The Best Brioche Bread Recipe (2024)

This homemade brioche bread recipe makes delicious buttery and tender bread. If you are a budding bread baker, perfecting a French brioche recipe is one of the best ways to broaden your bread-baking portfolio.

This post has step-by-step instructions to show you how to make this homemade brioche bread at home.

Authentic Brioche Bread

French brioche is a super enriched and buttery bread with rich flavor. It has a delicate and tender crumb and is not very sweet; you can use it for sweet and savory dishes. An enriched dough is one where fats and proteins are added, and brioche dough has a considerable amount of butter and eggs added to the dough.

Adding all this fat means the dough reacts differently to standard bread. The high butter content slows gluten development down, so the initial kneading process is trickier than regular bread. However, you can build the dough’s strength with patience and time.

You can make enriched bread without butter, like thesechallah buns. They use oil instead.

What should brioche dough look like?

Brioche develops over several stages, and the look and feel of the dough change throughout. The first stage makes a thick dough that uses all the ingredients except butter.

Add in the cubed butter in stage two, a bit at a time. Butter brings in fat and liquid. The dough will become slack and sticky with all this moisture and fat.

Once the butter has been added, it is time to develop the gluten in the dough. This is done by kneading the dough, preferably in a stand mixer, until it becomes glossy and strong, pulling away cleanly from the sides of the mixer.

This is a slow and steady process. The dough will seem sticky, but suddenly, it will come together and become glossy and strong.

Making brioche dough by hand

You can make this enriched French bread by hand, but you will need plenty of patience and elbow grease. With the addition of all the butter, you may think, ‘is my brioche dough too sticky?’ and you could be tempted to add more flour. Resist the temptation and continue kneading.

A slap-and-fold method works well for a very sticky dough. The dough can be slapped down hard on the bench and folded over itself. Use quick motions to avoid it sticking too much on your hands.

Equipment

• A stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment-A stand mixer makes this brioche recipe nice and easy. It is possible to knead by hand, but with such a large amount of butter and eggs in the dough, it takes a lot of arm muscle.
• Two standard 8.5 x 4.5 inch (21x11cm) loaf pans are used.

Method

1. Add the warm milk and stir in the yeast and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. To this yeast mixture, add the eggs, flour, and salt.

1. Turn the mixer on medium-low speed and combine until it forms a thick but slightly sticky dough. Mix this dough for around 5 minutes to begin developing the gluten.

1. Add in the cubed butter. Incorporate each cube before the next addition.

1. Turn the mixer on medium speed and keep it mixing until the sticky dough strengthens, comes together, and pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.

1. It will seem very sticky, but don’t add more flour. Too much flour makes dense bread.
2. Mix the dough for the best gluten development and brioche crumb for at least 15-20 minutes.

1. Proper gluten development will allow you to stretch the dough so thin you can almost see through it. This is called the windowpane test. To test this, let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then grab a piece and stretch it.

1. Pull the dough from the bowl onto a bench and form it into a smooth ball. Place the dough ball into a clean bowl, cover it with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel, and let it rise in a warm place for around 1.5- 2 hours until doubled in size.

How fast the rise happens will depend on the room temperature.

Cold Proof

1. Deflate the dough gently and reshape it into a ball again. Cover it with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge overnight. This step can be shortened, but 8-12 hours long cold proof gives the best flavor.

If you want to skip the overnight proof, the dough will still need a few hours of fridge rest after room temperature proofing. This cold rest will let the butter stiffen up, resulting in much easier shaping.

Shaping

1. Pull the stiff, cold dough from the bowl and tip it onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into two equal portions, and line two loaf pans with parchment paper. Shape the dough as per the two options below.

Shaping Options

Option 1 –Use a bench scraper or knife to divide a portion of the dough into 8 equal pieces.

Roll the pieces of dough into tight balls and place the dough balls in a lined tin, side by side in two rows.

Let them rise until they double in size.

Option 2-Divide a portion of the dough into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long, about 12 inches (30cm) long on a lightly floured surface.

Braid the three lengths together, tuck in the ends, and place the braided dough into the lined tin.

1. Let them rise until they double in size

Baking

1. Whisk an egg in a bowl with a tablespoon of water and brush the surface of the dough with egg wash.

1. Bake the bread for approximately 30 minutes until a deep golden brown. If you have an instant-read thermometer, you can check for an internal temperature of 195°F / 90°C.

See Also

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If the tops are browning too fast for your liking, loosely cover the tops of the bread with aluminum foil. However, don’t be afraid of a deeply browned top. That brings flavor!

Once baked, allow the bread to cool on a cooling rack before slicing.

Storing

Fresh brioche can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.

Can you Freeze brioche bread?

Yes, you can freeze brioche bread. Briochefreezes well and retains its quality when stored properly. Here are some tips for freezing brioche bread:

1. Cool Completely:Ensure the brioche is completely cool before freezing. Freezing warm bread can cause condensation, leading to freezer burn or sogginess when thawed.
2. Slice (Optional):If you think you’ll only need a portion of the brioche at a time, consider slicing it before freezing. This way, you can take out just what you need without having to thaw the entire loaf.
3. Wrap Tightly:Wrap the brioche tightly in plastic wrap, aluminum foil, or a freezer-safe bag to protect it from air and moisture. If using a bag, try to remove as much air as possible before sealing.
4. Label and Freeze:Label the wrapped brioche with the date, so you know how long it’s been in the freezer. Brioche can be frozen for up to 3 months without significant loss of quality.
5. Thawing:To thaw, leave the brioche at room temperature until it’s fully thawed. If you’ve frozen slices, you can also toast them directly from the freezer.

Uses for brioche

By day two, especially day three, the bread will firm up a bit. Use older brioche in recipes that add some extra moisture to the bread.

Here are21 great ways to use brioche bread, including french toast, bread pudding, savory recipes, and more! You can also use this dough recipe to make brioche burger buns,brioche cinnamon rolls, andbiscoff babka.

More bread recipes

For more bread, try these chocolate cinnamon rolls, overnight bagels, or homemade focaccia.

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