Whether Marie Antoinette really said "let them eat cake" or more accurately "let them eat brioche" is a moot point as far as I am concerned. It has become iconic irregardless and it is an excellent saying all the same - it certainly helps justify days where I have cake for breakfast. Brioche is this luxuriant fluffy combination of cakey bread made from lashings of butter and eggs that will make your house smell amazing. When it is stale, it will cure all your French toast cravings. I mean really, is there a better bread you could use for French toast? Noooope.

Brioche has been on my to bake list for ever. When I was in high school I used to make little brioche buns filled with chocolate chips in a muffin tin but somehow they never felt like real brioche – just starchy muffins trying hard to be fancy and for some reason I kept throwing it into my “too hard not now” basket where things go that I want to try but usually forget. I found this recipe for briochewhile I was trawling through the glorious Hungry Girl Por Vida. It is really workable and yields such a beautiful loaf. I love the idea of tear away loaves.  She uses lemon in hers which is pretty genius. I opted for Nutella because for some reason we had three jars in our pantry and well, because its Nutella. Next time I think I will make the cinnamon version from Joy the Baker or a savory kind, with caramelized onions and garlic and three kinds of cheese.