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Buttery, soft and airy, this bread is “weak in the knees” good. The Best Brioche Bread recipe is a labor of love but your time is rewarded with the best loaf you’ll ever put in your mouth.
Why I Love This Bread
I love baking up fresh bread. Working with yeast is like some sort of kitchen wizardry but it’s really easy to do. So I decided to bake up a buttery loaf of the Best Brioche. If you’ve never had brioche, you’re in for a real treat.
It does take some time to make but it’s mostly waiting around impatiently while the dough rises and then rises again, overnight in the fridge. It’s really like a curing process but then you need to wait, yet again, for another rise. But it’s all VERY worth the wait.
Once you slice into that buttery brioche loaf, you’ll see why I’m obsessed. It’s buttery, soft and absolute perfection. Especially when you used it to make the Best French Toast ever.
How To Make Brioche
For this Brioche, there are a few basic steps you’ll need to follow to ensure a perfect loaf. All the steps for baking yeast breads are basically the same with only the ingredients differing slightly.
- Proof the yeast. Dissolve the yeast in warm water 100 – 110 degrees. After 5 minutes, the yeast will start to bubble, if it doesn’t the yeast may have died either from too hot water or expired yeast. Dump the yeast and start over. Using a thermometer to ensure your water is the proper temperature is recommended.
- Make the dough. Sift together the dry ingredients and add the yeast to the mix. Knead the dough either in a stand mixer with a dough hook or with the heel of your hand until the dough begins to come together. Finish kneading the dough until the dough feels smooth and elastic.
- Proof the dough. After kneading the dough, place it in a bowl coated with cooking spray and cover with a damp towel. Allow the dough to rise in a warm, draft free location (85 degrees is the ideal temperature) until doubled in size. (30 minutes to 2 hours)
- Rest overnight. Punch down the dough and return to the bowl. Transfer to the refrigerator for an overnight cure (this process is only for brioche, and sometimes sourdough, standard bread recipes would be shaped and allowed to rise before baking immediately after the second rise.)
- Second rise. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide in half. Shape into a loaf and allow to rise again.
- Bake the brioche. Bake according to recipe directions.
And to ensure that your brioche is, in fact, the Best Brioche you ever make, be sure to use the best ingredients.
For starters, I always use a standard yeast, not a rapid rise, just the normal, from the jar, yeast. It’s never failed me.
Stand Mixer
KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer is a workhorse in the kitchen and will stand the test of time. This is on every cook’s wishlist and makes a great gift for a loved one…or yourself.
Loaf Pan
Caraway Nonstick Loaf Pan is my go-to for baking anything from yeast bread to simple Banana Bread. It’s non-toxic, PTFE and PFOA free, making it a must have kitchen staple.
What is Brioche?
French Brioche is actually a pastry of french origin similar to a highly enriched white bread you’d find in many bakeries around the world. It has a very high egg and butter content which results in a rich and tender interior.
Homemade Brioche Bread is a yeast bread which requires a slow rise and an overnight cure in the refrigerator. It doesn’t require a ton of hands on time at all so don’t let the overnight rest deter you from making this heavenly loaf of bread.
And when you’re baking French Brioche the smell will reassure you that your work is going to pay off in a very big way. I thought my classic white bread was amazing but this brioche just squashed it, literally.
Brioche bread contains much more butter and eggs than regular bread recipes. And, most times, brioche recipes also call for added sugar. It’s thought that brioche is a sweet bread due to the added sugar but it’s not as sweet as you’d think and leans more towards a buttery flavor.
How to Store Brioche Bread
You can store your brioche bread at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days,.
You can also freeze brioche for several months. Simply wrap the baked brioche loaf with plastic wrap and then foil. Store in the freezer for up to 6 months.
To bake previously frozen brioche dough, allow to come to room temperature before unwrapping. Transfer to the baking sheet or loaf pan. Bake according to the recipe directions below.
Once your brioche loaf is done baking and rested and ready to eat I recommend slathering a bit of that butter all over a slice while it’s still warm. Then smearing a bit of this jam on it. Heck, I’d call this dinner if I were you.
Recipes Using Brioche
- Brioche Chocolate Chunk Bread Pudding is seriously amazing!
- Start your day with this Brioche French Toast Casserole.
- Sausage Cranberry Brioche Stuffing is Thanksgiving goals.
- Make the BEST Turkey Sandwich just like Ross Geller’s!
- Or a fab Monte Christo
- This Brioche makes the BEST French Toast recipe ever. Period.
More Easy Bread Recipes
- Everything Bagel Brioche Bread….yeah, that’s right.
- Super easy Brioche Dinner Rolls
- Amazing Brioche Hamburger Rolls
- This Panettone is basically Brioche all dressed up for Christmas.
- Chocolate Babka
- Cinnamon Babka
Looking for some fun dinner inspiration? See what I’m sharing over on Instagram! Don’t forget to follow us over there, too.
Brioche Bread Recipe
Equipment
- 1 stand mixer
- 1 loaf pan
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup warm water, about 110 degrees
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast, not rapid rise
- 2 1/3 cups super fine pastry flour or cake flour
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 6 large eggs
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes, at room temperature
Instructions
- Whisk the water and yeast in a small bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes until completely dissolved. Set aside
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, sift together the pastry flour, all-purpose flour, sugar and salt.
- Turn the mixer on low and add the eggs to the bowl 1 at a time beating well after each addition.
- Slowly add the yeast and continue beating at low speed for 5 minutes.
- Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Turn the mixer on low and beat for an additional 5 minutes.
- Add the butter cubes 1/3 at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each addition. Once the butter has been added, beat for 10 more minutes until the dough is smooth.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest in a warm place until doubled in size, approximately 3 hours.
- Turn the dough out on a well floured surface and gently knead out the air bubbles. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide the dough in half.
- Shape the dough into 2 rectangles and place into two buttered 8 1/2 X 4 1/2 X 3 inch loaf pans.
- Allow the dough to rise, uncovered, in a warm place until it rises about 1/2 inch above the top of the pans, approximately 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Bake the brioche until it is golden brown on top, approximately 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes.
- Turn the bread out of the pans and cool completely on a cooling rack.
- If not serving immediately, wrap the hot bread in foil and set aside at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Video
Notes
- If not serving immediately, wrap the hot bread in foil and set aside at room temperature for up to 2 days.
- To freeze, wrap the hot bread in foil and place in a resealable freezer bag. Freeze promptly. Can be frozen up to 6 months.
- When ready to use, reheat in foil in a 250 degree oven until heated through, approximately 20-25 minutes.
- You can also freeze the dough before baking. Just wrap the dough in plastic wrap after the overnight cure and then wrap again in foil. Transfer to a zip top freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw completely before finishing the second rise and baking.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
You don’t weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale? Serious-minded, amateur bakers in America are increasingly doing this. Professional bakers in America have ALWAYS weighed their ingredients while baking.
I do not because not all readers have or can afford a kitchen scale so I created my recipe using measurements and have tested this recipe numerous times so that it is successful for even the most novice baker.
If I only have a hand mixer will that work
Yes, or you can do it by hand….like old school. 🙂
In the video, it looks like there is flour on the top when you transferred the dough into the greased bowl. Was this added? My dough seemed very sticky. Also, about how long do you knead it by hand to “get out the air bubbles”? It’s in the oven on “proof” for the first rising. It looks delicious and thank you for the recipe.
Hi Belle! I hope you had success with the bread because it is a tricky one to work with. The dough is VERY sticky and can be temperamental, the flour was just from my hand….I know it looks like it was in the bowl. I need the dough until it seems a bit less sticky and the bubbles are gone….it can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes.