This was my first time making brioche bread. I’ve been wanting it to make for a long time, specifically Ina Garten’s Brioche bread recipe from Barefoot in Paris: Easy French Food You Can Make at Home
. I’m not one to be afraid of making any type of bread, I love it and enjoy it. But a brioche bread isn’t just like any bread.
Brioche is in fact a pastry, a french pastry. It is very high in butter and eggs and it has a dark and golden flaky crust. I have had brioche bread before, but as I said this was my first time making it.
Brioche bread is perfect for french toast or bread pudding. I’ve also made panini sandwiches with it. I just loved it.
As with any bread, we start by preparing the yeast with warm water and sugar in the mixer bowl, stir them all together and let the yeast do its magic for about 5 minutes. You’ll notice it will get bubbly.
Add the eggs, and with the mixer on medium, beat for about a minute after which add 2 cups of the flour and 2 teaspoons of salt.
Mix this for 5 minutes on low speed. Add 2 more cups of flour and mix for 5 more minutes. With the mixer still on low speed add the chunks of soft butter and mix until the butter is fully incorporated in the dough. With the mixer still on low, add the remaining 1/4 cup of flour and continue mixing for a couple more minutes. If needed switch from the paddle attachment to the dough hook. Place the dough into a well buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, let the dough sit out for about an hour before working with it. Butter 2 loaf pans well. Divide the dough in half and roll each half into a rectangle wide enough to fit your loaf pan. Roll it up and place the dough in the loaf pan, seam side down. Repeat with other half.
Let the breads double in size, about 2 to 3 hours.
Brush the loaves with egg wash. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until the top springs back and it sounds slightly hollow when tapped. Turn the loaves out onto a wire rack to cool.
You will end up with these 2 gorgeous loaves. I could not wait to cut into them and try them. The wait sure was worth it. They were delicious.
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Brioche Bread
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1 package dry yeast 8 g
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 6 extra large eggs
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 lb 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon milk for egg wash
Instructions
- Start by preparing the yeast with warm water and sugar in the mixer bowl, stir them all together and let the yeast do its magic for about 5 minutes. You’ll notice it will get bubbly.
- Add the eggs, and with the mixer on medium, beat for about a minute after which add the 2 teaspoons of salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, add 2 cups of the flour and mix for 5 minutes. Add the 2 more cups of flour and mix for 5 more minutes. With the mixer still on low speed add the chunks of soft butter and mix until the butter is fully incorporated in the dough.
- With the mixer still on low, add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour and continue mixing for a couple more minutes. If needed switch from the paddle attachment to the dough hook.
- Place the dough into a well buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, let the dough sit out for about an hour before working with it. Butter 2 loaf pans well. Divide the dough in half and roll each half into a rectangle wide enough to fit your loaf pan. Roll it up and place the dough in the loaf pan, seam side down. Repeat with other half. Cover the pans with a damp towel and set aside to rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, 2 to 2-1/2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F degrees.
- When the loaves have risen, brush the top of each with the egg wash and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the top springs back and it sounds slightly hollow when tapped. Turn the loaves out onto a wire rack to cool.
Enjoy!
These loaves look wonderful… what size pan? I have 8″ 9″ and 10 ” loaf pans..
BTW, I love your site.
Hi there – I was a little confused when I went to bake my bread today – the recipe states to use 4 1/2 Cups of flour… however when I went to follow the instructions I noticed that steps 2-5 mention 8 1/4 cups of flour all-together (adding 2 cups of flour at a time in steps 2-4, with a final 1/4 cup flour dump in step 5). It would help little old me to clarify if you meant 8 1/4 cups of flour up front, or if you meant to add “scoops” of flour at a time, rather than “cups.” I don’t mean to be critical, I was just confused. I am guessing you meant 4 1/2 cups total, so I will just stick to the original ingredient list and hopefully it will turn out! Thank you!
Hi Christy,
Sorry for the confusion, I updated the recipe. It’s 2 cups at a time, and then 1/2 cup, for a total of 4 1/2 cups. 🙂
This bread went together different from other basic breads. I was afraid it didn’t have enough flour as it was pretty sticky. In the morning when I took it out of the fridge, it hadn’t raised at all. I was afraid I had wasted the eggs and flour. I followed the recipe to a T. My bread took 8 hours to raise. We were pleasently surprised about the texture and flavor. AWESOME! This is a 5 star recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Becky,
Yes I had the same feeling, mine didn’t rise in the fridge either, though it didn’t take 8 hours for mine to rise, but it was worth all the wait. Glad it turned out though. 🙂
Those are beautiful loaves of bread. Fresh bread is totally my weakness in life. : )
Mine too 🙂