Classic French Brioche Recipe
This classic french brioche recipe is one I originally picked up while attending boulangerie (bread) school and working in London. The loaf is soft and buttery and just a tiny bit sweet. It’s absolutely delicious, and this easy brioche recipe is perfect for your next brunch!
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If you’ve ever had brioche before, you’re probably already a fan of this incredibly soft enriched bread. It’s soft and buttery and rich and completely delicious.
If you haven’t had brioche before then I strongly recommend you try it because I promise you it’s worth the effort.
This easy brioche recipe is pretty straightforward to make and much simpler than cinnamon rolls or doughnuts, but is just as delicious! It does take a bit of time to make because you need to let the dough raise slowly before baking it, but it’s well worth the time.
Why make this French brioche recipe?
Taste: Brioche is so incredibly delicious. Pair it with some nice jam or use it in your favorite french toast recipe and it truly is a winner.
Easy: Brioche is one of the easiest enriched breads (think doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, etc.) that you can make. There’s no need for fancy shaping techniques, you don’t have to deal with frying, and the results are still fantastic! That being said, if you are in the market for a doughnut recipe (and who could blame you?) here’s one of my favorite airfyrer doughnut recipes .
Simple ingredients: Flour, butter, sugar, salt, eggs, yeast and milk. That’s it! Brioche has such a short ingredient list, which makes it a total winner in my books!
What Do I Need to Make this Recipe?
Standing Mixer:
Sure, you could make this brioche by hand, but honestly I would not recommend it.
Loaf pan:
I shape this dough in a loaf pan, so you’ll need one of those! Whatever size you have should be fine, but mine is from Chicago Metallic and is 8 inches x 4 inches along the base and wider at the top.
Eggs, flour, sugar, salt, yeast, milk and butter:
For the flour I use all-purpose flour because that’s what I was taught in school, you can however use bread flour you’ll just get a slightly chewier loaf.
The milk should ideally be whole, but non-dairy or low fat milks will work as well.
It’s best to use unsalted butter, as salted butter can vary in saltiness and might make your loaf too salty.
How to Make this authentic French Brioche Recipe
Step 1: Make the dough
Using a standing mixer you’ll want to combine all your ingredients except the butter and knead on high speed for about 10 minutes. The dough will be soft and smooth but not sticky!
At this point you want to slowly add very soft butter into the dough. Knead the butter into the dough until it’s all fully incorporated.
Step 2: First rise
Once the dough is finished, you’ll need to set it aside until it doubles in size. This will take about an hour.
At that point you’ll find the dough is incredibly soft and supple, which is great but makes it difficult to work with. To make it a bit easier, refrigerate the dough for at least an hour (and up to 8 hours) until the butter firms up.
Step 3: Shape your loaf
Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Arrange the balls into a parchment paper lined loaf pan.
Let the dough rise for about an hour and a half to two hours until the dough has risen and is puffy.
Step 4: Bake the loaf
Brush your brioche loaf with egg wash and then bake it for about half an hour at 350 F until it’s golden brown and well baked!
Expert Tips
Use very soft butter
This recipe relies on slowly incorporating butter into your dough. In order for this to be done as smoothly as possible, it’s important to use very soft dough. Ideally, let it sit at room temperature for an hour or two before using it.
Add the butter slowly to allow it to emulsify
Butter emulsifies with your dough when it is slowly and evenly combined with the dough. In effect, you’re trying to combine something that is water based with something that is fat based, and those two things don’t like to combine.
To make the process go more smoothly, it helps to add the butter in stages and let it combine completely with the dough before you add in the next piece.
Cover the loaf with tinfoil as it’s baking
Because of the sugar and fat content, this loaf can brown pretty quickly. While that looks very pretty, it’s less great if it starts to burn on the outside but is raw on the inside. To avoid this, keep an eye on your loaf as it’s baking and cover with tinfoil if it’s looking too dark!
Try making brioche French toast with leftover brioche
French toast is always delicious but french toast with lovely rich brioche bread is particularly lovely!
Recipe FAQs
Is brioche hard to make?
No! It’s honestly no harder than regular bread, especially if you own a standing mixer. The mixer does much of the hard work for you, and your job is mainly to be patient! If you’ve ever made bread before, then I guarantee you can make brioche!
What do the French use brioche for?
Brioche is often served as a breakfast bread in France. It’s frequently shaped into smaller individual sized brioche or in larger brioche pans as “Brioche a tete”. It’s delicious fresh and warm or toasted with jam.
What does Brioche taste like?
Brioche is rich and buttery and tastes a bit like Challah but with a more buttery flavor. The bread isn’t overly sweet, but is often used as a base for French toast or other sweet dishes.
How to tell dough is proofed enough?
Lightly flour your finger and poke the dough. If a light indent stays in the dough, and it doesn’t immediately bounce back, then the dough is ready!
Other recipe you might like
- SEEDED SOURDOUGH BREAD (BIG BATCH)
- AIR FRYER DONUTS FROM SCRATCH – MINI DONUTS
- APRICOT AND WALNUT BREAKFAST LOAF
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Classic French Brioche Recipe
Equipment
- loaf pan
- Standing mixer to knead the dough
Ingredients
- 3 eggs beaten
- 25 – 45 ml milk see instructions for exact measurement
- 7 g active dry yeast
- 300 g of all purpose flour
- 7 g salt
- 25 g sugar
- 165 g unsalted butter softened
Instructions
- Crack your eggs and weigh them to figure out how much egg you have from your 3 eggs. Subtract off that weight from 185 to figure out how much milk you’ll need. I.e. if your eggs weigh 150g, then you would want 35 g of milk. Gently warm the milk in a pan or the microwave so that it’s luke warm.
- Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk and set aside while you weigh out your other ingredients.
- Add everything except the butter to the bowl of your standing mixer, and gently start mixing with the dough hook on your standing mixer. Once the ingredients are mostly combined, turn up the speed to medium high and knead for 9-10 minutes, or until the dough just about reaches window pane stage*. You might find that at first the dough seems dry, just keep kneading it, and you should see it soften up by the end of the kneading period.
- Turn your machine down to medium and start adding the butter. You want to add the butter in 5 stages, letting each chunk of butter fully incorporate before adding the next piece. Make sure you let the machine run for another couple minutes after the last piece of dough is incorporated.
- Transfer to a greased bowl and cover and let rise for an hour or until it’s doubled in size.
- Knock back the dough by gently kneading the air out of the dough, and then shape it into a round again. Put it back in the bowl, cover it and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour and up to 8 hours.
- Take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and arrange them in a greased or parchment paper lined loaf pan. Cover the pan with a damp cloth and let it rise for about an hour and a half to 2 hours, or until the dough is puffy and doesn’t spring back when poked.
- Optionally brush the brioche with egg wash (a tablespoon of egg and a splash of milk) and then bake at 350 and for 30 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 190 F. Check the loaf after about 20 minutes before the time is up and cover with tin foil if it’s look well browned already.