Brioche is a classic French yeasted bread known for it’s high egg and butter content. It makes for a delicious sandwich bread or cut thick slices for French toast!
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Homemade Brioche Loaf
There is something magical about brioche.
The combination of butter, eggs, and flour come together to create a soft, fluffy, and flavorful bread that is perfect for both sweet and savory applications.
It’s great for French toast, Croque Madame (or Croque Monsieur), bostock, and more.
While many bakeries and supermarkets sell brioche loafs, I find it super rewarding to make brioche from scratch at home.
Brioche is a classic French yeasted bread known for it’s high egg and butter content.
The amount of butter and eggs lends to the bread’s iconic pale yellow crumb and thin golden brown, shiny crust.
Brioche can be shaped as a rectagular loaf, round boule, or in it’s most recognizable form- brioche à tête (a fluted muffin like roll topped with a smaller ball (head) on top).
Bread Assembly
Although a bit time consuming to make, it’s a rather simple process.
Much of the “time” is spent allowing the dough to rest and rise.
With the help of a stand mixer, creating the brioche dough is quite easy.
Since you are putting in the effort to make one loaf, you might as well double the recipe and make two loaves.
The baked and cooled extra loaf can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored in the freezer for a month.
Best uses for Brioche
Brioche is essential for a classic Croque Madame (or Croque Monsieur).
But in my opinion, brioche slices makes for the BEST BLT!
The salty, crunchy bacon with the sweet, juicy sliced tomatoes held together with the buttery brioche is pure heaven.
Interested in other enriched doughs? Check out: Japanese milk bread, Filipino Pandesal, Chocolate Babka.
This recipe was first posted on Recipe Girl.
Brioche Loaf Bread
Ingredients
- ½ Tablespoon active dry yeast
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ cup water, , warmed to 110 degrees F
- 3 large eggs, , room temperature
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsalted butter, , softened, cut into tablespoons
Egg Wash:
- 1 large egg
- pinch kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon water
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Stir to combine and allow to sit for 5 to 7 minutes. The mixture will bubble and smell like beer once the yeast has activated. Whisk in eggs until thoroughly combined.
- Attach dough hook to stand mixer. Add salt and 2 cups flour to mixing bowl. Start the mixer on low speed until the dough begins to come together, about 2 minutes. The dough should look like a shaggy mess.
- Increase speed to medium and add softened butter one tablespoon at a time. Mixture will be very sticky. Add remaining 2 tablespoons of flour. Continue to mix for another 3 minutes until dough is shiny and smooth.
- Stop mixer and cover bowl with plastic wrap or kitchen towel. Allow dough to sit for 15 minutes. Mix on medium speed for another 5 minutes. At this point, the dough will be quite sticky. Do not add additional flour. Use a spatula or dough scraper to remove sticky dough from mixing bowl. Transfer dough to a well greased large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or kitchen towel. Allow dough to rise at room temperature for one hour.
- Punch down dough. Fold into thirds like a business letter. Place back in greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to chill in fridge overnight for at least 6 hours, up to 12 hours.
- Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan. Punch dough chilled dough. Divide dough into 5 equal portions. Working with one portion at a time, roll dough into a 5-inch square. Using the heels of your palms, gently flatten and stretch the dough to the desired size. Roll dough into a log and place seam side down in prepared loaf pan. Repeat with remaining portions of dough.
- Loosely cover dough with plastic wrap or kitchen towel and allow dough to rest at room temperature. Leave dough undisturbed until dough reaches the top of loaf pan. This will take anywhere from 90 minutes to 2 hours depending on room temperature and humidity.
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Mix egg wash by whisking together egg, salt, and water until smooth. Remove plastic wrap and lightly brush egg wash over the top of bread loaf.
- Bake bread for 35 to 45 minutes, rotating pan midway through baking. The finished bread loaf should be golden brown on top and the internal temperature of the bread should register at least 200 degrees F on an instant read kitchen thermometer. Allow bread to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan and allow to cool to room temperature on wire rack. Once bread has cooled, use a serrated knife to slice. Store cooled bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Notes
- This dough is best mixed using a stand mixer. This enriched dough requires heavy mixing and kneading, if done by hand.
- Overnight chilling of dough aids in the flavor development.
- Cooled brioche loaf can be tightly covered in plastic wrap and stored in the freezer for up to a month. Defrost at room temperature.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
Super soft and fluffy! Thanks for this recipe. My son thoroughly enjoyed his bread. Thanks, Mary Anne!
Thank you trying the recipe! So happy to hear you enjoyed it! Brioche is one of my favorites!
Amazing recipe! Thanks for sharing
Tried it today and it didn’t go well. My bread refused to rise in the loaf pan. I gave it 3 hours and it was still only 3/4 of the way to the top. Then when I baked it it exploded and the top shredded itself. :/
Hiii! Thank you for this. :)))) however if ill use instant
Yeast, what will be the measurement? Thank you plenty
Same measurement for instant yeast. However, you won’t need to activate the yeast.
I’m very interested in this bread. I AM curious about how you make the loaf. I’ve looked at several brioche recipes, and I’ve only ever seen this method used in Japanese milk bread.Is that your own thing or do other people commonly do it like that?
I’d say it’s pretty common. This shaping technique was one of the five ways were we taught to make brioche in culinary school.
If I double the recipe do I need to double the time of mixing and the amount of time letting the dough sit?
Mixing time may have to increase depending on the size and strength of your mixer. The dough resting time will remain the same.
This bread sounds so good and I love making bread. But unfortunately I don’t have a stand mixer. I feel slightly left out. No brioche for me.
Girl, I do not have a Stand mixer either! Think that’s going to stop me from making this bread. All. You need is a rubber spat, & floured hands.
I never leave comments on recipes, but WOW!!! I just took it out of he over, and it smells, looks, and tastes amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Would it make a difference if i used bread yeast instead of active dry yeast?
Hi Daya. I’m not sure what you mean by “bread yeast.” While this recipe uses dry active yeast, you can also adjust it to use instant (rapid-rise) yeast or fresh yeast.
Can this bread rest in my fridge for longer than 12 hours?
Will it be okay for 16 hours?
Thank you,
Kristin
Yes, 16 hours should be fine. As you get closer to 20-24 hours, the dough will overproof and that may result with bread that collapses during baking.