Homemade Brioche Bread

Homemade Brioche Bread – delightfully buttery, sweet, and soft bread that is not just delicious but also easy to make. This recipe comes in two shapes. Makes a fantastic French toast the next day, as sandwiches or on its own!

Ahhh. BREAD! What could life be without bread? Have you asked that yourself lately? It is such a humble food that can be made in sooo many ways. And if you’re stuck at home, like most of us now, there’s just no way you’d pass up this chance to explore all kinds of bread recipes.

After the success of my Jamaican Coco Bread and this Homemade White Bread, I decided to share another lovely bread recipe to add to your repertoire. If you’ve never had brioche, then you’re definitely in for a treat!

 

What is Brioche Bread?

This light and rich brioche bread is of French origin. It’s a highly enriched pastry due to its high butter and egg content but made in a bread way. No wonder it looks yellow, just like this Challah Bread, instead of the usual white that are common to bread. It has an exceptional tender, rich crumb with a golden thin crust. You can either turn it into sweet or savory brioche, depending on your preference.

Brioche Bread vs White Bread

Whether you’re a bread nerd or not, the thing that sets apart this brioche bread with bread is that it has a higher egg and butter content. And most of the time, a brioche recipe would always call for added sugar, although it’s not that sweet as you think it is. It leans somehow more on the buttery flavor instead of sweet.

 

Brioche Ingredients

Brioche bread is dang expensive! With the quantity of butter and eggs its using, you sure are gonna pay a price for that which explains why I prefer making brioche at home. You don’t have to worry though, ’cause it just has a short list of easy-to-find ingredients.

Milk –  Use warm milk to dissolve the yeast. It should be at 110F. If your liquid goes above 120F, the yeast will begin to die off.

Active Dry Yeast – The one that I’m using here needs to be dissolved in liquid. But if you have the instant yeast, feel free to use it. Using instant or rapid-rise yeast also means that you need to reduce the required rise time.

Granulated Sugar – I haven’t tried swapping the sugar out with honey, but I’ve seen some online that uses honey. 

Salt – To balance out the richness of this bread recipe

Eggs – Since eggs play a big role in this recipe, you can’t just swap or leave them out, especially the egg yolks.

Unbleached All-Purpose Flour – Unbleached flour aged naturally after being milled. It has a denser texture than bleached flour which means that it provides more structure in baked goods like bread, pastries, and more. But if you don’t have one, feel free to use the regular ones, but take note that there’ll be a slight difference with the end result.

Butter – Use unsalted butter that is slightly softened. The consistency of the butter is important so you would be able to incorporate it into the dough quickly. It should NOT BE MELTED.

 

You can skip the egg wash ingredients, but I prefer that beautiful shiny look on my homemade brioche bread.

Can You Make Brioche Bread Ahead of Time?

Yes, you can! In fact, I already have some dough stashed away in my freezer as of writing. You may freeze the baked bread for later use. Or you can wrap the dough in a plastic wrap after on its first rise and store in the fridge for 2-3 days. When ready to use, remove, and bring the dough to room temperature to make it workable about 30 to 60 minutes.

What Can You Do with Brioche?

Since this is one tasty bread, it stays quite lovely even on the next day. With this homemade French brioche bread, you can make…

• French Toast
• Bread Pudding
• Croque Monsieur
• Homemade Croutons

More Tasty Bread Recipes

• Challah Bread
• Focaccia Bread
• Homemade Coconut Brioche Buns
• Soft Pretzel Recipe

 

 

How To Make Brioche Bread

 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Stir to combine. Let it sit until dissolve about 1 -2 minutes. Add sugar, salt, eggs and continue mixing. Mix on medium speed. Then slowly add flour a little at a time, mix with the paddle attachment, then remove the paddle attachment and attach the dough hook. Continue mixing for about 4 -6 minutes or until all the dough is firm and elastic and doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Dump in half the butter and continue mixing until butter has been fully incorporated – you may have to stop the mixer and mix by hand in order to fully incorporate the butter. Add remaining of the butter a little at a time, until finish. It is ok if the dough looks lose. 

Continue kneading for about 4-5 minutes until it is smooth, soft and shiny. The easiest way to know when the dough is ready is when it slaps against the bowl. Take out the dough and place on lightly floured board knead a couple of times then place brioche dough in a greased large bowl. Covers loosely with a clean kitchen cloth and let rise in a warm place for about 2 -3 hours or until doubled. Once dough has doubled, punch down. At this point, the dough maybe refrigerated overnight or until ready to use. When ready to use remove and bring to room temperature to make it workable about 30 to 60 minutes. Divide dough according to desired shapes. 

Divide dough into 16 balls. To form round balls you have to tuck the edges underneath the dough then roll the dough against the board or between your palms until round. Then place rolls into two rolls of 4 into 2-greased loaf pans.

Brioche Rolls

Lightly brush the rolls with egg wash. Sprinkle with coconut sugar or crystallized sugar. Leave to rise in a warm place for about one and a half hour, until it has at least doubled in volume. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Bake until the crust is deep golden brown about 18-20 minutes. Remove from the brioche pan and let it cool. Serve warm preferably.

Brioche Loaf

An alternative method would be to divide the dough into 10 equal portions if making two loaves. Then roll each dough into a 5-inch. Roll dough into a log and place seam side down in prepared loaf pan. Repeat with remaining portions of dough. Let it rise until double. Brush with egg wash.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake until the crust is deep golden brown and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped – about 30 to 35 minutes. The bread loaf should be golden brown on top and the internal temperature should be at least 200 degrees F on an instant-read kitchen thermometer. Remove from the baking pan and let it cool for at least 10 minutes. Once the bread has cooled down, use bread or serrated knife to slice. Store cooled bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. You may freeze for later use.