Easy Brioche Bread Recipe - Those Someday Goals

I have been looking for an easy brioche bread recipe since I made my move to start baking bread about 18 months ago. And while I made a critical mistake the first time around, this recipe still produced a tasty loaf of brioche that we happily devoured. The second time was much better on all fronts. Read on for the brioche recipe details and tips for how to avoid my mistakes.

Note: This recipe makes a bread-life brioche loaf instead of a pastry-like brioche loaf. Be sure that is what you want before you start mixing.

Brioche Bread Recipe Ingredients

78 Grams of Whole Milk

128 Grams of Whole Eggs

36 Grams of Sugar

3 Grams of Instant Yeast

100 Grams of Very Soft (Not Melted) Unsalted Butter

300 Grams of All-Purpose King Arthur Flour

7 Grams of Salt

Cooking Spray or Extra Butter to Grease Loaf Pan

Egg Wash Ingredients

1 Egg Yolk

1 Teaspoon Milk

Brioche bread recipe mixing the eggs, sugar, milk, and butter those someday goals

Brioche Recipe Steps

Step 1. Whisk milk, eggs, sugar, instant yeast, and soft butter in a mixing bowl.

Step 2. In another bowl, sift flour and salt together.

Step 3. Gently pour the combined flour and salt over the wet mixture and let it sit for a moment.

Step 4. Using your hands, mix the wet and dry ingredients together. The dough is going to be very wet – far wetter than a typical rustic loaf.

Step 5. Cover the wet dough for 30 minutes with a floured towel to allow for absorption.

Brioche bread recipe wet dough ready to knead those someday goals — The dough is very wet even after letting it sit for 10 minutes. Be ready for that when you start to knead the brioche dough.

Step 6. Generously flour your workspace and turn the dough out onto it for kneading. Push and fold the dough (12 o’clock to 6 o’clock, 3 o’clock to 9 o’clock) over and over again for approximately 7 to 10 minutes. You’ll notice how much smoother the dough is before you set it to rise.

Brioche bread recipe after initial rise smooth dough those someday goals — Look how much smoother the dough gets after the first rise. Amazing!

Step 7. Put the dough into the bowl. Place the bowl into a plastic bag and seal it. Note: I just knot the ends – no need to purchase a special bag. Let it sit on the counter for 90 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how cold your kitchen is at the time of the rise.

Step 8. Grease your loaf pan.

Step 9. Gently turn out dough and complete a letter fold (stretching the top of the dough to the middle and bringing the bottom of the dough up to the middle to meet it – forming a seam.

Brioche bread recipe ready to proof those someday goals — Getting ready for the final proof.

Step 10. Place your folded dough seam-side down into the loaf pan. This is critical. This is the part I did wrong the first time – if you leave it seam-side up, the loaf won’t proof correctly, and it will result in a denser loaf.

Step 11. Let the dough proof for 90 minutes uncovered. You will know it is done when the top of the bread begins to rise above the edges of the pan. You’ll see that the top looks relatively airy.

Brioche bread recipe proof lighter airy rising those someday goals — This is mid-proof, and the top is clearly airier and lighter than before the proof started.

Step 12. Begin pre-heating the oven at 375 degrees while you are proofing the dough.

Step 13. Create your egg wash.

Step 14. Once the proof is finished, gently brush your egg wash onto the loaf. Generously cover the top and sides.

Brioche bread recipe egg wash those someday goals — I might have been a bit too aggressive when I brushed on the egg wash with the pastry brush.

Step 15. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes.

Step 16. Let the loaf cool in the pan for the first 10 minutes. Then remove the bread from the pan and finish cooling it for another 25-30 minutes to set the crumb.

Brioche bread recipe final crumb interior those someday goals — The final brioche bread loaf was very tasty. It is much “bread-ier” than the pastry-like brioche breads I’ve had, but we really liked the outcome.

Enjoy!