Tobias Zehnder - the perfect brioche

Tobias has been a dough technologist with FRITSCH since April 2016. In fact, he practically grew up with the company, where his father, Gerhard, has now been working for more than 40 years. “Even while I was training to become a baker, I realized I wanted to work at FRITSCH one day, too,” he relates. His first step after finishing school was to do a baker’s apprenticeship in his hometown of Markt Einersheim. Just a few years after his training, he moved to Austria in order to gain new experience in different bakeries. After that, he completed his master baker training at the Chamber of Crafts in Munich and an internship at the World of Bakery (WoB). At this stage, he still felt he was lacking a certain amount of experience in the industry. After all, experience is especially important for a dough technologist who wishes to serve customers in this important segment. So, he spent another two years at an industrial bakery in Lutherstadt Eisleben before returning to FRITSCH.

The word brioche comes from the French verb “brier”, to knead or pound, or perhaps even to roll out dough with a rolling pin. While it has never been proven outright, it is widely accepted that brioche originates from Normandy. The region on the English Channel has been famous since the Middle Ages for the high quality of its butter, which is in turn an important ingredient of brioche. From there, the little delicacy made its way to Paris, where it secured itself a permanent place in French cuisine. The preferred time to eat brioche in France is at breakfast, but they are also served as a sweet snack with coffee in the afternoon. “Brioche dough is ideal for creating many new products. What is really great about it is that you can decorate it with just about any topping, like almonds, poppy seeds, coconut flakes, cocoa nibs, nuts, or dried fruits, to create all kinds of flavors,” Tobias says with enthusiasm.