This little slice of heaven is my first attempt at brioche. I LOVE brioche, in all its many variations. This brioche had the right taste, but it was, like so many of my loaves lately, too dense. The flavor was milky and bland, kind of reminiscent of store-bought challah, and would have been delicious if the bread had just been a little bit softer and moister. Because the dough seemed moist enough, I'm going to chalk this one up to not enough time rising and a little too much time baking. I made both the brioche and the fougasse pictured below after work on a Monday night, and multitasking in the kitchen isn't exactly one of my strengths. I seem to remember running short on time and just wanting to be finished by the time I was prepping the brioche for the oven. I think that the next time I make this bread I will be sure to let it more than double in size, and maybe allow it multiple rising periods. I will definitely use this recipe, from the River Cottage Bread Handbook, again. The flavor is there, now only the texture needs to catch up.
Luckily, my other loaf of the evening rose like a charm. While my fougasse has been inconsistent in the past, I have recently had great success by applying the River Cottage techniques and by giving the dough more time to rise. This fougasse with olives and herbs was chewy and soft and delicious. I ate nearly half the loaf with pesto for dinner, then served the rest as an appetizer to friends the following night. I consider myself very lucky to have friends who will rave over an "appetizer" that is clearly a half-eaten loaf of bread pulled out of a ziploc bag, by the way.
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