Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Camembert in Brioche
December 1, 2015 at 12:01 am | Posted in BWJ, groups, savory things, snacks, tuesdays with dorie, yeast breads | 8 CommentsTags: appetizers, baking, bread
The idea of chesse en croute kind of makes me giggle….seems like something from another dinner party era to me. I do love a good retro treat though, so I was pretty excited to make Lora Brody’s Camembert (or Brie) in Brioche for Thanksgivng pre-dinner snacks.
The recipe in the book calls for making the brioche dough in a bread machine and caramelizing the onions in a slow cooker, but despite my ever-growing collection of gadgets and small appliances, I don’t have either of those in my kitchen arsenal. I made the dough in my stand mixer instead (subbing warmed lowfat milk for the milk powder and water), with no problem, and followed the instructions to chill it immediately (without letting it rise first) before shaping. I caramelized the onions in the oven with some thyme…even though I used small Cipollini onions, they did take a couple of hours, and next time I’ll probably just caramelize regular sliced onions on the stovetop.
I didn’t think we could take down the 9-inch wheel of brie the recipe uses, but I wanted a whole wheel rather than just a wedge, so I found a little 4-inch round of camembert and used that. I only needed to make 1/3 of the brioche dough and use a few Cipollinis to cover it. My 6-inch cake pans seemed too big to bake the cheese in, so I did it free-form, rolling the dough out into one round parcel that wrapped up the cheese, and making a little decorative twist out of some trim scrap. Everything held shape very nicely in the oven, I’m happy to report. Letting it rest for half an hour or so out of the oven keeps the cheese from being too runny and just spilling out of the crust.
Maybe this isn’t so much something from a bygone era as it is a classic. Gooey, salty baked cheese, sweet onions and buttery brioche…it’s really so very good. And quite stunning, too…a perfect holiday appetizer for a crowd. I even reheated a leftover hunk on Friday, wrapped in foil in a low oven, and it was still just the thing with a glass of wine.
For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. I do think this is the final recipe in the “Savory Pastries” section of the book….wow! Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll.
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a whisk and a spoon 
Wow! That looks amazing.
Comment by mainellss— December 1, 2015 #
Oh my goodness, this is my idea of heaven on a plate!
Comment by lovethelittlebakery— December 1, 2015 #
This is stunning, classic and, undoubtedly, a crowd pleaser for the holidays. I don’t think this savory pastry would ever go out of style. Your writeup is also filled with the holidays spirit. Great post!
Comment by shirley: flourishen test kitchen— December 1, 2015 #
Incredible looking and sounding! I would eat that up in a minute!
Comment by juliableck— December 1, 2015 #
Seriously…so impressive!!! Totally professional!
Comment by isthisakeeper— December 2, 2015 #
How fancy! I don’t have any luck with bread dough. I confess: when I want to make something special, I buy frozen bread dough and go on from there 😦
Comment by Vinny Grette— December 2, 2015 #
Looks superb!!
Comment by MyKabulKitchen— December 4, 2015 #
dhvascywvbiyrlgbvlbcyc ….. Sorry, I was just cleaning up the drool on my keyboard because the thought of Camembert baked in brioche just made me salivate like a mother-flippa!
Comment by foreign2food— April 17, 2016 #