This Brioche Loaf Bread Recipe turns out an enriched yeast dough that is soft and buttery with a nice tender crumb.
What is Brioche?
Brioche is a rich French bread with a high butter and egg content. It has a dark, golden flaky crust and a tender crumb inside. Brioche can be made into a loaf or into individual rolls.
If brioche is on the menu, you bet I’m ordering it. Brioche’s enriched yeast dough gets its color and flavor from the amount of butter and eggs in the recipe. While this bread requires quite a bit of effort and patience, I believe it’s well worth the trouble.
Brioche, like many other breads, requires very few ingredients. There are many steps in the instructions with a couple of rising times, but the time spent making this bread is well worth it.
While the eggs and butter lend much of the rich flavor, the overnight proofing of the dough allows for further flavor development. The yeast slowly works its magic overnight creating more complex flavors.
What is Brioche used for?
Brioche is wonderful as is. I could eat endless slices of this bread at room temperature. It’s also fabulous toasted with a little jam or nut butter. It’s fantastic used in bread pudding recipes.
But in my opinion, the best way to enjoy sliced brioche bread is when it’s used in a sandwich, especially a BLT. There’s something heavenly about the combination of buttery bread with crispy bacon, cold lettuce, juicy sliced tomatoes, and creamy mayonnaise.
Allow the brioche to cool to room temperature before slicing. The bread needs time to rebuild its structure. If you slice the brioche while it’s warm, you’ll end up with squished, gummy slices. Have patience and you will be rewarded!
Here are some more bread recipes that might interest you:
- Dutch Oven Bread
- White Sandwich Bread
- Milk Bread Rolls
- Rich Egg and Butter Bread
- Honey Whole Wheat Bread
- Sweet Challah Bread
- Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread
- Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Brioche Loaf Bread
Ingredients
BRIOCHE DOUGH:
- 1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
- 1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened and cut into tablespoons
EGG WASH:
- 1 large egg
- pinch of Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon water
Instructions
PREPARE THE BREAD DOUGH:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the 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 as activated. Whisk in eggs until thoroughly combined.
- Attach dough hook to stand mixer. Add salt and 2 cups of flour. 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 the softened butter one tablespoon at a time. The mixture will be very sticky. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour. Continue mixing for another 3 minutes until the dough is shiny and smooth.
- Stop the mixer and cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Allow the dough to sit for 15 minutes. Mix on medium speed for another 5 minutes. At this point, the dough will still by quite sticky. Do not add additional flour. Use a spatula or dough scraper to remove the sticky dough from the mixing bowl. Transfer the dough to a well-greased large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for one hour.
- Punch down the dough. Fold the dough into thirds like a business letter. Place the dough back into the greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the fridge overnight for at least 6 hours, and up to 12 hours.
SHAPE THE BRIOCHE LOAF:
- Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Punch down the chilled dough. Divide into 5 equal portions. Working with one portion at a time, roll the dough into a 5-inch square. Using the heels of your palms, gently flatten and stretch the dough to the desired size. Roll the dough into a log and place it seam-side-down in the loaf pan. Repeat with the remaining portions of dough.
- Loosely cover the dough in the pan with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rest at room temperature. Leave the dough undisturbed until the dough reaches the top of the loaf pan. This will take anywhere from 90 minutes to 2 hours.
ADD THE EGG WASH:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the egg wash by whisking together the egg, salt, and water until smooth. Remove the plastic wrap and lightly brush the egg wash over the top of the bread loaf.
BAKE THE BREAD:
- Bake the bread for 35 to 40 minutes, rotating 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 the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and allow it to cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Once the bread has cooled, use a serrated knife to slice the bread. Store the 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 aids in the flavor development of dough.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Is it possible to allow the dough to chill for longer than 12 hours?
I’m not sure.
We are going to make this brioche bread for Easter brunch.It looks so easy and delicious that we can’t wait to try it.
Great recipe!
I have never made as good a loaf of bread before.
At least for sandwich.
So sliceable and very good instructions.
Only things I changed was the sugar,amount of flour and egg wash.
I used 1/3 cup honey and almost three cups flour.
My egg wash was one egg,salt and tablespoon heavy cream.
But other than that recipe was pretty much the same.
And the five smaller loaves in one pan was beautiful.
Praise Yahshua for good ideas!
BEST MOTHER’S DAY GIFT EVER!!!!
Mind you, I do not use machines-all by hand. Even though it probably took 3x as long…THE CRUMB WAS BEYOND EXCELLENT! AND THE CRUST!!!-Toast will never be the same. Thank you so much for this recipe. It is special!
Does it make a difference if it is not separated in five? Can I put it in the pan in one piece?
Thank you for posting this recipe. I don’t have a stand mixer and use the dough setting on my bread machine to do the hard work. I’m going to try this in my bread machine then transfer to a greased bowl overnight and do the rest following your directions .