Basic Sweet Brioche
A classic French bread that's defined by adding butter and eggs. Here, we make one large loaf even though they are made for individual servings. Serve with butter, honey, or jam.
This one is different in that it uses melted butter rather than room temperature. Again, this is a basic brioche recipe so it’s a great way to dip your toes in to the world of bread without being too overwhelming.
The fabulousness of brioche
It’s a sweet bread loaded with butter — do you need more convincing? Tender and fluffy, making this sweet bread begins with an egg-based dough, enriching it to give it that soft pillowy texture.
Brioche belongs to the same family of viennoisseries ( croissants and sweet rolls, etc.). Similar to its cousins, it means that the beauty of this bread is that it’s incredibly versatile. You can make this work with savory dishes or even use it as a base for bread and butter pudding.
For the sake of ease and getting in to the world of bread (not by machine), this brioche has been simplified. Not everything tasty requires complication so for now, we are kneading (yes, pun intended) this recipe.
Dough 101
Gluten and yeast are the bread’s foundation. Gluten makes the dough pliable enough so that the bubbles (CO2 from the yeast) can swell like tiny balloons without disturbing the integrity of the dough to the point where the bread overproofs, meaning that it deflates.
Dry yeast will start to bubble and froth once it’s had a chance to sit. Depending on your bowl, you may have to give the dry yeast one quick gently stir to make sure yeast and sugar get wet.
Gluten develops well in tepid water or milk (about 100°F). I use water in this recipe but other bread ones I use milk. You could give milk a go for more richness. But the fat counteracts the gluten development process. Think fat from the eggs and butter. However, you need this to keep the dough rich in flavour. This is why it’s so important to make sure the yeast has had time to emulsify prior to mixing it with the rest of the ingredients.
Which is why a stand mixer with a dough hook is your friend. Yes, this recipe does say to knead by hand. And yes, you can do it old school if you so wish (when I started making this recipe I didn’t have the luxury of a stand mixer) BUT, save your hands from a sticky mess, back from standing and kneading forever, and just plain time and sanity and let the mixer do the work. WHY? Because this dough needs to be kneaded for much longer than couple of minutes in order to obtain the gluten development and sufficient strength to retain all the fat you need to get it feathery light and smooth. I find that even with my mixer, it’s going for at least 10 minutes before the tackiness is gone.
Dough will be very sticky and messy looking at the start but give it time. Keep the mixer on stir or lowest setting. Sometimes you may need to coax the bottom of the dough to unstick from the bowl.
After a few minutes, it will start to come together. Still too tacky as you can see the dough hanging on to the hook. Be patient and let the dough hook do the kneading.
10 minutes later, it’s come together beautifully. When you touch it, dough shouldn’t stick to your finger and should be easy enough to handle to lightly shape in to a ball.
A quick shaping on a lightly floured cutting board before placing in the bowl for proving will help it not stick to the sides.
Time is basically the rule of thumb for ensuring gluten development. So don’t rush the hydration process because the longer the flour and water spend together, the more plentiful the gluten bonds will be. The same can be said for using a mixer since it will speed up the time it takes to encourage the liquid into the flour. And finally, taking the time to proof. Honestly, 1 ½ minimum, 2 hours preferably for the first rise.
Do the finger test to find out if the dough is properly proofed. To do this, gently press the side of the loaf with your lightly floured finger. This leaves an indentation. If this indentation remains, OR if it bounces back halfway, then the loaf is ready to be baked.
If the indentation bounces back completely, then it’s under-proofed and needs more time to proof.
What you’ll need
instant dry yeast
sugar
warm water
all purpose flour
salt
eggs
butter
orange or lemon zest, chopped, optional
What you’ll do
Basic Sweet Brioche
Ingredients
Instructions
- Place yeast in a bowl with sugar and gently pour warm (not hot!) water over top. Allow to sit for about 10 minutes, until the yeast begins to froth and bubble.
- In a large bow, mix flour and sugar.
- In another bowl, whisk eggs. Add melted butter and yeast mixture. Pour over flour and sugar. Mix until just combined then place dough on a floured surface and knead until dough is smooth no longer tacky to touch. Alternatively, use your mixer with the knead hook and let the machine do the work.
- Place dough in a large bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Allow to prove in a warm place* until it roughly doubles in size, typically 1 ½ hours.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a loaf pan (9"x5").
- Remove dough from bowl and knead for a few minutes, just to work the elasticity of the dough. Then place dough into the loaf pan and cover with the tea towel for a further 20 minutes to prove.
- Once oven has reached temperature and dough has risen, bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden on top and bottom of loaf sounds fairly hollow when tapped.
Notes
*my oven has a proofing setting but you can also turn your oven on to 200°F and then off once it reaches temperature before placing dough in to prove.