The easiest way to make brioche, and it’ll give you perfect results! No knead brioche requires no stand mixer or vigorous kneading. Just a few ingredients and a wooden spoon and you’ll get the most delicious bread!
What is brioche bread?
Brioche is an enriched bread (meaning it contains a high amount of fat, in brioche’s case from the egg and butter), that is slightly sweet, extremely rich and fluffy.
Brioche has a beautiful deep golden brown crust on the outside, with a the softest most pillowy interior. Absolutely delicious, and something you’ve probably tried at high end bakeries and patisseries.
What makes this no knead brioche recipe so good?
Brioche just became so much more accessible because this recipe will give you the EASIEST brioche you could possibly make. It’s so low maintenance. Easy ingredients, just a few mixing steps, and no need to knead (get it) or for a stand mixer. This recipe is thanks to one of my favorite baking books, Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day.
Ingredients in this recipe:
All purpose flour: you don’t need any fancy pastry or bread flour
Water: this should be slightly warm, not so hot that it would scald your hand if you put a finger in, but warmer than room temperature. Like comfy bath water!
Instant yeast
Salt
Honey: This recipe uses honey as a sweetener and to add moistness. I’ve had people tell me they’ve substituted sugar with good results.
Eggs: Use room temperature eggs so they combine more easily, and whisk them a little before using in the recipe for the same reason.
Melted Butter
How to make an easy no knead brioche loaf:
Mix the dough: Use a large bowl, because this is the bowl you’ll end up adding all the ingredients to. Mix together the water, yeast, salt and honey. Add the eggs and melted butter and mix until combined, then add the flour and mix until combined.
You don’t need to mix too much, no kneading is required, you don’t even need a stand mixer, you just need to combine the ingredients which will happen very quickly since the butter is in a melted state.
You’ll see a lot of brioche recipes that add a little softened butter at a time while kneading for minutes on end. This isn’t that!
Rest the dough: The dough needs to rest for two hours at which point it’ll get all nice and puffy. I like resting my dough in a warm place to encourage this, like the laundry room or in an oven thats turned off.
Chill the dough: After the two hour rest, dough goes in the fridge for at least a few hours before use (it’ll be too sticky to use straight away). I usually prepare it the day before using, because dough will last up to 5 days in the fridge.
Store the dough: If you make the recipe into a brioche loaf, you’ll have a little dough left over. You can shape the extra dough into brioche buns, or do what I did and make a freeform smaller brioche loaf (no loaf pan required, see the picture below).
I made an amazing brioche bread pudding with the smaller brioche loaf made from the extra dough from this recipe that I baked a couple days after.
How to serve brioche:
This is a beautiful bread, that is delicious with a little jam or honey. It makes for a truly decadent breakfast!
This also makes the best french toast. Absolutely buttery and wonderful. For my favorite french toast batter, head to this recipe.
Not to mention, the best bread pudding you’ll ever have will probably be made with brioche. It’s the perfect vessel to bread pudding custard- fluffy enough to soak in all the liquid but firm enough that it doesn’t turn into mush.
You can also use make little brioche buns and use some for sandwiches or burgers, or to make a perfect egg sandwich. The possibilities are endless!
Storing leftover brioche:
As mentioned above, leftover dough can be stored for up to 5 days in the fridge, and frozen tightly wrapped for up to one month (thaw overnight before using)
Baked brioche freezes well too, for up to two months. I often use frozen brioche slices to make french toast.
No Knead Brioche Loaf
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup water, lukewarm 170g
- 1/2 tbsp instant yeast
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1/4 cup honey 85g
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten room temperature
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted 170g
- 4 cups all purpose flour 530g
Egg wash:
- 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp of water
Instructions
- Combine lukewarm water, yeast, salt and honey in a large bowl and stir until combined.
- Add the eggs and melted butter, and mix until combined.
- Gradually mix in the flour with a wooden spoon, spatula or dough hook until just combined. You'll want to mix until no flour streaks remain but you don't need to be too vigorous. It'll be a sticky dough.
- Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and leave to rest at room temperature for 3 hours. After this rest, store in the fridge for at least 3 hours before using, and up to 5 days.
- When ready to bake, lightly grease a loaf pan. Flour an area of your kitchen counter generously. Scoop out a 1.5 lb piece of dough (680g) or about 2/3 of the total dough you made onto the floured surface (Save the extra dough in the fridge, and see post info above for ideas on what to do with it.) Form the 1.5lb piece of dough into a ball by scooping the surface of the dough around and under.
- Divide this dough ball into three balls and roll each out into a 12 inch rope. Stick the three ropes together at one end and braid. Pinch edge of braid together to seal.
- Place braided bread into prepared pan, and rest for 90 minutes. When rest is nearly over, preheat oven to 350F (180C).
- After rest, brush the loaf with the egg wash. Bake for 40-45 minutes until deep golden brown, but if browning too fast, tent loosely with foil.
Notes
Your embed Jumprope code:
Easiest No Knead Fluffy Brioche by everylittlecrumb on Jumprope.
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Can you substitute maple syrup for honey?
I’m sure that would be just fine!