Monday, November 16, 2009

HBinFive Pumpkin Pie Brioche!!



I am taking part in a blogging bread braid organized by Michelle at http://www.bigblackdogs.net/!

Not sure what the roots of the group name are but I am here with bells on my toes ready to bake my way through Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.

You can find the authors, Dr. Jeff and Chef Zoe at their blog, http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/. Their story is an interesting one but I will leave it for them to tell!

The HBinFive Bread Braid doesn't officially start until January but we are cooking up a dough in November and one in December to get us revved up! November's is one from Dr. Jeff and Chef Zoe's new book called Pumpkin Pie Brioche! I made it today and had three slices for dinner!!!!



Wow... I was in slow motion when I pulled this together today! I stopped baking a few years ago when my children grew and had their own lives. I retired my stand mixer to the overhead in the garage and started eating out a lot. I put on 25 lbs from this silly behavior!

Today I pulled down my mixer and gave it a good cleaning! Then I gathered my ingredients and whipped up my first batch of dough!



Here's the dough after rising for about an hour and a half. Almost ready to put in the fridge!



While the dough was resting in the fridge I got busy getting some other things done around the house... Truth is I don't know what to make with it yet.

Many of the other group members have been so creative. They did this dough up with honors! So I had to put my thinking cap on to figure out my path!



After much brain straining I decided to keep it simple! A loaf was all I wanted to attempt for my return debut. I froze two pounds of the dough for Thanksgiving week and I have another pound of it in the fridge for later this week! Maybe by then I will do a special roll with the remaining dough.

This is the dough right after I fought with it fresh from the fridge! All I can say is flour your hands and then flour them again! And then throw flour at the dough!!!!



Here is the tamed beast in all its beautiful glory! It is ready for the egg wash and sugar...



Well I don't have any eggs because I only eat Eggbeaters! I made the dough with Eggbeaters so I gave it a wash with the Eggbeaters too! And piled the sugar on top!



And here is the beautiful loaf fresh from the oven. Though I don't think the Eggbeaters made a good wash it sure does smell good.



I knew when I started this dough I wouldn't be able to wait until it had cooled to cut it open! And sure enough I was hungry and hadn't eaten dinner so my dinner was three slices of warm Pumpkin Pie Brioche spread with a bit of Smart Beat! After all this bread has protein, vegetable, and grain! Just about a perfect food! My snack later will be some of my homemade yogurt so how's that for a balanced meal!

And... I stayed within my Weight Watcher's Points today even with this wonderful treat!

PS
I followed the recipe as written with a couple of exceptions. I didn't have white whole wheat flour so I used King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour and I used Eggbeaters instead of eggs!

Update 18 November 2009- Weight Watcher Points

I calculated the number of points in the entire recipe using Egg Beaters. The dough made 76 ounces of dough for me and that was equal to 125 points. That would make the two-pound loaf I made 52.5 points. I estimated 16 slices in that loaf. Each slice would be 3 points. I will refine this on the next one by weighing the cooked loaf. Then I can adjust my points based on the size of my slice!!!


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12 comments:

  1. What a G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S loaf of bread! I've never tried egg beaters but I think I might give them a try!

    Congratulations on staying within your WW points!

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  2. Yay for coming out of your baking hiatus! This bread looks fantastic.

    I had quite a fight with mine as well when it came out of the fridge. There was flour everywhere. So I'm pretty sure we called it a tie at the end.

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  3. Your loaf is absolutely gorgeous! I used Egg Beaters in my first batch also. Worked just fine.
    There's no finer reason to clean off your mixer than to make bread. Welcome to the group!

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  4. thats one beautiful loaf of bread!!! when I made my second loaf, I forgot to put the egg wash and sugar on it....silly me.

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  5. What a nice looking loaf! It's nice to know eggbeaters work so well :)

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  6. Oh,it's beautiful. I love seeing "the rise"...it always makes me happy! :)

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  7. Lovely photos! I love that you are saving some of the dough for Thanksgiving Day. Have you decided what form it will take?

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  8. Lovely pictures! Such a wonderful rise on your dough! Do you have any secrets to share? Mine never rises like that! Loved your post and glad to see the ww points.

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  9. What beautiful pictures of the process and I love the points you've put in. This is going to be a very difficult year . . . too much good bread.

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  10. I used eggbeaters also. You loaf is beautiful. BTW, I also live in NoVa!

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  11. Thanks Michelle… I am so glad you started up the baking group. It was what I needed to get back with my home baking! I use Egg Beaters whenever I possibly can. They taste wonderful in breakfast dishes and bake up well in baked dishes. The savings in fat, calories, and cholesterol are huge!

    Thanks Joanne… The dough was a bit sticky wasn’t it! I am going to try Michelle’s surgical glove tip! I have a box on the way from Amazon!

    Thanks Lu! I am so happy to have my KA back on my counter! It is where it belongs!

    Thanks Danielle…. I was actually considering making it without the egg wash and sugar if my plan to use it is for bread pudding or French toast.

    Thanks Bread Over Heels… Egg Beaters worked great except for the wash!

    Thanks girlichef! It was a joy to watch it rise!

    Thanks Tara… I really want to make a bread pudding so it may not make it to the Thanksgiving table because my boys are insisting on apple and pumpkin pie… So it may stay in the freezer until I can make it and have it be appreciated as the star of the table!

    Thanks Kim… Photography is one of my hobbies! I had to restrain myself to not go all out with off camera flash and getting the lighting just right in the interest of time. But I was happy with the quality of the photos for on camera flash! The recipe and ingredients just pulled together perfectly! I didn’t do anything special and hadn’t baked yeast bread for many many years!

    Thanks Cristie… I am going to have a rough time with the great foods this year too… I am almost ready to go on maintenance so that will give me a few more points a day! I am glad for that… I have been fitting in the Pumpkin Pie Brioche everyday this week in moderation and am still losing weight! The secret is knowing the damage any particular food is doing to the overall points. It is so worth it to save some points for the foods that make us happy!

    Thanks Judy… Howdy neighbor!

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  12. Your bread is beautiful. I loved this dough! Thanks for the WW point values too. I REALLY need to start counting again.

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