Christmas with the Eppersons

It’s such a fascinating thing, merging two people, two sets of traditions and two sets of expectations into a family. It was a strange but exciting holiday for us. We were unable to spend it with family because my job required I work through the holidays. So we had our own little Christmas. Both of our families feast on Christmas Eve; the Eppersons have shrimp and steak and the Karbers do three courses of fondue. Since I have a slight aversion to cheese we decided to do a version of Surf n Turf. Fresh Dungeness crab sautéed in butter served on top of pan seared steak with a Béarnaise sauce. We served our dinner with a pickled red onion salad and whole grain bread and finished it with profiteroles served with homemade vanilla pudding and rich chocolate sauce. We went to bed warm and well fed while visions of brioche danced in our heads. This could possibly have been a side effect of pulling a hot loaf out of the oven just before falling asleep (see below).

Christmas morning we roused ourselves and made breakfast. We made French Toast with slices of that yummy brioche bread (baked the night before) made rich with butter and egg. We served our homemade brioche pain perdu dusted with confectioners sugar and topped fresh mixed berry sauce. It was decadent and delicious.

The gift opening commenced with stocking gifts which were strangely revealing of our childhoods….. My gifts to Daniel numbered about five and were wrapped where Daniel gave me at least a dozen, half which were edible and none were wrapped. See what I mean about merging expectations? In the afternoon we went to Avatar toting bags of still warm and gooey caramel popcorn, Grandpa Karber’s recipe from my childhood. So we sat (a little to close to the front right) with 3D glasses and sticky paws in awe at the graphics.

It was a wonderful Christmas full of old traditions and new and wonderfully delicious.

Brioche

Adapted from Baking Illustrated

Brioche is amazingly rich and decadent. It makes a wonderfully sturdy loaf...perfect for slicing thin and toasting for panini, slicing thick for french toast, baking in a muffin tin for dinner rolls or even hamburger buns. Because of all the butter in the dough, it's best to do this in a stand mixer but chill the bowl before mixing. The recipe is also best prepared over 2 days so it can rise overnight in the fridge.

3 1/4- 3 3/4 cups (16 1/4 to 18 3/4 oz) AP flour

1 Tbsp instant yeast

3 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

3 large eggs plus 1 egg for the egg wash

1/2 cup ice water, plus 1 Tbsp water at room temp for egg wash

16 Tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces, softened but cool

Make a sling for the loaf by laying long wide strips of parchment paper across length and width of the loaf pan so paper overlaps edges. Set aside

In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 1/4 cups of the flour and the yeast; set aside. In the chilled bowl of a mixer, combine sugar salt, 3 eggs, and ice water. Add the flour mixture; using the dough hook, knead at low speed until a ball forms, about 3 min. Raise the speed to med-low and continue kneading, scraping down the sides occasionally, until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 min longer (it will stick to the sides of the bowl). Add the butter, 1 piece at a time, waiting about 15 sec between additions. Continue to knead until a very soft ball of dough forms (about 15 min) adding the remaining flour 1 Tbsp at a time as needed. Place the dough in a very lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 10 to 24 hours (Because of the high butter content, dough will rise only slightly)

Flatten the dough into an 8-inch square about 1 inch thick. Roll the dough into a log and place in the parchment-lined loaf pan. Loosely cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rise at room temp until doubled (should rise slightly above the rim), 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Adjust oven ract to the lower-mid position and heat to 450. Beat the remaining egg with 1 Tbsp water and brush loaf . Place the loaf pan in the oven and turn the temp down to 350. Bake the loaf until browned and an instant read thermometer reads 190 degrees, 50 to 60 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time. Cool on a wire rack 15 minutes then turn out and cool completely before slicing.