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Brioche, or French Paste

To make this excellent French paste, take two pounds of fine dry flour, and separate eight ounces of it to make the leaven. Place this last into a pan, and mix with it half a pint of yeast and a little warm water. Throw a cloth over the pan, and put it near the fire for about twenty minutes to rise. Meanwhile make a hollow space in the centre of the remaining flour, and put into it half an ounce of salt, half an ounce of finely-sifted sugar, and an eighth of a pint of cream, or some milk if there is no cream. Add a pound of good dry fresh butter cut into small pieces; put them into the flour, and pour over all six eggs well beaten. Work all this with the hand until the whole is quite smooth. If the flour will take one or two eggs more, add them; but the paste must not be so soft as to adhere to the board or roller. When the leaven is well risen, spread the paste out and the leaven over it, and knead well together. Then cut into small portions and mix again, that the leaven may be thoroughly and equally incorporated with the other ingredients. Next, dust some flour on a cloth and roll the brioche (for so it is now called) in it. Put it in a pan, and set it in a cool place in summer, and in a warm place in winter. Use it the early part of the following day; then knead it afresh, and if the French form is desired, make into balls of uniform size. Hollow them at the top by pressing the thumb into them; brush them over with eggs, and put a second much smaller ball into the hollow part of each. Glaze again with yolk of egg, and bake them for half an hour in a quick oven; or the brioche may be formed into cakes and placed on a tin, and supported with pasteboard to prevent the flattening of the cakes. Brioche may also be used as a paste to enclose rissoles, or to make rolls for jams or jellies, or even for vol au vent; but to many persons it is unpalatable on account of the large proportion of butter and eggs. (See also PASTE BRIOCHE.)