Shellfish Free Bread Machine Brioche
Rich, pillowy, and golden-brown with a glossy egg-wash crust, this bread machine brioche is the kind of loaf that makes people think you spent the whole day in the kitchen. The secret is the slow, patient addition of softened butter during the knead cycle, which gives the crumb that signature tender, almost feathery pull that brioche is famous for. Every ingredient here is straightforward pantry and dairy — milk, eggs, butter, flour, sugar, yeast — so there's nothing to second-guess when it comes to hidden seafood-derived additives or cross-contact concerns that can sneak into store-bought enriched breads. The bread machine does the heavy lifting on kneading and the first rise, leaving you to shape three smooth dough balls, tuck them into a loaf pan, and let them proof until they crown beautifully above the rim. A quick egg yolk and milk wash before baking is what delivers that deep chestnut color and subtle sheen. Once it comes out of the oven and cools just enough to slice, the crumb is soft and buttery in a way that's genuinely hard to stop eating. Whether you're serving it alongside a weekend brunch or using it as the base for the most indulgent French toast of your life, this loaf absolutely delivers.
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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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