Citrus Free Bread Machine Brioche
Rich, pillowy, and impossibly tender, this brioche is the kind of bread that makes you feel like a serious baker the moment it comes out of the oven. The crumb is soft and buttery with a deep chestnut crust that practically begs to be sliced thick. For anyone navigating a citrus-free lifestyle, this recipe is a natural fit — every single ingredient is straightforwardly free of citrus, with no zest, juice, or citrus-derived additives hiding anywhere in the list. The bread machine does the heavy lifting on the kneading, which is especially important for brioche since the butter needs to be worked in gradually and thoroughly for that signature silky texture. You add the softened butter cubes a little at a time during the knead cycle, and the machine transforms what starts as a shaggy, greasy mess into a smooth, supple dough that rises beautifully. A simple egg yolk and milk wash gives the loaf that glossy, bakery-worthy finish before it goes into the oven. Let it cool before you slice — though that will genuinely be the hardest part of this whole process.
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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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