Brioche Recipe

Brioche is the richest bread in this library and a genuine celebration loaf: deep golden, feather-light, and so heavy with butter and eggs that it sits closer to pastry than to a lean loaf. Torn warm it pulls into soft, almost stringy strands; toasted it goes crisp and custardy. It is the base for everything from burger buns to bostock to French toast, and it is the one bread here rated advanced — not because the recipe is complicated, but because the dough demands respect.

The default ratio is a middle-of-the-road brioche: 50% butter, 40% eggs, 25% milk, 10% sugar, with 1.5% each salt and yeast. That is generous but workable in a home kitchen. The tradition runs from a leaner "commune" style (around 30% butter and eggs) up to an indulgent "Parisienne" (70% butter, 60% eggs); the default lands in the middle so the dough is rich without becoming a project only a stand mixer can finish.

The technique that makes or breaks brioche is temperature and order. You develop the gluten first — a long knead until the lean dough is strong and elastic — and only then add the softened butter a little at a time, letting each addition disappear before the next. Add butter too early or let the dough get warm and it turns to greasy soup. That is why the overnight {cold-retard} is non-negotiable: it firms the butter back up so you can actually shape the dough, and it builds flavor the short bulk ferment cannot.

One ingredient note: at this sugar level regular instant yeast works, but osmotolerant yeast (SAF Gold, the red-label) ferments more reliably against all that sugar. Substitute it one-for-one if you have it and the rise gets noticeably more predictable.