How do I pass a variable to the layout using Laravel' Blade templating?

Question

In Laravel 4, my controller uses a Blade layout:

class PagesController extends BaseController {
    protected $layout = \         


        

Answer 1

$data['title'] = $this->layout->title = 'The Home Page';
$this->layout->content = View::make('home', $data);

I've done this so far because I needed in both the view and master file. It seems if you don't use $this->layout->title it won't be available in the master layout. Improvements welcome!