Brioche: half a kilo of flour, half a pound of butter, one night in the fridge
Brioche is one of the richest yeast doughs there is: half a kilo of flour takes 250 grams of butter, as much as many shortcrust pastries. Fat in that quantity hinders gluten development, so order is everything — build the gluten first, add the butter afterwards, cube by cube. The second condition is a night in the fridge: warm dough this rich is impossible to shape, while cold dough handles like modelling clay.
Your own work in that: 3 h 35 min.
- Dough 45 min
- Night in the fridge 720 min
- Shaping and baking 170 min
- Cooling 70 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneBuild the gluten without butter
Put the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the mixer bowl, add the eggs and lukewarm milk. Knead with the hook 10 minutes at medium speed, until the dough is smooth, glossy and starts to clear the sides. Do not add the butter yet.
Ingredients: 500 g strong bread flour · 5 pcs eggs · 80 ml milk · 8 g dried yeast · 60 g sugar · 1½ tsp salt · 250 g butter
TipThe windowpane test: stretch a piece of dough between your fingers. If it forms a translucent film that doesn't tear, the gluten is ready for butter.
Smooth and glossy, clearing the bowlAdd the butter cube by cube
With the mixer still running, add one cube of butter at a time, waiting each time until it disappears into the dough. The whole amount takes 12–15 minutes. Halfway through the dough will look broken and greasy — that is normal; it comes back together.
TipButter added all at once coats the flour and the gluten never forms. The result is a heavy, crumbly dough with none of the characteristic stringy structure.
Cube by cube, each one must vanishRefrigerate overnight
Knead another 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and glossy again. Move it to a bowl, press cling film onto the surface and refrigerate 8–12 hours, ideally overnight. It rises and, more importantly, firms up.
TipShaping warm brioche is all but impossible: the butter melts and the dough runs through your fingers. Cold, it is firm, obedient and does not stick at all.
Eight hours, film on the surfaceShape eight balls
Divide the cold dough into 8 pieces of about 145 g and shape tight balls. Set them in a lined 30 cm loaf tin, in two rows of four, snug against each other. Cover and leave somewhere warm 2 hours, until the balls have clearly risen and fill the tin. For the last 20 minutes, heat the oven to 175 °C.
Eight tight balls, snug togetherGlaze and bake
Beat the egg with the milk and brush the top lightly, without pooling it in the crevices between the balls. Bake 35–40 minutes at 175 °C, until deeply golden. If the top colours too fast, cover with foil after 20 minutes.
Ingredients: 1 pcs egg · 1 tbsp milk
TipDough with this much sugar and butter browns faster than plain bread. A thermometer helps: brioche is done at <b>90 °C</b> in the centre.
Thirty-five minutes, deeply goldenCool in the tin, then on a rack
Leave it in the tin 10 minutes, then turn it onto a rack and cool at least an hour. Hot brioche is damp and gummy inside; only once cool does it reveal the stringy structure that is meant to be torn apart rather than sliced.
Before you start
Without a mixer
It can be done, but count on 30 minutes of hand kneading and real effort. Work the butter in by folding: flatten the dough, spread butter over it, fold in three and repeat.
What to use it for
Breakfast with jam, French toast (the best you will ever make), burger buns, the base of a bread pudding. Stale brioche is better than fresh for anything baked.
Less butter
A domestic version with 150 g of butter works and is far easier to handle. The structure ends up closer to a good challah than to true brioche, but it is still very good.
How long it stays fresh
Three days in a sealed container, exceptionally long for a yeast bake — that is the butter's doing. After that it is at its best in toast or bakes.
