Beef Free Brioche Loaf

Total time11 hr 15 min

Prep time40 min

Cook time35 min

4.7

(14)

Rich, pillowy, and impossibly golden, this brioche loaf is the kind of bread that makes you want to clear your whole Saturday morning just to bake it. The magic here is in the slow incorporation of softened butter — added piece by piece into the dough until it becomes glossy, elastic, and almost silky to the touch. An overnight cold retard in the refrigerator does double duty, firming up the dough so it's easy to shape and deepening the flavor in a way that a same-day loaf simply can't match. Every ingredient in this recipe is naturally free from beef and beef-derived products, so there's no label-scanning or substitution stress — just flour, eggs, butter, milk, and yeast doing beautiful things together. The four-ball shaping method gives the finished loaf those gorgeous, pull-apart domes on top, and the egg wash bakes into a deep chestnut crust that crackles just slightly when you press it. Slice it thick for French toast, tear it apart at the dinner table, or eat it plain with a little butter — honestly, it needs nothing else.

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Ingredients

10 servings

For the dough

¼ cup whole milk, warmed to 110°f (43°c)
2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast (1 standard packet)
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp fine salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
14 tbsp (1 ¾ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes, softened

For the egg wash

1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp whole milk

Instructions

1
Combine the warmed milk and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer and let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy and fragrant.
2
Add the flour, sugar, salt, and 4 eggs to the yeast mixture. Fit the mixer with the dough hook and mix on low speed for 2 minutes, until the ingredients are just combined into a shaggy mass, then increase to medium speed and knead for 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth, elastic, and pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl.

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