Garlic and Scallion Brioche

I realize that my postings are becoming few and far between these days. I was surprised that my last post was November 2, and now it's almost December! This makes me appreciate more than ever the effort many bloggers out there put into their blog to be able to update so often. I guess I'm just not very good with words, so I never know what to write. Also, my audiences have gone so varied, I have a hard time distinguishing what and what not to say on here. What's even more unbelievable is that my blog is actually approaching it's first anniversary in a few month's time, and I have about 90 entries (though not all of equal substance) already. Time flew. 

This coming up week and perhaps month to come will be quite a cooking disneyland for me. If even the choice between spending a whole day in the kitchen or a day in Disneyland, I will take the former in a heartbeat. I will be cooking for my aunt's family (my aunt, my three cousins and niece) this Thanksgiving. And for the very first time of my life, I will roast a Turkey...likes the Pilgrims did... ok.. maybe just like the foodnetwork fans do. Over the last few days I have worked hard to come up with a very promising menu for seven, incorporating both meat and vegetarian options. The real work begins tomorrow because I hope to make ahead several dishes to cut down the hassle on Thursday. 

My Thanksgiving 2010 Menu

Butternut squash bisque with artisan bread

Honey wheat bread with butte

Butter herb roasted turkey

Penne with creamy San Marzano tomato vodka sauce

Nuts and citrus cranberry sauce

Turkey gravy

Green bean casserole with wild mushroom

Asian chicken salad with chipotle and peanut sauce

Sweet corn tomalito

Tiramisu

You may notice there will be two types of bread at the dinner table on Thursday, that is because I've been bread crazy in the past week trying to figure out the best kind of bread for soup dipping. I've tried two types of no knead artisan bread and a french bread and decided on the no knead artisan for convenience. I also included the honey wheat in there because I've missed the Outback steakhouse's honey wheat bread ever since I last ate there a decade ago! I figure it will be good appetizer with butter, or people can make their own sandwich with turkey meat and sauces. The least exciting part of my menu has to be my dessert. I wanted to do something new, something Thanksgiving-y that I've never done before..ie. pumpking pie.. or ice cream with brownie... but my cousin wants to eat Tiramisu and it makes not sense to have two desserts after a feast so Tiramisu it is. I do make the world's best Tiramisu, a statement confirmed by my friend and colleagues.

Finally, let's talk about the delicious looking brioche above. In the last few weeks I have been baking a lot of pullman/sandwich bread with different recipes. One of the recipes I used and loved uses flour paste (湯種) to help retain the moisture so the resulting bread remains soft for days. I had a bit of flour paste left in my fridge from making the pullman bread, and was tired of pullman bread, so I decided to turn it savory.

Garlic and Scallion Brioche

Filling:

• 40g unsalted butter(skip the salt if you use salted butter)
• 2 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoon minced scallion
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Heat the butter over low heat, add the garlic and cook until the garlic flavor comes out. Let mixture cool and set aside.

Flour paste: 

•  25g bread flour
• 125g milk(or water)

Mix together the flour and milk and heat over low heat until a paste is form, and temperature registered 65 C. Remove from heat, and set aside for later.

Bread:
(recipe adapted from here)

• bread flour 210g
• cake flour 60g
• milk powder 20g
• sugar 40g
• pinch of salt
• rapid rise yeast 1/2 teaspoon
• 1 large egg
• milk 85g (water is fine too)
• flour paste 85 g
• butter (softened) 20g

Mix together all the ingredients (except for butter) and knead for several minutes to form a dough. Mix in the butter and knead for a couple of more minutes. Let rise until double in size. Beat down the air in the dough and divide into 7 equals and roll each into a ball. Roll the ball out into a flat teardrop shape (Croissant shape).

Just before you apply the filling, add the scallion and salt to the butter mixture. Apply thin layer of the butter mixture to each rolled out teardrop shape dough. Roll up the dough like you would a croissant. Let rise for another hour or until doubled in size. Put a bit of buttered scallion on top of each brioche for decoration.

Bake at 350F for 15 minutes.

doubled in size, ready for baking

The inside is all buttery and garlic-y. This might be the healthier, less buttery alternative to croissants.