Brioche
A pillowy soft, buttery french bread recipe creating two delicious golden brown loaves.
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