"qu'ils mangent de la brioche"

Let them eat cake...the words spoken by a queen of France, commonly associated with the legendary Marie Antoinette, upon hearing that the peasants complained that there wasn't enough bread to go around. I recently discovered that the "cake" she was referring to was in fact brioche - "S’ils n’ont plus de pain, qu’ils mangent de la brioche" which is translated to "If they have no bread, let them eat cake".

I have always shied away from bread or anything yeast related until recently. Not because I don't like yeast products but because I've always thought that yeast was difficult to work with. I recent watched an episode of French Food At Home in which Laura Calder was making a brioche. It seemed easy enough so I decided to make mine.

I used a recipe from foodbeam because the recipe that Fanny used was one by Pierre Herme and by now most of my friends would know that I'm a Pierre Herme fan.

I enjoyed making the brioche but was rather impatient having to wait long to bake it - the dough has to rise twice.

It turned out great, a bit rich, which makes me wonder how it is that French women are able to maintain their weight so well.