A Test of Patience: Brioche...and then Pain aux Raisins

Last summer, right before a trip into Boston, I was craving some delicious baked goods (to be honest, I was probably craving a muffin, as they are myultimate weakness). I decided to Google "Best Bakeries Boston", which lead me to discover Flour Bakery. While I was perusing the bakery's website, I watched a video narrated by the Flour's owner, Joanne Chang. In the video, she raved about pain aux raisins, saying it was one of the baked goods she simply could not resist! Thus, I became determined to try one of these illustrious pastries. On my first visit to Flour that summer, however, there were nopain aux raisins! And I was again disappointed when I went back (twice already) this December tosee no painaux raisin in the display case. (Now perhaps disappointed is a terrible word because I was indeed delighted by the other pastries I got.) The solution? Well, perhaps the only real solution is to continue to seek out Joanne's delicious pain aux raisins every time I'm in Boston. Nevertheless, my temporary solution was to make some myself!

I rented the Flour cookbook from my library - only to find out a few days later that I would receive a signed copy for Christmas - and studied the question of the pain aux raisins. First, I would have to make a brioche dough. Then, a pastry cream. And finally, I would put it all together with yummy golden raisins. The instructions in the book were long. and daunting. at first. As I read through, however, Joanne's explanations were so clear and detailed that I felt a new burst of confidence. This brioche and eventual pain aux raisins would be possible...it would just take a lot of patience.

I decided to use half the brioche recipe to make a regular loaf of brioch, which we have been enjoying just by itself, with soup, or cut up into little strips to be dipped into the gooey yolk of soft boiled eggs. With the other half of the brioche recipe, I continued on to the pain aux raisins recipe. The Flour cookbook does an excellent job of letting its readers know when and how they can freeze their pastries (or pastries-in-process), so I only baked two pain aux raisins sprirals and froze the rest...for yummy treats later on!

This was very much a success! A challenge, yet a do-able challenge - my favorite kind. The pastries were just that much sweeter knowing the work and patience behind them.

However, I am now craving one of Flour's pain aux raisins more than ever to see how accurate my version turned out :)


Starting with making the basic brioche dough...

The components of the brioche dough, ready for some mixin'!  (Stuff in the bowl first...butter comes into play later.)

Mixing, mixing, mixing, mixing lalalala...anyone know a good mixing song?

Nicely incorporated, ready for the butter.

Mimi stands watch as per usual.

BUTTER!!  The star of this dough.  Embrace it.

See that delicious butter smear on the side of the bowl as it's slowly getting incorporated?

Butter's all in!

Perfectly stretchy - such a rewarding experience to pull your dough and get this result.

Time to spend some quality time in the fridge...see you in the morning, my lovely dough.

After a long night in the fridge, the dough is ready to learn its fate: loaf or pain aux raisins!

Using half the dough to make a simple loaf of brioche...

Time to flatten the dough into a rectangle, fold it like a letter, and put it in its pan.

The loaf: ready to be nice and cozy at 78-82 degrees F for a few hours.

Lovely!  Puffy and pillowy.  Time to be brushed with egg-wash and go into the hot, scary oven!

Mmm beautifully browned.

Again, beautifully golden!

No more pan! (Yikes, the bread is naked!)

So glad the brioche browned all around like it was supposed to.

Yumm, it's time to eat!  Cutting into a bread for the first time is always so nerve-wracking...who knows if it came out nicely on the inside?!

Mmm look at that fluffy, buttery goodness.  Heaven.

And now to use the other half of the brioche dough for the pain aux raisins...

Scalding the milk for the pastry cream.

Ingredients ready for the pastry cream. 

Eggs, flour, sugar, etc. mixed together and ready to be tempered with the hot milk.

The egg mixture was tempered with the scalded milk and then the full mixture was returned to the stove.  The result: my very first pastry cream!

Faithful Mimi cat once again.

Time to roll out the brioche dough!

A nice, smooth, giant rectangle!

Pastry cream spread all over the dough rectangle.

Sweet and plump golden raisins scattered all about!  (And some in my tummy, too.)

Roll, roll, roll...

  

Cut, cut, cut.  Yes, a ruler is necessary for me.

Oooh look at that creamy-delicious filling!

This little guy is ready to proof for a couple of hours before going into the oven.

But these little guys are going to go into the freezer...and then I can enjoy pain aux raisins fresh all week long!

Proofed: puffy and pillowy to the touch.  Ready for some bakin'!

Golden brown and filling the house with delicious smells.

It deserved a glamour shot on a proper plate before going into my tummy.

Impossible to resist any longer!  Yummm