Or Brioche, for that matter. The famous quote attributed to Marie Antoinette actually comes from Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau where he says that he recalls a "great princess who was told that the peasants had no bread, and who responded: Let them eat brioche."
The reason that this quote was notoriously pushed off on Marie Antoinette and keeps popping up in political context is because brioche is and was so much richer than bread and is made with tons and tons of (surprise) butter. This made brioche so much more expensive than bread, making the originator of this quote appear as if they had a major disconnect with their people and truly didn't understand the problem.
Like cake, brioche is very sweet, buttery, and fluffy; so it's no surprise that over the years, "Let them eat brioche" morphed into "Let them eat cake." Brioche is absolutely amazing when served with your favorite jam, jelly, or fruit butter. I eat mine with this absolutely divine plum butter that my mom makes. If I can confiscate the recipe, I'll let you all in on the secrets of making that too.
Primal Brioche
- 1 C coconut flour
- 1/4 C arrowroot starch plus extra for dusting
- 1/2 C butter (cold but not frozen)
- 6 eggs (+ 1 for the egg wash)
- 2 1/2 tsp raw honey
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 pack yeast
- 2 T milk
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 orange
- The best way to start this off is to get the yeast going. Yeast really likes three things: warmth, sugar, and Vitamin C. So to wake the yeast up, warm up some water and pour it in a small dish, stir in 1/2 of the teaspoon of honey. Roll the orange between your palms and your counter top until the orange feels soft underneath your hands. Go ahead and smell that orange. No seriously, go ahead. Slice the orange in half and juice it into your dish. Add the packet of yeast and just walk away.
- Sift together your coconut flour, arrowroot starch, and xanthan gum. Add half that mixture into the bowl of an electric stand mixer with the eggs and milk. Once the mixture starts to come together, pour in your yeast and let that continue to mix until it's well blended. Cover your bowl with a clean towel and go read a book for an hour.
- When you come back, add the rest of your flour with the rest of the honey and the salt and mix together until it's all homogenized. Let the dough rest while you prepare your butter.
- This is the fun part. Get out a cutting board and a rolling pin. Beat the ever-living bejeezus out of your butter until it's flat. Scrape it up, fold it in half, and beat that butter again. Rinse and repeat until your butter is plastic but not soft. Cut your butter into small rectangles and set aside. It's probably a good idea to put it in a bowl and pop the butter back in the fridge while you prep your dough.
- Sprinkle a generous layer of your starch out on the counter or a cutting board and pour your dough out. Sprinkle more starch on the top. Your dough will be really sticky so I think it's best if you skip the rolling pin and press your dough out with your hands into a rectangular shape.
- Bring your butter back out of the fridge. Imagine your dough is divided into thirds. Put half of your butter in the center third of your dough and fold one of the outside thirds over the top like a blanket. Go ahead and tuck that in. Add the rest of your butter bits on top of this and fold the final third over the top. Add the whole shebang back into your mixer bowl and knead on low for another 2-5 minutes until the butter is completely incorporated.
- Cover your mixer bowl with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge overnight.
- The next day is baking day. Now, brioche is typically made in traditional fluted cups. If you have these in your kitchen, that's fantastic. You'll need 12 small ones. For the rest of us who don't have the pretty cups, a muffin tin works just as well and that's precisely what I used. Smear some butter in each of these with a paper towel.
- Take your dough out of the fridge. I find that a 1 oz ice cream/cookie scoop works really well. Put a heaping scoop in each of your muffin cups and press it down with your fingers. Make a small dent in the center of your dough. Add one more scoop on top of the dent to make the signature "head" on your brioche. Cover with a clean towel and let it rise for three hours. Now would be a good time to sit down with some wine or hot chocolate and watch a movie.
- After the three hours have passed, lift up the towel and smell that yeasty goodness that floods out from underneath. Make up an egg wash with the last egg and a splash of water. Brush that over the top of your brioche and pop it into a preheated 375 F oven for 20-30 minutes until golden brown.
- Top with your favorite jam and enjoy! :)
