Is melted or softened butter better for brioche?

With cold butter only being used when making brioche where temperature control is critical. Softened butter is my go-to for most other bread dough types. Melted butter is something I have always avoided because it would need to be added at the beginning of mixing unlike the softened or cold butter .

Why is my brioche not fluffy?

If the kneading is not done correctly and the dough is not kneaded enough or is kneaded too much , this will affect the texture of the brioche. The dough should be left to rise in a warm place, away from any draughts.

What gives brioche its flavor?

Brioche is a classic French bread distinguished by the addition of butter and eggs , which makes it an “enriched” dough. The high fat content results in a bread with an exceptionally tender crumb, pillowy softness, and rich flavor.

What is the difference between bakery bread and brioche bread?

What makes brioche different to most breads? Brioche is different to most breads because it's made with an enriched dough and tastes a little sweeter . . Because it's an enriched dough, you get that famous brioche texture of soft bread, the classic golden colour and quintessentially rich taste.

Should butter be cold for brioche?

Do not use cold butter , though, because butter must be at room temperature to mix in properly. Don't mix these doughs by hand—your hands are warm enough to melt the butter. Instead, use an electric mixer or, if you don't have one, try our recipe for No-Knead Brioche (see page 242).

What happens if you put too much butter in brioche?

It is possible to add too much butter to bread dough. Too much butter will result in a very soft, sticky dough that's difficult to shape, and bakes up greasy and dense .

Why does my brioche taste yeasty?

If the area is too warm, bread will rise too fast and begin cooking before the yeast has finished acting . This will impart a "yeasty" taste to the dough that will be transferred to the finished baked loaf. Using old ingredients (rancid nuts, "old" shortening) will cause yeast breads to taste old or have an "off" taste.

Why does brioche need to sit overnight?

Overnight Proof: By letting the dough rise slowly in a cold environment, it not only develops more depth of flavor, but also gives you more flexibility with the timing of baking the loaf . Cold brioche dough is also much easier to work with!

Why add butter slowly to brioche?

Why should butter be added slowly to brioche dough? Adding the butter into your brioche dough is a fairly lengthy process, and the butter should only be added approx. one tablespoon at a time. This is so the dough maintains the stretchy gluten we've built up, and the butter is absorbed slowly .

Does brioche use melted butter?

Making the Brioche dough In a bowl, combine eggs, honey water, salt and melted butter and whisk, somewhat vigorously, for about 30 seconds. We do this with a Danish dough whisk. Add the instant yeast to the flour and sift it into the mixture.

What happens if you use melted butter instead of softened for bread?

Not much really. Melted butter blends like a liquid so it's going to thin everything out. Softened butter on the other hand will maintain its structure. So if your banana bread recipe calls for a lot of blending after the butter goes in it will get you to the same place.

What happens if you use melted butter instead of softened?

And, sometimes, melted butter actually produces a more desirable texture . If, for example, the idea of a cakey or fluffy cookie makes you cringe, seek out recipes that call for melted butter, which produces denser, lower-profile results.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe

*This post may contain affiliate links. Thank you for your support.

Fluffy, soft, and rich in flavor – that’s how an authentic French Brioche Bread must be! Let me show you how to make the best brioche bread recipe at home!

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (1)

What Is Brioche Bread

Brioche bread is one of the most known and most authentic French bread that exists. It’s made with eggs and butter, which gives this bread a very rich flavor.

The texture of this bread is similar to soft toast bread or challah bread, but much fluffier. Furthermore, it has a very intense flavor and is due to the use of a high amount of butter quite buttery. Some like it, others don’t.

Because French Brioche Bread is so buttery, it’s an excellent bread to use for making Brioche French Toast, Baked French Toast Casseroles, or Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

I love to toast it and use it for sandwiches or spread it with Nutella or jam in the mornings.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (2)

How To Make Brioche Loaf

The loaf is basically a yeast dough with extra butter and eggs. The dough is hard to handle and quite sticky (different than regular bread). Therefore, I can highly recommend you to use your stand mixer!

I have never made the dough from hand and would never try it, to be honest with you.

Also, you need to knead your dough for 20 minutes, and I wouldn’t want you to spend that time on kneading, your stand mixer can do this for you!

The key to a very fluffy and airy brioche bread is to let it rise for at least 4 hours up to a maximum of 16 hours. My tip is to start with the dough in the early evening and let it rise in your fridge overnight.

The next morning, you can form it into a loaf, let it rise again, and bake it. Your French brioche will be ready around noon (depends if you are an early bird or like to sleep in).

The second option is starting in the early morning, let it rise in the fridge during the day, finish and bake it in the evening!

I always bake my brioche as a loaf in a loaf pan. But you can also use the dough to make brioche buns or burger buns (sprinkle with seeds). If so, reduce the baking time and take the buns out of the oven when golden brown.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (3)

French Brioche Recipe

Ingredients you need:

Fresh yeast, or active dry yeast → I always recommend using fresh yeast if available in your supermarket, don’t spin your head if it’s not available and use dried yeast instead
Milk, can be substituted with plant-based milk, preferably soy or oat milk
Sugar, necessary for the yeast and a light sweet taste
Eggs → can’t be replaced if you are following a vegan diet, sorry
All-purpose flour
Salt
Butter, needs to be cold → can be substituted with a plant-based butter

How to make it:

Mix the yeast, milk (need to be lukewarm, but not hot → warm up in the microwave or a small pot), and sugar until the yeast starts foaming. → This takes about 5 minutes, you will see the process very well when using fresh yeast.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (4)

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (5)

Mix in the eggs.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (7)

Give it with the flour and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer and knead for 5 minutes at speed level one using the dough hook. → The dough is quite hard to handle, don’t add more milk.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (8)

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (9)

Now, add the butter in pieces and knead for another 15 minutes at speed level two until the butter is well incorporated and your dough is smooth and still slightly sticky but comes easily from the bowl if using a silicone spatula.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (10)

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (11)

Grease a bowl with oil (olive, sunflower, or canola oil).
Add your dough, turn it around once until fully covered with the oil, and cover it with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (13)

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (14)

Leave your dough to rise for one hour at room temperature.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (15)

Place in the fridge and leave to rise for 4-16 hours. → Overnight is perfect.
The next morning, your dough is very airy and has a lot of bubbles. Place on a lightly floured surface and divide into five equal pieces (using a knife or dough scraper).

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (16)

Fold each one into a log:
1. Form it first into a rectangle → slightly press the dough with the palm of your hands and stretch using your fingers.
2. Then roll it up into a log using your fingers.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (17)

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (18)

Place the logs in a with oil greased 10×5-inch loaf pan (25x12cm). You can push them carefully together if they don’t fit.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (20)

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (21)

Cover with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and let it rise again for 1.5-2 hours until it has grown significantly to the top of the loaf pan. Start preheating your oven (395°F/200°C) after 1.5 hours.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (22)

Brush your brioche with a beaten egg (use a baking brush). → This ensures a golden top and keeps your dough from drying out during baking. Vegan egg wash alternative: 2 tbsp unsweetened soymilk, 1 tbsp agave nectar, 1 pinch ground turmeric.
Bake the brioche for 30-35 minutes in the preheated oven until it’s golden brown.
Take it out, place on a wire rack, and let it cool down for at least 15 minutes before you take it out of the pan. Leat if cool entirely before slicing.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (23)

French Brioche Recipe FAQ

How To Store Brioche?

Store your brioche wrapped in a tea towel or plastic bag for three days.

Can I Freeze Brioche?

You can freeze the whole loaf or cut in slices (easy to defrost in a toaster). Place them in freezer friendly zip bags and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in your oven or toaster before serving.

Can I skip the overnight freezer rise?

You can, but I don’t recommend it. If you do so, your brioche is still delicious, but it’s not as airy and fluffy when skipping this significant step.

Can I make this brioche recipe vegan-friendly?

More Authentic French Recipes

Authentic French Crepes
Brioche French Toast
French Croissants
French Chocolate Croissants
White French Dressing
Vegan French Dressing

Did you try this recipe?

I would love it if you leave me a5-star rating or comment. This way, I better get to know which recipes you like and can make more of them.

Please follow meonFacebook,Instagram, andPinterestto see more tasty shiny food pictures! I would be thrilled to welcome you to my community!

📖 Recipe

French Brioche

Fluffy, soft, and rich in flavor – that's how an authentic French Brioche Bread must be! Let me show you how to make the best brioche bread recipe at home!

Author : Aline Cueni

4.74 from 104 votes

Click on the stars to leave a vote!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe SAVE

Prep Time :1 hour hr

Cook Time :30 minutes mins

Dough Rising Time :7 hours hrs

Total Time :8 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Servings : 8

Ingredients

French Brioche Dough

▢ 1 tbsp (15 g) fresh yeast or 2 tsp active dry yeast
▢ ¼ cup (60 ml) milk lukewarm, use soy or oat milk as a non-diary option
▢ 2 tbsp (30 g) sugar
▢ 3 eggs
▢ 2.5 cups (320 g) all-purpose flour
▢ 1 tsp salt
▢ ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter chilled, use plant-based butter as a non-diary option

Egg Wash

▢ 1 egg beaten

Instructions

Mix the yeast, lukewarm milk, and sugar, and let it sit for 5 minutes until foaming. Mix in the eggs until well combined.
Place it with the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, and knead at speed level 1 for 5 minutes (your dough is very sticky).Add the butter in pieces and knead for another 15 minutes at speed level 2 (your dough should be sticky but comes easily from the bowl using a silicone spatula).
Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a damp tea towel, and let it rise at room temperature for one hour. Refrigerate for 4-16 hours ➝ makes your brioche soft & airy.
Take the dough out of the fridge, place on a lightly floured surface, divide into five pieces and fold each one into a log (punch down the dough gently with the ball of your hand, stretch into a rectangle, and roll up into a log). Place them in a greased (or with parchment paper lined) 10×5-inch loaf pan (25x12cm), cover with a damp tea towel and let it rise for 1.5-2 hours at room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 395°F/200°C. Brush the dough with the egg wash and bake it for 30-35 minutes until brown.
Allow the brioche to cool down on a cooling rack before slicing.

Notes

Use a plastic wrap instead of a damp tea towel to cover your dough.
The temperature in the recipe is for the use of a regular oven. If you use a convection oven (fan-based), set the temperature to 355°F/180°C.
Brioche is the best if fresh, but can be stored in an airtight container for a few days or up to three months in the freezer. Defrost in the oven or toaster.

Recommended Products

Measuring Set

KitchenAid Stand Mixer

Loaf Pan (10″x5″)

Basting Brush

Cooling Rack

Nutrition

Aline Cueni

I’m a girl who loves to cook and bake delicious homemade food. Let me help you to incorporate more plant-based foods into everyday life! Vegetarian & vegan recipes can be anything but boring.

Best Homemade French Brioche Bread Recipe | Aline Made (2024)