Tom baked his usual New York Times style loves (left) but also made a sourdough loaf (not pictured) and a crown brioche (right). The brioche is a wonderful way to use up extra eggs! It had been a long time since he'd made brioche and somewhere in the years our brioche pans had vanished. And it turns out not many places carry full size ones any more.  Little ones are used to make desserts like flourless chocolate cakes. But after looking in cooking supply sites and eBay, I finally found classic ones at Amazon.  

The pan's shape helps the dough poof up and then you put a little doughball on top to make the crown. Since Tom used a high sided cheese cake pan with a parchment paper collar, ours has a lovely dome but no crown.

Crown Brioche
4 cups french flour (see note)
Eggs, 6 (or 7)
Water, warm. 1/4 cup
Yeast, 1 package
1/4 cup sugar
Butter, 5/8 lb
Egg yolk, 1-for glaze
Put yeast into 1/4 cup lukewarm water. Let it sit 10
minutes. Put flour into large bowl. Make well in middle.
Put yeast with its water,6 whole eggs, and the sugar into
the well, and start mixing, bringing in the flour from the
sides of the bowl. The mass should be moist and sticky but
not runny, and all the flour should be wet. If there is dry
flour in the pan add either another egg or a tablespoon of
water depending on how much additional moisture is needed.
Knead by hand to smooth and then divide dough into three
parts. Use food processor with dough blade and process each
third separately. Do not let the dough get above body
temperature--let it rest if necessary. After the dough has
become silky and rolls around processor bowl, start adding
butter by the tablespoon, 1/3 of the total butter to each
batch.

After all the batches are processed, combine and knead by
hand a few minutes. Put dough in Saran covered bowl in warm
place and let rise until doubled in bulk. Punch down, knead
briefly, and put back in bowl, covered, in refrigerator
overnight. It will rise ! The next morning, punch dough
down, knead briefly, shape, and put in a warm place to rise
until double in bulk. Glaze with an egg yolk to which a
Tbsp of water has been added.

Place in a 425 F oven for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to
375 F and bake 30 minutes longer. Turn out to cool for 15
minutes before cutting.
Note: If you can't find french flour, use 3 cup bread flour and 1 cup cake
flour.