Chicken Free Bread Machine Brioche
Rich, pillowy, and golden-crowned, this brioche is the kind of bread that makes people think you spent the whole day in the kitchen — when really your bread machine did most of the heavy lifting. The dough relies on whole milk, eggs, and a generous amount of butter worked in gradually during the knead cycle, which is what gives brioche that impossibly soft, tender crumb and slightly sweet flavor. Since the entire ingredient list is built around dairy, eggs, and flour, there's no poultry of any kind to navigate around, making this a genuinely worry-free bake from start to finish. The technique of adding softened butter cube by cube while the machine kneads is the real secret here — it creates a smooth, supple dough that bakes up with a deep chestnut crust and a feathery interior. A quick egg yolk and milk wash before it goes into the oven gives the loaf that glossy, bakery-style finish that's almost too pretty to slice. Let it cool properly before cutting, because the crumb is still setting as it rests — patience pays off in every buttery bite.
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Learn more →Ingredients
12 servings
For the dough
- ¼ cup whole milk, warmed to 95–100°f (35–38°c)
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 3 cups bread flour
- 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast (1 standard packet)
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes, softened
For the egg wash
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp whole milk
Instructions
- 1
Add the ingredients to the bread machine pan in the order your machine's manual specifies (typically liquids first, then dry ingredients, with yeast last and kept away from the salt). Add the warmed milk, then the 3 eggs, sugar, and salt. Add the bread flour on top, then make a small well in the center of the flour and add the yeast.
- 2
Select the Dough cycle on your bread machine and start it. Once the machine has been kneading for about 5 minutes and a shaggy dough has formed, begin adding the softened butter cubes a few at a time through the lid opening, waiting about 30 seconds between additions. The dough will look rough and greasy at first — continue until all the butter is incorporated and the dough is smooth, supple, and pulls away cleanly from the sides of the pan, about 10–12 minutes into the knead cycle.
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