Make Ahead

Honey Brioche

October  9, 2012
4
2 Ratings
  • Makes 12 rolls regular rolls, 24 sliders or 2 medium sized loaves
Author Notes

I love Bread, especially Brioche. It's wonderful on it's own, or day old for french toast, bread pudding or even dipping in fondues or melted cheese. It makes the most amazing buttery crostini.. This is my tried and true recipe, anyone looking at my recipe cards can tell I use it more than most of my recipes, it's stained, smudged and torn. —darksideofthespoon

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 heaping tablespoons dry yeast (or 30g of fresh yeast)
  • 1/2 cup warm full fat milk
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 1 cup bread flour
  • 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 4 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 stick of room temperature butter
  • 1 3/4 cups bread flour
  • 1 3/4 cups cake flour *see note
  • 1 large egg, for egg wash
  • maldon sea salt for finishing
Directions
  1. Combine the first 3 ingredients in a mixer bowl. If you bowl is cold warm your milk a littler hotter to compensate. Let your yeast activate and foam (takes about 5-10 minutes), then add the flour. Add the sugar, eggs, flours, salt and butter in this order without mixing. Let the bowl sit for 30 to 45 minutes.
  2. Fit your mixer with a dough hook and mix the dough on slow until it is smooth, stretchy and elastic. (10 or 15 minutes) Cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Allow it to sit in a warm area for an hour.
  3. Preheat your oven to as low as it will go. Add a pan with an inch of water to the bottom rack of your oven.
  4. Once the Brioche has risen, divide your dough evenly by the size you'd like it to be. You can round it out with your hands, like I do, or add it to a buttered loaf pan. I usually weigh my dough out on a scale to 100g per roll - or 50g for sliders. If you're making rolls, be sure to put them seam down on a pan with parchment paper.
  5. Turn your oven off. Let your rolls or loaves rest, while you check your oven. Check that the oven is warm and moist. If It's too hot it will start to cook your dough, you don't want that. You want it to proof them nicely. It should be slightly above room temperature, but not toasty. Add the Brioche and proof until it's expanded and sticky - for about 10 or 15 minutes. Don't leave them alone, open up the oven door once in a while to check on it that they aren't baking but that they're expanding nicely.
  6. Once proofed, take your Brioche and pan of water from the oven and preheat the oven to 325*F. Egg wash your bread and sprinkle some Maldon salt (or another one of my favorites: Caraway seeds) on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes, they should be golden brown.
  7. Let the rolls or loaves sit for 5 or 10 minutes to cool before you transfer them to a cooling rack. Try not to eat them all at this point, unless that's why you made them. ;)
  8. * If you don't have cake flour, you can make a great substitute. For each cup of cake flour that you need, take 1 cup of all purpose flour, minus 2 tablespoons. Add 2 tablespoons of corn starch. Works like a charm!

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Kayb
    Kayb
  • darksideofthespoon
    darksideofthespoon
  • anne edgar
    anne edgar

3 Reviews

Kayb January 11, 2015
I have been working my way through many of the bread recipes on this site, and today, it's time for my first ever brioche! Can't wait to try....I'm on the "let the bowl sit" stage right now.
 
anne E. October 10, 2012
Cheryl, I was so excited when I saw this! I made these yesterday morning & I love your proofer idea - it worked out! Shaun is having breakfast sandwiches with them this morning and we had burgers with them last night. The only thing: I didn't have another egg, so I used milk to wash them with and we're not fancy enough to have Maldon in the house so I used some Fleur De Sel.
 
darksideofthespoon October 10, 2012
Ann, I thought of you when I posted this recipe and I'm so glad you made them and they turned out well.

PS: I think you're fancy.