Homemade Brioche Recipe

Whisk the lukewarm milk, yeast, and 1 tsp of the sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes until it becomes foamy. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.

Mix the salt and remaining sugar into the flour. Add the dry ingredients into the bowl of your stand mixer. Secure the dough hook to the mixer, and mix on low speed until a shaggy dough forms.

Add one piece of butter to the dough. Mix on medium speed until the butter is completely blended into the dough, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Repeat this step until all the butter is completely incorporated into the dough.

Continue to knead the dough on medium speed for 5-10 minutes, or until it's completely smooth and elastic. The dough will be soft and slightly tacky to the touch. It should pull from the sides of the bowl. It may still stick to the bottom a bit. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and transfer it to the fridge overnight.

Remove the bowl from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for 3 hours. Flour your work surface and hands well, Remove the dough from the bowl and form it into a ball.

Split the ball into two equal-sized pieces. Set one of them aside and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Prep two loaf pans by generously buttering the inside, then dusting with flour.

Roll the dough ball into a long, thin, oval-like shape. Use a knife or a pizza cutter to slice the oval into 3 equal-sized ropes, leaving about 1 inch of dough connecting the ropes at the top.

Roll the ropes slightly to smooth them out. Starting from the top where the dough is still connected, braid the strands of dough. Once you've reached the end, pinch the ends of the ropes together.

Gently lift the braid into one of the prepared loaf pans, tucking the inched ends underneath. Loosely cover the loaf pan with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size and reaching the top of the loaf pan.

Take the remaining dough ball and portion it into 8 equal-sized pieces. Flatten one of the pieces out, fold the edges into the middle, and pinch them together. Flip the piece over and cup your hand over it. Gently roll to create a perfect ball. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Place the dough balls into the prepared loaf pan, slightly off-set to create a zig-zag pattern. Loosely cover the loaf pan with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size and reaching the top of the loaf pan.

While the loaves are rising, preheat the oven the 325F. Once the dough has risen, transfer the loaf pans to the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. *Optional: If you are making a savory brioche, brush the tops of the loaves with egg wash before baking.

For the sweet brioche in the photos: Brush the loaves generously with syrup immediately once you take them out of the oven. Let the loaves cool for 10 minutes, then brush with another layer of syrup. Let the loaves sit for 5 minutes, then gently flip them out of the pan to finish cooling on a rack.