I’m eating one of these brioche pockets as I’m typing and I have to say my mouth is voting for these as an unequivocal success. I was a little apprehensive about trying this week’s brioche recipe, as I’ve been so happy with the one from Around My French Table, but I needn’t have worried. This brioche begins with a sponge and is a very active riser, so much so that the scraps of dough started to get puffy when I was trying to re-roll them. A few minutes in the freezer calmed them down considerably.
I made the primary filling in the recipe, because it sounded good and because it was a good fit with the asparagus soup that’s coming up in the French Fridays rotation later this month. All the unused asparagus stems went straight into the soup pot. The potato-goat cheese filling, the caramelized onions, and the asparagus spears were perfect with the light, buttery brioche. (I forgot the chives, even though there’s a huge patch of them right outside the back door. Oops.)
I baked half a dozen and the rest are hanging out in my parents’ freezer, though I suspect they may not last long – it would be easy to talk oneself into making one or two of these into a quick, indulgent dinner. As much as I enjoyed the hand-sized version, in future I think I’ll make them much smaller, as they’d make perfectly elegant little appetizers. I’m also looking forward to experimenting with fillings, both savoury and sweet (I’m thinking strawberries, next).
Here’s the episode of Baking with Julia that includes this recipe:
Baking with Julia, with Nancy Silverton
This week’s host is: Carrie. You can find everyone’s links here: Savoury Brioche Pockets
They look delicious! I am anxious to make these this week. I really need to stop procrastinating.
Beautiful! your pockets turn out perfect!
I enjoy this recipe too, very versatile for many different combinations!!
Glad to hear you liked them so much! I would love to experiment with fillings as well… very open-ended recipe.
The thought of “calming your dough down” made me smile – had visions of a cowboy running herd on a batch of dough :-)
I paired mine with the soup as well (used the tips for the brioche pockets and the rest of the asparagus for the soup – it worked perfect!)
These look great and I love the idea of a fruit filled version.
Teresa your brioche looks great and I enjoyed your blog post. Mine sent a death knell on my Kitchen Aid — lots of excitement, at least for a few minutes! http://praycookblog.com/2013/05/20/the-brioche-that-killed-my-kitchen-aid/
Your brioche pockets look wonderful. I agree, they are a success! And I can’t wait to try different fillings too.
This was also a winner for us, I took mini-pockets to a party and they were gobbled up!
They look like they turned out great!
I will definitely have to try it!
Oh, yeah…a mini appetizer version would be fabulous. Ours disappeared quickly, too :)
Thank you for sharing the BWJ episode! I am such a big fan of Nancy Silverton! Beautiful brioche pockets.
I used the bottoms of the asparagus to make the soup too. I liked how well these recipes paired together. A strawberry filling for these sounds excellent!
I think the asparagus (I didn´t have any) added more flavor that what I thought. They look so good and even better if you liked them so much Teresa!
A sweet version of these sounds wonderful…little pies. Your savory version looks great.
beautiful! Glad they were a success
They look perfect! I’m so on board with the strawberry idea! These would be so delicious with a sweet filling, I think.
We also loved this recipe. Your idea of pairing the brioche pockets with asparagus soup sounds delicious.