Citric Acid Free Bread Machine Brioche
Rich, pillowy, and impossibly buttery, this brioche is the kind of bread that makes you feel like you've accomplished something truly special in your own kitchen. For anyone avoiding citric acid — which sneaks into a surprising number of commercial breads and dough conditioners as a preservative — baking from scratch is often the only reliable path to a safe loaf. Every ingredient here is straightforward and easy to verify: whole milk, eggs, sugar, sea salt, bread flour, yeast, and a generous amount of unsalted butter. The bread machine handles the hardest part, incorporating all that butter gradually into a smooth, supple dough without you having to break a sweat. After the machine does its work, you shape the dough into three balls, nestle them into a loaf pan, and let them proof into a gorgeous, domed crown before baking. A simple egg yolk and milk wash gives the finished loaf that deep chestnut color you'd expect from a bakery window. Slice it warm with a little extra butter, or use it as the base for the most indulgent French toast of your life.
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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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