Brioche Dough Recipe and all of its wonderful uses!

Email | by zoe, September 24, 2008
Filed Under Recipes | 252 comments

pear pomegranate tarte tatin

Here is a classic fall recipe with a twist. I’ve added the tartness of pomegranate seeds to the mellow sweetness of pears and draped the whole thing in a rich, buttery, tender brioche dough. It is a lovely and quick dessert, especially if you have a bucket of brioche on hand. For those of you who do not already own Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (click here to purchase), here is the recipe and it can be used for all of these wonderful treats: caramel sticky buns, grilled fruit tart, fresh fruit muffins, Brioche à tête, apricot pastries and fabulous doughnuts! Actually the possibilities are endless, just use your imagination and let us know what treats you’ve come up with.

Brioche dough (makes about 4 loaves)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

8 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup honey (this is my all time favorite!)

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

7 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix the yeast, salt, eggs honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or lidded (not airtight) food container.

Mix in the flour, using a spoon until all of the flour is incorporated.

Cover (not airtight), and allow to sit at room temperature for about two hours.

brioche a tete

The dough can be used as soon as it is chilled. This dough is way too sticky to use after the initial rise, but once it is chilled it is very easy to handle. It can be used to create the Tatin or any of these brioche recipes: caramel sticky buns, grilled fruit tart, Fresh Fruit Muffins, Brioche à tête, apricot pastries and fabulous doughnuts! The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. After that you can freeze the dough.

sticky buns

252 thoughts on “Brioche Dough Recipe and all of its wonderful uses!”

Courtenay on December 23, 2011 at 2:04 pm said:

I love all of the bread I have tried in your book..Artisan Bread in Five. I am baking some loaves today with the brioche dough. I have used this dough several times with great success but today for some reason when baking the brioche tete the top of the loaf split…any ideas why?

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- zoe on December 23, 2011 at 6:23 pm said:
  
  Hi Courtenay,
  
  Was your loaf larger than normal? If so, it may have just needed a little more time to rest. This can also happen if the dough is too cool, which would also require a longer resting time.
  
  Thanks, hope the loaf was still tasty! Zoë
  
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  - Courtenay on December 23, 2011 at 8:47 pm said:
    
    Thanks Zoe for the response, My loaf was not a large loaf and I had let it rest probably 1.5 hrs. I have more dough so I will be making more tomorrow and I will try letting it rest longer. Again thank you so much!
April on January 8, 2012 at 8:59 am said:

Have anyone ever tried to do a spin on a panettone with the brioche dough? Obviously adding Fiori di Sicilia to the dough. Thoughts?

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- jeff on January 8, 2012 at 4:26 pm said:
  
  April: We have, which of our book(s) do you have, some have recipe for it?
  
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Desiree on January 17, 2012 at 8:56 am said:

Hi, I tried to bake brioche last week, my first time. I experienced this strong smell coming from the dough straight after mixing eggs, honey, water, yeast, but before adding flour. I don’t know what it was. Was it the honey? The yeast (I used dry, granulated yeast)? Even after the baking was done, I could still smell it on the bread. Is it normal?

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- zoe on January 17, 2012 at 6:41 pm said:
  
  Hi Desiree,
  
  Describe the smell? Was it sweet or more like an alcohol? If it is sweet, it was the honey. The alcohol smell can be the yeast. Both are normal, but some people tend to be more sensitive to it. Let me know what it was and we can help.
  
  Thanks, Zoë
  
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  - Bob C. on March 16, 2012 at 12:16 pm said:
    
    Sometimes an egg can go bad without looking bad. If you mix the eggs by themselves you’ll see the yolk doesn’t spread and mix as well as a normal yolk. Even after cooking these are not safe to eat.
peter on January 22, 2012 at 5:02 pm said:

would like to try hot cross buns with the brioche mix.

every day we make the ciabata – pensioners so small fresh loaves are beaut.

when i make that mix it is very wet – to slump and it works fine,

do i mix the brioche dough to the same consistency

regards and thanks

peter
seaford victoria australia

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- zoe on January 22, 2012 at 5:18 pm said:
  
  Hi Peter,
  
  The brioche will be very loose when you mix it, but will stiffen up after being refrigerated. You can’t use this dough until it is well chilled.
  
  http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2011/04/19/hot-cross-buns
  
  Enjoy! Zoë
  
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phoenix on February 15, 2012 at 11:56 pm said:

Hi. I have had success using your master ww dough recipe with 1/8 tsp of yeast and extending rise time to 18-24hrs. What is the minimum amount of yeast can i use in the brioche recipe? With egg/dairy, I presume the rise should be in fridge. Your thoughts?

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- jeff on February 16, 2012 at 6:07 am said:
  
  Phx: Correct, rise must be in fridge after first two hours on the counter. You should be OK with same 1/8 t.
  
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chun on February 17, 2012 at 12:28 pm said:

If the dough is still too sticky after I let it rise for 2 hours…can I knead in more flour after? What should I do?

And is granulated yeast – the instant yeast from the supermarket?

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- jeff on February 17, 2012 at 7:07 pm said:
  
  Chun: Which recipe are you using (which book and page number). Gran’d yeast, yes, instant yst from superm is fine.
  
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M.Moses on February 18, 2012 at 8:08 pm said:

My query is how to use the brioche as a filled bun.

I would LOVE to be able to stuff the buns with samosa fillings (vegetarian, meat), red bean paste, tuna mushroom, spinach (similar to spanakopita), cajun shrimps perhaps.

Your thoughts? Thanks a bunch.

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- zoe on February 18, 2012 at 8:46 pm said:
  
  Hi M.Moses,
  
  This is actually a technique we’re testing for our next book. Until then you can use the beignet technique to fill the buns, but you can bake them instead of frying if you prefer.
  
  Thanks, Zoë
  
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Shaktimaan on February 28, 2012 at 1:09 pm said:

Hy,
on how much Liter (ml) are your “cups” based?

We have a lot of different ones…

How much gramm is in your “one packet” yeast?
We have these cubes here, it weighs 50 gramm

Thanks, I really like to try it!

Greets Shakti

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- zoe on February 28, 2012 at 7:24 pm said:
  
  Hi Shakti,
  
  Which book are you using? There is a chart in HBin5 that gives the gram equivalents for all the ingredients on page 36.
  
  I have used the fresh yeast cubes and they work wonderfully.
  
  Thanks, Zoë
  
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  - Shaktimaan on March 1, 2012 at 11:54 am said:
    
    Hy,
    I found your website and like to try your receipies…
    When I red it I wondered how much would a “cup” measures…
    I dont have any book of yours
    
    Shakti
  - jeff on March 1, 2012 at 5:19 pm said:
    
    Shaktimaan: You need a U.S. cup measure…
Walt on March 9, 2012 at 4:36 pm said:

It seems part of the recipe is missing on this page – nothing about what to do after the two hour raise after mixing. I freelanced with decent results (I’ve used several other brioche recipes and had adopted Paula Wolfert’s as my default with much success but many steps)but would like to know what I should do.
Help!

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- zoe on March 9, 2012 at 4:57 pm said:
  
  Hi Walt,
  
  This post is just about making the dough. There are several recipes using the dough on the site and in the books. Are you looking for something in particular?
  
  Thanks, Zoë
  
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  - Walt on March 10, 2012 at 3:57 am said:
    
    Sorry for my confusion, but your only reference to chilling seems outside the recipe, itself. Just an information processing thing on my part, but it would have been helpful if it had said “After the dough has risen for two hours, chill in the refrigerator
    for at least X hours” or something like that.
    All that being said, I have used this recipe half a dozen times nad find it the easiest brioche recipe I’ve ever used in over forty years.
jeff on March 10, 2012 at 8:26 am said:

Great, Walt! Material here on website is brief–publisher would kill us if we put up all our content–complete instructions in the books.

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Kamal on April 18, 2012 at 5:03 am said:

I know honey is your all time favorite but what can I use instead of it in the brioche dough?

I love all your recipes and your enthusiasm.

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- jeff on April 18, 2012 at 6:32 am said:
  
  Kamal: Agave syrup, maple syrup, or even plain sugar.
  
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  - Kamal on April 19, 2012 at 12:25 am said:
    
    Thanks for the quick reply.So for 1/2 cup honey do i substitute the same amount of sugar?
  - Walt on April 19, 2012 at 4:07 am said:
    
    Good question, Kamal.It leads to another: and since sugar is dry and honey wet, should there also be a tiny addition of liquid – tablespoon or two?
  - jeff on April 19, 2012 at 10:58 am said:
    
    Kamal, Walt: Well, really close. To be technical, you should decrease a litte (3/8 cup?) and add a little water (1/8 cup?). But I often swap 1:1. It changes the consistency just a little (it’ll be drier).
- Walt on April 18, 2012 at 9:51 am said:
  
  Kings corn syrup, if you can find it
  
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Morgan on April 18, 2012 at 7:08 am said:

I’m getting ready to try the brioche bread recipe. My first time making bread besides banana bread. If it goes well I would like to get the book, but what I’m wondering is if for other recipes will you need more equipment? I do not have a kitchen aid mixer. Will that be a problem?

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- zoe on April 18, 2012 at 2:11 pm said:
  
  Hi Morgan,
  
  All the recipes can be made in a large bowl or food container. You need about 6qts capacity. None of the equipment is required, but some make the job a little easier.
  
  Happy baking! Zoë
  
  Reply ↓
Candice on April 25, 2012 at 11:35 am said:

Hi Zoe & Jeff!

I am trying my hand at your brioche recipe. My pregnancy brain led me to goof up the prep and I’m wondering if that will effect the outcome. I threw all ingredients in the bucket, including the flour, before mixing. Ergo, I did not mix the yeast with the wet ingredients first like instructed. Is this going to be a problem? Second, can over mixing be an issue? I tried using the dough hooks on my Kitchenaid hand mixer (seemed brilliant to avoid cleaning the stand mixer and mix directly in the bucket)and am not sure if I overmixed since this comes together differently than the master recipe. Lastly, I am not sure I got a good rise. The water I threw in may have been on the cooler side of lukewarm. I let it rise for 3 hours but never felt like it doubled. Thoughts?

Thanks!

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- Walt on April 25, 2012 at 12:10 pm said:
  
  I have made this brioche nearly a dozen times and must confess that I have reverted to a technique for it that I use in almost all the breads I make: I mix all the wet ingredients and dry ingredients including yeast in two separate bowls, then I cup by cup mix the dry ingredients gradually into the wet. I have had similar results both the recipe way and my way, but find my way more comfortable for me.
  I have never had much trouble with over-mixing, though once had a duration problem from perhaps too lightly mixing. To me, dough hook seems like it would be very inefficient – I use a spoon, paddle, etc. or sometimes when I’m really enjoying myself dig in with my hands and mix at the end. Messy, but fun.
  What I really like about this recipe is that it is very forgiving and dough lasts almost a week.
  Don’t let one slightly imperfect result get you down. The fun with this is experimenting and trying new things that work for you.
  
  Reply ↓
  - zoe on April 25, 2012 at 6:52 pm said:
    
    Hi Walt,
    
    This sounds great and will be very encouraging to folks who are just starting out. If you are having fun and enjoying the bread, then there just can’t be a wrong way of getting there!
    
    Cheers, Zoë
- zoe on April 25, 2012 at 6:49 pm said:
  
  Hi Candice,
  
  Your dough should be just fine. It may take a bit longer to rise, because of the cooler water, but that isn’t going to effect the end result.
  
  Enjoy! Zoë
  
  Reply ↓
The Café Sucré Farine on May 16, 2012 at 6:08 am said:

Which recipe did you use for that bottom picture – I have several of your cookbooks and was just wondering which recipe that is, it looks just wonderful!

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jeff on May 16, 2012 at 6:22 am said:

CS: That’s the brioche dough shaped as the Caramel Rolls from our first book http://bit.ly/cNtfJI

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- The Café Sucré Farine on May 16, 2012 at 6:52 am said:
  
  Thanks so much – I have that book!
  
  Reply ↓

252 thoughts on “Brioche Dough Recipe and all of its wonderful uses!”

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