s Guide to Success in Food

It’s no secret that I secretly want to be French. For the love, I wrote a whole post about it here. In my quest to become a little more like our European friends, I’m checking out this article from Food52 about how to have success in food and life. Along those lines, check out this list of essential French recipes that every cook needs to master. 

Hair Trends for 2018

I’m by no means a trend forecaster, but I love sporting a new haircut like the best of them. Check out this list from Southern Living to land a new look of your own. I’m personally leaning towards the deep side part or the wash and wear long. What do you think?

Eat Cookie Dough While You Meet Mickey Mouse

This just in: Walt Disney World is now serving cups of edible cookie dough. BRB, planning my trip ASAP. In the meantime, check out two of my favorite cookie dough recipes here and here. 

2018 World’s Best US Cities

Travel + Leisure just released their annual “World’s Best” lists, and I’m scoping them all out for the low-down on where to go, what to see, and what to look forward to in my upcoming travels. I was particularly interested in this list of best US cities and was tickled to see two of my favorites recognized. For more on travel, be sure to check out my guides to Charleston, Chicago, and Portland. 

What to Wear

Up until a month ago, I didn’t own a single jumpsuit, but I now have three to my name. I’m scoping out this little cutie from Madewell to be number four, and I might even pick up this apron dress while I’m at it. PS, if you’ve got the shopping fever right now, be sure to check out Nordstrom’s anniversary sale, happening right now! 

Blueberry Brioche

I think we’re tough- we don’t shy away from a baking challenge. We don’t get nervous or intimidated by kitchen terminology or techniques that are foreign to us. We strap on our aprons, get our hands dirty, and resolve to master new and delicious foods. Today’s recipe for blueberry brioche is the perfect challenge to tackle this week and the outcome is nothing short of fab. Let’s chat the ins and outs.

Brioche is a French pastry-like bread that is loaded with egg and butter. Whether knotted into rolls, folded into loaves, or rolled into buns, brioche is always light, fluffy, and melt-in-your-mouth tender. If bread could be dessert, brioche would be right up there with babka. It’s that decadent.

Although cinnamon bread has been the go-to breakfast treat in our house, I wanted a secondary recipe to use up the beautiful summer produce that has been landing in my farmer’s market baskets. This blueberry brioche is the answer to that desire and I am so thrilled to share it with you today.

To make loaves of blueberry brioche, we start in the bowl of our stand mixer. Yeast is dissolved in some lukewarm milk with a bit of sugar. Once the granules of yeast have liquified, we add in the remaining sugar, some cinnamon, salt, and flour. Paddle the mixture until it comes together into a wet dough and begin adding the butter.

Chunks of room temperature unsalted butter are added to the mix until it is well incorporated, and then the dough gets worked over for a few minutes. Once thick, stringy pieces of dough are snagging the beater, we gently add a cup and a half of fresh blueberries. Warning: this part is a little tricky. The blueberries may not want to incorporate and may even burst under the pressure of your stand mixer. Feel free to use your hands to barely mix them in and then dump the mixture into a large greased bowl to rise. I leave my blueberry brioche dough to rise in a warm spot of my kitchen, usually under a warm light or next to the oven. After about and hour and a half or two hours, the dough should have doubled and you’re ready to form your loaves. 

Split the blueberry brioche dough into two equal pieces and gently pat each one out into a rectangle on a floured surface. The short end of each dough piece should be about 8″ long before you fold each piece lengthwise as you would a letter. Simply fold the bottom third up and the top third down until you have another rectangle-shaped piece of dough. Repeat this process and then work the small rectangle into a roll of dough that will fit into your greased bread pan. Cover each loaf with a sheet of plastic wrap to rise a second time.

Just before baking you can sprinkle on some crumble topping if desired. I love the extra bit of sweet and salty crust this lends each loaf of blueberry brioche, but it’s totally optional. Bake the bread in to oven until puffed, golden brown, and the inside of each loaf registers at 190 degrees. Allow the loaves to cool briefly in the loaf pans before cooling completely on a rack.

This blueberry brioche, while somewhat of a task in the kitchen, is a delicious treat that is perfect for breakfast, snacking, or even dessert. I like to toast thick slices until golden and then slather it with butter and cinnamon sugar. Regardless of your preferences, bread making is a beautiful art that, given patience, attention, and love, is really rewarding and insanely delicious. I hope you’ll take a chance on this bread and enjoy every bit of it. Happy Sunday and happy baking!

 

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