marie antoinette called - she needs her bread back

"qu'ils mangent de la brioche" does not mean "let them eat cake" - the woman was talking about the custardy, eggy, rich goodness known as brioche ... and now i know why. i got the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for Christmas myself from colby (any married woman will understand that sentence), and the book has already proven itself useful if the only thing i learn is how to make this dessert bread.

i debated whether or not to share this info. let me clarify that i halved this recipe, and it still called for 4 eggs and 1 1/2 sticks of butter. the pic of the butter melted just about stopped my heart for two reasons:

1. 12 T of butter melted looks like a LOT
2. and because butter is my truest of loves
   

action shot of mixer doing what she does best.

my baking buddy. she waits patiently and doesn't judge me for random curses when the dough doesn't rise or when the batter sticks to EVERYTHING it touches. im pretty sure i had to sacrifice one-sixth of the dough to this cause.

finished product. brooke took this pic and subtly included a tribute to our school.

chocolate variation - which incidentally was the best baking misstep ever made in the history of baking missteps. well, tied for first with the guy who ruined his cake and made brownies instead.

me being cheesey and wirey eyed after today's adventure. the hundreds of calories were worth it. 'tis the season, eh?