Brioche

Brioche is the queen of enriched breads. Hailing from France, it has a wonderfully rich, tender crumb and a beautifully golden, soft crust, thanks to a generous amount of butter and eggs. It’s a delight to eat on its own, lightly toasted with jam, or used as a base for luxurious dishes like French toast or bread pudding. This recipe will guide you through the process of creating a smooth, elastic dough that, while sticky to work with, bakes up into a light and airy loaf. The key is to add the softened butter gradually and to allow the dough two separate rises to develop its signature flavor and texture. Unlike lean doughs like a baguette, brioche is an "enriched" dough. This means it contains a high percentage of fat (from the butter and egg yolks) and sugar. These ingredients tenderize the crumb and give the bread its characteristic richness and soft, cake-like texture. The process is a bit more involved than a standard bread recipe, but the result is a truly special loaf that is well worth the effort. The long kneading time is essential to develop the gluten structure enough to support all the added fat, so a stand mixer is highly recommended for this recipe. The dough will be very soft and may seem too sticky, but trust the process! The chilling time is also crucial, as it makes the soft, buttery dough much easier to handle and shape.