Yes, the dough can be put in other pans without the ball for that head. That's the traditional presentation but not required; brioche dough is very versatile.
There's a Jacques Pepin episode of him doing a variety of loaves from brioche dough and only one was the classic version with the head.
Not always but yes often formed with the little ball (the tete in name “brioche a tete”) from Paris. But yes, A) you can form it however you want, including a loaf B) there is a tradition in Nanterre to bake brioche dough in a loaf.
Thank you for answering so quickly. I kinda figured baking as one mass of dough would be fine, causing no change in texture. I was searching the web for a recipe and found none that didn't say to form balls.
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There's a Jacques Pepin episode of him doing a variety of loaves from brioche dough and only one was the classic version with the head.
But yes,
A) you can form it however you want, including a loaf
B) there is a tradition in Nanterre to bake brioche dough in a loaf.