I am a slave to baking bread.  Or perhaps another way to look at it is “I’m addicted to baking bread.”  I mean I am always, everyday looking for my next bread to bake.  It matters not that there are two loaves cooling on the counter and Gorn is suggesting we freeze some.  I’m always looking for the next dough to start.

And I am subject to that spur of the moment “Wow, I’ve got to make that . . . NOW”.  Recently, leafing  through a cookbook, I saw a recipe for brioche with green and red chiles in it.  Even as big as Texas is, New Mexico is fairly close (closer than Brazil or France anyway).  This is chile season in the southwest and they are all over every store right now.  I’d just been to the market and gotten gorgeous Poblano Chiles with not much thought as to what to do with them. 

I know six in the evening before dinner is not the best time to start bread.  EXCEPT, this called for a simple starter sitting out for a short time, then a mixing and then an overnight in the fridge.  Well, I’m all over that one.  Roasted the chile peppers in the oven and let them cool in a paper bag.  Mixed the starter.  Had dinner.  Peeled and chopped the cooled chile peppers.  Mixed the dough and put the dough and me to bed for a sleep over. 

Things always look different in the morning don’t they . . . After you’ve slept on it you know.  Worry sets in: How do you shape those little knots?  Was this really a very good recipe . . . for bread . . . it’s not even a bread book?  And I started letting myself get distracted with breakfast and chatting with Gorn and coffee and then I think “I need to act on this dough”.

Compared to several other recipes, this one seemed pretty basic.  Shaping . . . well now that’s the real bug isn’t it?   Always, I am so amazed at what is on the internet.  Just go to YouTube and search for “brioche shaping” and you’ll find plenty to entertain and inform you!  I watched about eight videos on shaping the brioche and so armed re-entered the kitchen feeling ready for my dough.

And the dough . . .  very easy to understand why people enjoy this dough.  It was very lovely.

My Southwestern Brioche

as inspired by Mark Miller’s Indian Market Cookbook

the night before:

2 green Poblano chiles -roasted, peeled, seeded & chopped

Sponge

190g (1 1/4c) all-purpose unbleached flour

2 teaspoons instant yeast

3/4 c milk

Mix to form dough, cover & let sit at room temperature about an hour - it should about double in volume.

140g (1c) white whole wheat flour

180g (1 1/3c) unbleached all-purpose flour

4 oz (1/2c) unsalted butter

1/4 c sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

2 tablespoons ground red chile powder

Cream together the butter, sugar, red chile powder and salt. 

Continue beating and alternately add the eggs and the flours until the dough becomes smooth. 

Continue with the mixer running add the sponge and beat until the batter is smooth.

Add the chopped roasted Poblano chiles and continue beating for 3 minutes.

What’s a Poblano Chile look like?  Roasted in this bread they’re sort of sweet.  They are the chile of choice for the Chile Rellenos that I love.

Place the dough in an oil container covered in the refrigerator overnight.

Next morning, shape the dough.  Do not let the dough return to room temperature as you would most any dough out of the refrigerator - you don’t want all that butter melting so you need to work reasonably quickly.

The recipe says this yields one standard loaf.  I would launch into a tirade on “standard” except later in the recipe the pan is described as 9 X 5-inch.  I rolled the two mini-loaves into rectangles and sealed the under seam.

Pretty little loaf.

I wanted to play with the traditional top knot shape and so did not follow the divide into 8 balls and staggered alternately barely touching each other in the loaf pan technique.  I got two mini loaves and four medium brioches from this dough.

The brioches shaped out beautifully but lost definition when they baked.  I still will need to work on shaping that top knot.  The dough is so soft and buttery under your hand.  I think I needed to push the base out more and up the sides of the pan.

I used some really hot chipotle chile powder, the entire 2 tablespoons, and worried that nobody would be able to eat it.  No need to worry.

The aroma of baking bread is always beautiful, touch it with the aroma of roasting sweet Poblano Chile pepper and you have the heaven of the southwest!

A bite of cheese, a touch of black cherry confit (from France) and I felt a little French.  It was the sweet of brioche and the savory pow of the chile!

Check out Susan’s Taste Spotting for more yeasted breads the end of the week.

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