What if we fell into... buns?

"Bri" for "brier", i.e. to knead the dough, and "oche" for "hocher", i.e. to stir it up, thus the history of brioches throughout France. They first appeared in the Middle Ages, but it was in 16th-century Normandy that they originated, enriched with milk, eggs and fresh butter from the region. Their secret? A leavened dough, flaky or not, rich in egg yolks and butter, whose flavors and tastes are revealed by the fermentation time allowed by the baker or pastry chef. Let's follow in the footsteps of those plump, golden balls of dough just out of the oven.

• Maison Lenôtre, Paris

The brioche de Menton is a brioche dough made by the touriers of the famous Maison Lenôtre, topped with candied citrus fruits - citron, grapefruit, orange and Menton lemon. "Its special feature is a mixture of almond powder and powdered sugar, mixed with egg whites to form a crust on top and contrast the texture with the softness of the brioche."We're crazy about the family version, which weighs almost 500 g and can be shared, and we're inspired by the advice of Guy Krenzer, Creative Director and Executive Chef at Maison Lenôtre, to imagine it as a pain perdu served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in winter, or a lemon sorbet when the sun comes out, if you have any left...

44, rue d'Auteuil, 75016 Paris.

www.leno tre.com

• Kevin Lacote, in Paris

For a change from airy brioches, Kevin Lacote has come up with a family-size puff pastry brioche, which he sells mainly at weekends in his boutique-tea room. "It's a brioche turned with butter to exacerbate the taste of fresh butter that we love so much, and which gives it that lingering texture in the mouth."It's best to drop by in the morning to enjoy them, as the flaky brioches, covered with a few grains of sugar and golden brown to perfection, quickly disappear from the shop windows.

78, avenue de Villiers, 75017 Paris.

www.klpa tisserie.com

• Bo&Mie, Paris

Plain on weekdays and chocolate chip on weekends, Bo&Mie's brioches are meant to be gourmet. They come in several juxtaposed balls, sprinkled with a few grains of chouquette-style sugar (for the plain version) or chocolate chips (for the weekend version). We like the firm, melt-in-the-mouth crumb of the plain brioche and its presentation, which allows you to break up the... brioche.

91, rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris.

www.boet mie.com

• Nicolas Paciello, in Paris

Patissier chocolate brioches! From a distance, they could be mistaken for the house's signature choux pastries, but they're really brioches. Round, golden, moist, rich in chocolate chips and, above all, covered with a chocolate ganache and cocoa crumble. "I tried to multiply the textures in this brioche: soft, crunchy, crunchy and melting. The crumble added to the ganache softens the intensity of the Venezuelan chocolate used."We love this individual brioche, which can be eaten from morning to night.

CinqSens. 114, rue Saint Charles, 75015 Paris.

www.cinq sensparis.com

• Alex Croquet, Lille

It's not for nothing that people from the North of France call themselves "sugar faces". To understand why, just taste Alex Croquet's sugar brioche. "What we love here are those places in the dough where the big lumps of sugar, much bigger than those in chouquettes, have come to retain the water from the milk and eggs, creating sweet, as if undercooked, ultra-moist bites. This half-melted sugar lends a certain freshness to the mouth and a desire to return."We love the pronounced taste of this brioche, obtained thanks to a 48-hour long fermentation, and the note of fresh butter that prolongs this taste, punctuated by sweet sparks that are moist to the core and crunchy around the edges.

66, rue Esquermoise, 59000 Lille.

www.alex croquet.fr

• Frédéric Cassel, Fontainebleau

A Picardy speciality, the gâteau battu from Relais Desserts pastry chef Frédéric Cassel is a must-try, and one that has Pierre Hermé melting with pleasure. "This cake is part of every holiday in our region. It's a mix of baba in its kneading and brioche in its richness in egg yolks and butter. I like to cut it in half, then in slices, and eat it all day long, plain or with a good wild strawberry jam."It's impossible to resist this airy, low-sugar crumb that looks like a chef's hat. If you resist temptation, it keeps very well for three or four days.

71-73, rue Grande, 77300 Fontainebleau.

www.fred eric-cassel.com

• Philippe Bernachon, Lyon

For a chocolatier, chocolate rhymes with brioche! And the Bernachon family is no exception to the rule. Here, no pains au chocolat, but individual brioches packed with 50g (no less!) of homemade chocolate chips. "We make a traditional brioche dough with lots of butter, but before folding it, we add a dollop of homemade chocolate that melts when baked. These are very soft brioches with a Bernachon taste!"Tasting them while they're still warm means you can enjoy all the deliciousness of the melted chocolate and fill your mouth. They're also available in a plain version and, as Lyon obliges, with pink pralines.

42, cours Franklin-Roosevelt, 69006 Lyon.

www.bern achon.com