must bake…brioche
the recipe is here, from Baking with Julia, guest baker Nancy Silverton.
it involves several pages of reading and it’s crucial to have a heavy duty stand mixer and a gigantic glass bowl. oh, also half of the shelf of the fridge for the second rising. BUT! i will do it again and again.
growing up, in Manila, i loved to eat this buttery egg bread called monay slightly more than i loved to eat pan de sal (salty bread rolls). so much so that when my cousin was being courted by a boy who gave her the biggest monay we ever saw, as big as an 18-inch bilao (flat basket) and then i found out she didn’t accept his affections i was so bitterly disappointed ;p.
so i’ve been searching for monay recipes and in my search i found brioche. i made my own, and now my next task is to buy a loaf from a real French bakery and see how it compares. for now, i’m very happy with this recipe. (this is also a direct result of my extreme exasperation from making ensaymada, which it also resembles apart from the absence of grated cheese and sugar on top and in between the fluffy soft layers…)
the sponge
the butter beaten into submission, but kept cold
the first rise, after relentless mixing
no brioche mold so i improvised
it was bursting at the seams
a variation: ensaymada, with grated cheese, soft butter and sugar
March 4th, 2006 at 2:16 am
Very good Stel !!!
Now that jalapeno cheese bread of purplegirl that we’re obsessed about have a very similar texture but not as soft. Sige add ka ng maraming cheese and chopped jalapeno inside and you would probably get it na. 
March 4th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
hey stel! this was the first brioche recipe i ever tried. soooo gooooood…. have you tried her challah? it’s better than my jewish friend’s hehehe…
March 4th, 2006 at 6:04 pm
oh my ano kaya mag bake din ako
yan challah the swiss has the same kind its called zof
m will teach me how to do it
i will email u his recipe para magawa mo
March 4th, 2006 at 8:49 pm
thank you my dearies!!!
it was wonderful as sandwich bread too, lightly toasted.
stef i will make the challah next!
celiaK, oooh now we’re getting into the heart purplegirl’s secret bread…
sha sige i would love to try…
:drive:sana we can have a bread party ha?:bread:chef:
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:11 pm
hi there, we’re researchers in a tv station in search for the largest or biggest monay bread in metro manila and i read your entry. may be you could help us po…
please!
January 24th, 2008 at 7:52 am
soweeeee Jen i’m not based in MNL anymore but if i remember right, my cousin’s suitor-at-the-time bought the giant monay from his hometown in Cavite. hope that helps! can you update me if you do find it? thanks