Learning to make Brioche Veneziana

As my sister is in town for the next few weeks, she will be writing a few guest posts on BrowsingRome.  We will be checking out a few new places to eat as well as her old time favorites.

Here’s her first guest post.

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I’ll be doing a few guest posts during my two weeks in Rome and am delighted that it’s my turn to be Browsing Rome too! From my viewpoint as a visitor or novice baker, hope you all enjoy reading and find some of my tips helpful.

As a novice (or sometimes disastrous) baker and unlike the masterful BrowsingRome, I asked her to teach me how to make brioche veneziana following her brioche recipe. The true test is if I can make brioche then anyone can.

My First Tip: Learn how to knead dough. You don’t have to do a lot of kneading because eventually we used the mixer with a dough hook. However, there is still kneading involved.

Yes, I told you I’m a novice and had no clue how to knead dough correctly. It’s important if you want to ensure the dough rises properly, which leads to my second tip.

My Second Tip: Make sure you have about 3hrs to spare! Plus you’re not jetlagged, falling asleep and recovering from Easter lunch.

End result: I’m pleased to announce my brioche was not a disaster or hard as a rock or in flames, which are some of the end results of my previous baking attempt

However, it was a bit doughy because the dough didn’t rise properly and not because of the first tip, but because of the second tip. We didn’t allow it to rise long enough as I was falling asleep and just wanted to be done with it!

End feeling: I will definitely attempt this on my own perhaps on a lazy Sunday when I can allocate a good 3-4hrs.

Then I’ll have fresh brioche for Sunday afternoon tea as well as a snack to bring into work on Monday. Overall it’s really easy to make, just that it requires a lot of waiting time.

My Last Tip: I’m thinking to skip the pastry cream and powdered sugar as it’ll still make tasty rolls. Then I can spread peanut butter over it. I love peanut butter. I know it’s not very Italian.