Last updated on February 12th, 2026.
Homemade Brioche bread is soft, buttery, and easy to make despite its high couture french cuisine reputation. This versatile bread dough can make countless recipes in addition to sandwiches and french toast like Cinnamon rolls and even challah recipes.
Master Brioche dough by Understanding the scientific principle
Understanding the basics helps you troubleshoot and master brioche, even on your first try. Before we start, if you have yet to: meet gluten. Gluten is a stretchy net formed when flour and water mix. It gives dough structure and helps it rise instead of spreading. I talk more about it in my Baking Science Cookbook.
Brioche sits between bread and cake: it gets structure from strong gluten and tenderness from butter. Because fat interferes with gluten development, the butter is added only after the gluten forms. This way, the gluten develops first, then the butter coats it without weakening the dough.
Think of it as opening the door before greasing your hands.
The Three Steps Of Brioche
The complete recipe is at the bottom of this post in the recipe card. Below are step by step images for visual cues including all my tips, tricks and lessons I learn as I was developing this recipe.
Step one: prep
- The secret to the success of this recipe is in the prepping step: make sure the eggs and butter are at room temperature, and use a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients. This recipe calls for simple, pantry ingredients:
- Flour. A combination of unbleached all-purpose and bread flour is ideal. Bread flour has a strong gluten that will bond more quickly, but If you do not have it available, use all-purpose flour. Do not use bleached all-purpose flour or cake flour.
Instant yeast. does not need to be soaked in water before adding the flour. I included substitutions and instructions for cake yeast or instant yeast in the recipe card below.
Large eggs at room temperature.
Cold water so the dough temperature won’t rise too high and kill the yeast caused by friction during the long kneading processes.
Unsalted Butter.Salt plays an important role in bread baking beyond flavor: it strengthens gluten. Using salted butter removes control over how much salt goes into the dough, which can affect gluten development and compromise brioche’s tender, buttery texture.
Step two: Making The Foundation Dough
At this stage, we mix all the ingredients except the butter to form a rough, dense dough and establish a basic gluten network. Avoid over mixing here, if the dough becomes too tight, incorporating the butter later will be much harder.
I included images and other cues to help you master this step:
- Use the paddle attachment to mix the ingredients into a shaggy mass. Once the flour has been incorporated, replace it with the dough hook.
- Mix on low for 1-3 minutes, depending on the strength of your mixer. The dough should seem dry, and dense, more like a smooth cookie dough.
Step Three: Adding The Butter
- With the mixer on medium-low, add the butter, one piece at a time waiting for each piece to be mostly incorporated before adding the next piece. Moderation is key to this step, and the best way to make sure the dough is strengthening its gluten net while also coating it with butter. Adding the butter too fast, we’ll end up with a greasy messy lump, impossible to stretch and roll.
- Now you need to wait and let the mixing do its job: the dough will go from looking like a sticky, faty mess into a smooth, elastic and soft dough.
- Pay attention to the dough and not the timer: depending on the humidity in your kitchen, and the type of your mixer you may need any time between 10 to 20 minutes. The dough is ready when it clean the sides and bottom of the bowl and it stretches easily and creates a thin see though “window”.
- Brioche dough requires a long rest in the refrigerator. Do not cut corners here, the yeast in the dough are now a bit sleepy, giving the large amount of butter, so they will work slowly. Which is good because slow and long rest means a strong and rich flavor.
Shaping
After the first rest, you can use the dough and make your favorite pastry, and off course you can bake it into a classic loaf, or a Nantaise loaf (pull apart).
- The dough is best shaping when it is cold, if at room temperature the butter tends to melt and the dough might be too sticky.
- Use a very light dust of flour to dust your work surface.
- Brush the top of the dough with an egg wash before the second rest, brushing it after might cause it to deflate.
Can I make brioche dough without a mixer?
Marie Antoinette is famously known for saying, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” (Let them eat brioche). That was back in 1789, and I doubt Kitchen Aid was trending, so yes, you can make brioche bread by hand. Follow the recipe, using a large bowl, wooden spoon and you hands. Be patient, and do not be tempted to add more flour or butter. It is supposed to feel and look messy! Also, please do not use a hand mixer; mixing the dough using a whisk attachment would be like mixing the dough.
Storing & Freezing
This buttery bread is best when fresh out of the oven when the internal temperature is 180-190F (76-82C). Let it cool slightly in the pan, then remove it and place it over a wire rack to cool.
You can keep the bread at room temperature for up to two days, in the refrigerator for up to five days, or in the freezer for up to 3 weeks.
Freezing the dough: wrap it in plastic and freeze it for up to a week. A day before baking, remove from the freezer and place in the refrigerator; the next day, shape and bake.
To freeze the bread: wrap it with plastic or aluminum foil, then place it in a freezer bag and freeze. When ready to eat, remove from the freezer, unwrap, and let warm up to room temperature.
How to enjoy the recipe?
The first way is to use the dough to make more pastries:
- Chocolate Babka
- Chocolate Chips Brioche
- brioche donuts and Bavarian cream donuts.
- Maritizzo, sweet Italian cream bun.
- Go super crazy and make Brioche Challah.
- Sweet Cheese Pastries.
- Brioche Burger Buns.
The second way is to use the bread when baked:
- Brioche Croissants.
- Toast and spread some homemade preserves like this candied apple jam, or this Strawberry Preserves.
- French toast and Brioche French Toast Casserole
- Portugese Croisants.
- Almond Cream Bostock.
Brioche Bread Troubleshooting
- Use a kitchen scale, for best results, use a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients; too much flour or not enough will make a huge difference and can make or break a recipe.
- If the dough did not rise, it could be that the yeast were dead, or you might need longer time.
Brioche Bread | A Foolproof Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 Cups (- 2 tablespoons) (350g) Unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3 Cups (- 2 tablespoons) (350g) Bread flour
- 2 1/4 Teaspoons (10g) Instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons (12g) Salt
- 1/2 cup (100g) Sugar
- 4 Large Eggs, at room temperature
- 3/4 Cup (180ml) Cold water
- 20 Tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) (250g) Unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into one-inch pieces.
Instructions
- In a stand mixer bowl, add the two types of flour (700g), yeast (10g), sugar (100g), and salt (12g). Use the paddle attachment to mix at medium speed.
- Add the eggs, followed by the cold water (180ml), and continue mixing until a shaggy mass forms and the flour is fully hydrated.
- Replace with the dough hook, and knead for additional three minutes.
- Add the butter (250g), one piece at a time, waiting about 15 seconds between each addition.
- Increase speed to high, and keep kneading until the sides of the bowls are clean, and the dough easily stretches without tearing.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts, and wrap each piece in plastic, and refrigerate for 10-12 hours.
Shape the dough
- Unwrap one portion of the dough, and place it over a clean surface with some flour.
- Gently deflate the dough and press it into a 9-inch square.
- Fold the top part towards the center, then the bottom over it. Gently lift the loaf and place it in an 9-inch pan lined with parchment paper, and grease on the sides.
- Brush with an egg wash, cover with plastic wrap, and place in a warm spot until double in size.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes at 350F (180C) until the internal temperature is 180-190F (82-87C).
- Invert the bread to a wire rack after 10 minutes of cooling in the pan at room temperature.
Notes
- Use a kitchen scale for the best result.
- Make sure the eggs and butter are at room temperature.
- Yeast conversions: use 3 3/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast and 4 1/2 teaspoons of fresh yeast. Soak the yeast in both cases with 1/4 cup warm water and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Reduce the water amount to 1/2 cup.
- The bread is best eaten when fresh and stored at room temperature for two days in the refrigerator for five days.
- You can freeze the dough for up to one month. A night before use, place it in the refrigerator, then shape it the next day.
- If using milk instead of water, bring the milk to a boil, then allow it to cool to room temperature (65F).
- Do not use salted butter.
- You can use all all-purpose flour or all-bread flour. If using bread flour only, increase the butter amount to 275g/28oz.
Hi Dee! Thanks for the step by step instructions on making brioche. I’ve been wanting to try it to make it for a while now. I have made several overnight breads (flour, water, salt, and yeast) using instant yeast and they call for a very small amount of yeast so I was wondering why so much yeast is used in the brioche recipe? Is it because it is an enriched bread? Also, Does the final product end of tasting very yeasty?
Hi Melanie,
The amount of yeast depends on the type of yeast as you mentioned, and you were right to ask because the amount was for fresh and not instant. This recipe calls for 2 1/4 teaspoons of instant yeast, 3 1/4 for active dry yeast, or 3 tablespoons for fresh cake yeast.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention.