Homemade Brioche Bread
Homemade Brioche Bread dough feels soft and velvety in your hands. The bread is sweet and buttery.
Homemade Brioche Bread is a Labor of Love
If you’ve ever craved a rich, tender French bread that’s buttery and just a bit sweet, then homemade brioche bread is your go-to! This delightful bread is all about that luxurious flavor, thanks to its high egg and butter content. In this post, I’ll walk you through how to make your own homemade brioche bread in an easy to understand way. If you have questions, just drop them in the comments!
Here’s why I love this homemade brioche bread!
- The dough is so soft and velvety in your hands. Unlike any other.
- You can make the loaves ahead of time, freeze them before the third rise and use them whenever you want homemade classic french toast or french toast casserole.
- It smells so good!
- Brioche bread is soft and delicious, perfect for sandwiches!
Baking bread always makes me feel good! If you love it too, here are some of my favorites. Try challah bread for a rich, slightly sweet option. My Multigrain Bread is super healthy, while twisted garlic bread is perfect for Italian night. For a Mexican twist, try Homemade Mexican Cornbread, or for Mediterranean night, try Mediterranean Olive & Herb Quick Bread.
Happy baking!
Visual Process for Making Homemade Brioche Bread
Step 1
Gather the Ingredients
Maybe the most important step!
Step 2
Bloom the Yeast
Add honey, yeast and warm milk to a bowl and let the yeast bloom until frothy.
Yeast before Blooming
Yeast After Blooming
Step 3
Whisk the Eggs
Next up, it’s time to add the eggs. Crack them in and give them a good whisk!
Step 4
Mix in the Dry Ingredients
Now, toss in your flour, vanilla, sugar, and salt. This part is straightforward—just dump everything into the bowl and use the whisk attachment on your stand mixer to combine.
Step 5
Knead the Dough
Knead the dough with the dough hook for 5 minutes.
Step 6
Butter, Butter and More Butter
Add the first portion of butter (you may need your hands if your mixer can’t handle it) and mix until the dough feels smooth. It might be a bit slimy at first, but keep kneading. Gradually add the rest of the butter, letting each portion fully incorporate before adding the next for that rich, buttery flavor!
Step 7
Let the Dough Ball Rise
Place the dough in a warm spot and let it rise for a couple hours until doubled in size.
Brioche Bread Dough Before Proofing-
Brioche Bread Dough After First Rise
Step 8
Reshape and Chilled Overnight Rise
Once your dough has doubled in size after the first rise, gently turn it out onto a floured surface and deflate it with your palm. Shape it back into that tight ball, flip it over, and back into the bowl it goes! Cover it with plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for 8-24 hours. When you pull it out, it’ll be a bit firmer because the butter has solidified—that’s normal!
Step 9
Braid the Dough
Next step is to braid the dough for that classic brioche bread shape. See below for how to braid it.
Step 10
Third Rise
You can either freeze the dough, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, then foil, or let it rise a third time until doubled in size. If you freeze it, just let it rise in a bread pan after removing it from the fridge—though it will take longer, the result will be the same.
Step 11
Egg Wash
Before baking, brush the brioche with an egg wash for that gorgeous golden color. This step is optional but really enhances the visual appeal!
Step 11
Bake!
Bake those braids in a preheated oven at 325°F (163°C) for about 35-45 minutes. Use a digital thermometer to check that they reach 190°F (88°C). Once they’re done, let the brioche cool completely before slicing. This helps keep it moist and improves the texture.
How To Braid the Brioche Loaves
When shaping the brioche, be gentle to avoid degassing the dough too much. Proper shaping contributes to an appealing final appearance and gives your street cred. Gently deflate the dough as you did before (It won’t deflate much), then cut it in half with a dough scraper. Cut each half into thirds. Take each piece of the dough and roll it out with gentle even pressure until it is around 14 inches long. To roll it out place your palms together in the middle and as you move them back and forth allow them to drift towards the outer edges. Do this over and over until you end up with a nice, uniform tube of brioche dough.
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How to cut the brioche dough -
Rolled sections of dough -
How to start your braid by folding the ends properly
Now you want to braid three pieces to gether. You will want to pinch one end of the pieces together but before you do that, lay them across each other as if you were braiding it. The piece on the rights end should be on the left side, the one in the middle should be on the right side and the one on the left should be in the middle. When you actually do this, it will make a lot more sense. This ensures that your braid starts at the end instead of a quarter of the way through your tubes. Here is a picture that will help you figure this out. You can see if the first picture that the braids got tighter the further I went down the braid. The second braid is more even all the way across.
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Okay Braid -
Even braid
Then when you have two braids with the ends pinched together, you want to fold the ends under themselves until the braid is the length of your bread pan. This ensures that you get a nice round shape when your bread rises and then is baked. Place the braids in bread pans that are both buttered and dusted with flour.
Storage Tips
Once cooled, store your brioche in an airtight container to keep it from drying out. If you won’t finish it in a couple of days, pop it in the freezer for longer shelf life. Fresh brioche will last on the counter for about 2-3 days, so make sure you have a plan for it!
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Buttery Soft Brioche Bread
Equipment
- 2 Bread Loaf Pans
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Plastic wrap
- Cooling rack optional but recommended
Ingredients
- ½ cup warm milk
- 2 ½ tsp active dry yeast
- 2 tsp honey
- 5 large eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 tbsp granulated white sugar
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 18 tbsp unsalted butter (softened and divided into four portions)
Instructions
- Measure all the ingredients and have them ready to go.
- In the stand mixer bowl, combine ½ cup warm milk, 2 ½ tsp active dry yeast, and 2 tsp honey. Let the yeast activate for 5-10 minutes until it becomes frothy.
- Whisk 5 large eggs and 1 egg yolk gently to break the yolks.
- Add 2 tsp vanilla extract, 5 tbsp granulated white sugar, 4 cups all-purpose flour + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, and 1 ½ tsp fine sea salt to the mixture, and combine to create a rough dough.
- Using the dough hook attachment, knead the dough on speed 2 or 3 for approximately 3-5 minutes until it starts to come together. If its overly sticky, add 1/4 cup of flour. It will be sticky but you don't want it overly sticky.
- Divide 18 tbsp unsalted butter into four portions. Gradually add the first portion to the stand mixer, ensuring it mixes well into the dough for about 2 minutes. At this point, if your mixer is stuggling, you might have to move to doing it by hand. Using the dough hook, encorporate the other three portions of butter, kneading for 2-3 minutes after each addition. Pause the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl between kneading.
- Once all the butter is mixed in, scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue kneading the dough for an additional 5-15 minutes on speed 5 or 6. The dough is adequately kneaded when it can be cleanly lifted off the bottom of the bowl with the dough hook. It should be soft and tacky to the touch but not stick to your fingertips. Instead of strictly following a time limit, knead until you achieve this consistency. You might have to add another 1/4 cup of flour.
- On a floured surface, turn the dough out and lightly flour your hands and the dough surface to prevent sticking. Fold the edges of the dough toward the center and gently press them in. Carefully flip the dough, and using the heel of your palms, shape it into a tight ball.
- Pick up the dough ball and return it to the mixer bowl (or another large bowl). Allow it to rise until it doubles in size in a warm place (around 72°F) for approximately 1 hour.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently press it down to deflate. Fold in the edges as before, towards the middle, and press them in. Flip the dough carefully (seam side down now) and tighten it into a ball with a smooth, taut surface using the edges of your palms. Transfer the dough back to the mixer bowl, cover it, and let it chill in the fridge for at least 8 hours, or up to 24 hours.
DAY TWO
- Butter and lightly dust two standard loaf pans (8.5 x 4 inches) with flour. Alternatively, you can use 9 x 5 inch loaf pans.
- Retrieve the chilled dough from the fridge. The dough is more manageable at this point. Have a bowl of flour, a pastry brush, and a dough scraper/cutter ready. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently deflate the dough by lightly flattening it. Measure the weight of the dough, then use the dough cutter or a sharp knife to divide it into two EQUAL portions. Now, you have two portions of dough ready to make two brioche bread loaves.
Braided Dough
- Divide one portion of the dough into three equal parts. Flatten each section into a small rectangle and tightly roll up each rectangle to form three tubes. Using your palms with a back-and-forth motion, roll out each tube into a 14-inch-long bread rope. Apply light, even pressure to ensure an evenly widthed rope.
- Now, you have three 14-inch-long bread ropes. Bring the ends of the three ropes together and pinch to seal. Carefully braid the dough, avoiding loose folds and refraining from stretching the dough ropes simultaneously. Once braided, the bread loaf should slightly exceed the length of the pan (approximately 9 – 10 inches). Pinch to seal the other end. Using your palms, press down the ends of the bread to flatten against the work surface. Tuck the flattened ends to achieve a lovely, rounded loaf.
- Gently transfer this into the buttered and floured bread pan, slightly flattening to fit. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside. Allow the bread to proof in the covered pans for about 2 hours at room temperature or until doubled in size, nearly reaching the top of the pan. Preheat the oven to 325°F/163°C before baking the loaves.
- Once doubled in size, brush the tops with an egg wash (one whisked egg plus one tbsp milk).
- Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown on top, and the internal temperature registers 190°F/88°C. This typically takes about 35 – 45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let the bread loaf cool slightly for about 5 minutes. Carefully flip the bread loaf out of the pan onto a cooling rack. Allow it to cool completely before storing it in an airtight container.
