Brioche is special. It is sweet and buttery… very, very buttery. It is like little pillows of buttery goodness with a hint of sweetness and a golden salty crust. Brioche is perfect for bread pudding, stuffing, croutons or this delicious spiced french toast.
It takes a little while to make this bread, but it is absolutely worth every second of it! The biggest part of the job will be kneading and for your arms sake, I hope you have a stand mixer and healthy stand mixer at that. This bread needs to be kneaded and kneaded a lot in order to reach the right level of elasticity you need to achieve that perfect light texture that Brioche is adored for.
The first step is pretty simple. We are making a yeast sponge by combining 1 cup of all purpose flour, 1 packet of yeast (active dry or instant) and 1/2 cup of whole milk warmed to body temperature. Breads started with a yeast sponge have enhanced flavor and texture. This process allows the yeast to develop further and this is what so many people love about the taste of brioche.
Now the yeast you use in this recipe is not as critical as it is in some. Because we are developing the yeast in advance, both active dry and instant or rapid rise yeasts will work. Mix the ingredients together, scraping the bottom of the bowl a few times to ensure that you incorporate all of the yeast and flour until a stiff dough forms. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let it rest for 45 minutes.
Can you see how it puffed up and how all of those little bubbles formed across the top? This means that our yeast is awake and ready to go to work! Now we will add the remaining ingredients, with the exception of the butter, directly on top of our yeast sponge and begin mixing on medium low with a dough hook.
Once the flour has combined with the rest of the ingredients, increase the mixer speed to medium high and wish it luck. You will need to mix this dough for between 10-14 minutes. Every 3-4 minutes, stop the mixer and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a flexible bowl scraper or a silicone spatula to make sure that none of the dry ingredients are hiding out.
Once the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl, we are ready for the butter phase…
We will be adding two sticks of butter to this dough over the next 15 minutes or so. The butter needs to be soft in order to incorporate well. Add 1 tablespoon at a time until it is fully incorporated. This usually takes about 60 seconds, so two sticks of butter or 16 tablespoons every 60 seconds should have you finishing in after 15 or 16 minutes, which is perfect.
The final step is to knead the fully buttered dough for another 5-7 minutes before transferring it into a buttered bowl. A stand mixer really is necessary for this recipe… or a husband with really big arms.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let it rest for about 90 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size and looks all puffy and it jiggles when you shake the bowl (try it!).
Transfer it onto a floured work surface and divide the dough in half.
Divide each half into six equal portions and then we are going to fold each piece in a special way. Pick one out to start with and gently press it out into a long oval shape, like this…
Then fold the top half over to a little past the midway point…
Then fold the bottom half over top of that…
Now rotate this 90 degrees and gently press it out into a rectangular shape…
The final step is to roll this up as you would a cinnamon roll beginning with the short end furthest from you. Pull and tuck a little, so you have 3-4 nice rotations in each roll. Repeat with all twelve portions.
Now transfer six rolls into a buttered bread pan, placing them seem side down and tightly against each other and place the other six rolls into a second buttered bread pan. Cover both with plastic wrap and let the loafs rest for 90 minutes.
After this rest, all of the rolls should be really puffed up and close to the top of the bread pan. Brush the dough gently with egg wash (1 egg and 1 teaspoon of water whisked together) and sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt (totally optional). Bake on a middle rack with about 8-10 inches in between the pans at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes. The tops should be deeply golden and their internal temperature should be somewhere between 190 and 200 degrees.
Allow the brioche to rest in the bread pans set over a cooling rack for about 5 minutes and then transfer them directly onto the cooling rack. This and most breads need to cool fully before cutting into it and the smell of this bread is almost unfairly tempting, so I recommend taking it out of the oven, waiting the 5 minutes, transferring it out onto the cooling rack and then leaving the house for an hour or so. See no bread, eat no bread.
Brioche is just so lovely. Look at how buttery soft it is!! The reason this recipe calls for two loaves is because it is really silly to just make one of these. You are going to eat most of the first loaf “taste testing” it and then you will be grateful to have the second loaf left for later.
This recipe was developed by June Xie at Delish’s Test Kitchen and I feel that it is the best brioche recipe out there. Enjoy!
Brioche
Ingredients
The Sponge
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 packet of yeast (active dry or instant)
- 1/2 cup whole milk, warmed (between 100-110 degrees)
The Bread Dough
- 6 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
The Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon water
- flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Combine 1 cup of flour, 1 packet of yeast and 1/2 cup of warm whole milk into the bowl of your stand mixer
- Cover tightly with plastic and rest for 45 minutes
- Add 6 eggs, 3 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of salt directly on top of the yeast sponge
- Knead with the dough hook on medium high for 10-14 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl every 3-4 minutes
- Once the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl, add 2 sticks of softened butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, allowing each tablespoon about 60 seconds of mixing to incorporate
- Once the butter is fully incorporated, knead for an additional 5-7 minutes
- Transfer the dough into a large buttered bowl and cover tightly with plastic
- Rest the dough for 90 minutes
- Once the dough has doubled in size, transfer it onto a floured surface and divide it in half
- Divide each half into 6 equal portions
- Gently flatten one portion into a long oval. Fold the top of the oval over to a little past the mid way point and then fold the bottom up. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and gently flatten it into a rectangle and roll tightly as you would a cinnamon roll (beginning on the short end)
- Repeat this fold on all twelve portions
- Place 6 rolls, seem side down, into a buttered bread pan
- Repeat with the remaining 6 rolls in a second pan
- Cover the bread pans with plastic wrap and rest for 90 minutes
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Remove the plastic wrap, brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with sea salt
- Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes or until you have an internal temperature between 190-200 degrees
- Allow the bread to rest in the pans on a cooling rack for 5 minutes and then transfer them directly onto the cooling rack to cool for about 1 hour
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature
