How to make French Brioche at home

This homemade French Brioche is fluffy, soft & really delicious. It’s perfect for a delicious & rich weekend breakfast/brunch or when you want to treat your family to some homemade goodness. Make it on a Friday night & enjoy fresh brioche all weekend. Also check out my tips on how to make this bread in a hot kitchen. Grab your apron & let’s get baking.

There is nothing like homemade bread. Aside from the fresh delicious taste, there’s also a sense of accomplishment you get when you eat bread you made yourself. Baking bread is one of my favorite things to do and this French Brioche is my go to bread recipe.

This bread is rich, flavorful from all the yummy French butter used in the bread, it’s soft, fluffy & simply delicious. I love eating it hot from the oven with my Homemade strawberry jam & my homemade ricotta cheese or cream cheese, or make a yummy toast like this sweet & savory ricotta toast. If there’s any leftover, that goes into making the most delicious Cinnamon French toast.

Watch the video

Watch the video over on YouTube to see how to make the lovely braided design.

French Brioche ingredients

For this yummy bread, I recommend using the very best quality & fresh ingredients, so that your bread will come out great tasting.

750g flour: Make sure your flour is very fresh & has not been in your pantry for years.
5 large eggs: Use very fresh eggs.
3 tsp yeast: Again, your yeast should be fresh & active. If the yeast is old, your bread won’t rise.
100g sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
160g milk
300g butter: For this bread, I recommend using French butter or a good Irish butter.
1 tsp vanilla: I prefer using vanilla bean paste for this recipe, but any good vanilla will work well.

Homemade Vanilla Sugar (Optional)

Sugar
Vanilla bean (scrap out the seeds) & add to the sugar along with the vanilla pod.

How to make French brioche

Firstly, add all the ingredients except the butter into your mixer bowl & use a spatula to mix until it is well combined. The dough will be rough & shaggy looking.
Next, transfer your mixing bowl to your mixer with the dough hook attachment & mix the dough on medium low speed until the dough comes together. It will be a stiff dough but it will come together.
Gradually add your butter one cube at a time until it has incorporated with the dough. Increase the speed of your mixer to high & mix for 10 minutes. The dough is ready when you hear a slapping sound & the dough will cling to the dough hook & your sides of the mixing bowl will be clean.
After 10 minutes, remove the dough unto a lightly floured surface & knead for a few minutes. Form into a round ball & divide into two equal parts. Roll each of the dough into balls & wrap loosely with cling film.
Place the dough into the fridge overnight.

THE NEXT DAY

Work with one dough at a time if you have a hot kitchen. Lightly dust your work table with flour & unwrap the dough. To make the braids, divide the dough into 4 equal parts & roll into the same length.
Roll each of the dough in the vanilla sugar before braiding. I recommend you watch my video over here to see how to braid the dough.
Place the dough into your prepared bread pans & cover to proof for 1hr. If your kitchen is hot, check to see if the dough has proofed around 30mins. If you didn’t roll the dough in vanilla sugar, simply brush the top of the bread gently with a beaten egg & a little milk mixed together.
Bake the dough in a 180 degrees Celsius preheated oven for 30mins or until the bread is golden brown.
Remove from the pan & leave to cool slightly. Enjoy hot with strawberry jam & ricotta or cream cheese.

Tips on working with the dough in a hot kitchen

Make sure your ingredients are slightly cold. Remove your milk, eggs & butter from the fridge like 10mins before you start making your bread.
If you have a very hot kitchen like mine, after cutting your French butter into cubes, you can leave it in the fridge until you are ready to start making the bread. French butter melts faster than margarine or regular butter. Using it a little bit cold will help keep it stable while you are mixing the dough.
When forming the dough, leave one of the dough in the fridge while you work on the other one. This will help keep the second dough chilled so that it will be easy to work with when it’s time to roll & form.
If your dough is sticking, simply dust your table & your hands with a little bit of flour.