Black Pepper Free Brioche Loaf

Total time11 hr 15 min

Prep time40 min

Cook time35 min

4.7

(14)

Rich, buttery, and impossibly tender, this brioche loaf is the kind of bread that makes you want to clear your whole Saturday morning just to bake it. The dough is built entirely from pantry staples — flour, eggs, sugar, salt, and a generous amount of softened butter — so there's nothing hidden in the ingredient list to second-guess. That slow butter incorporation during kneading is the real magic here, creating a glossy, elastic dough that bakes into a feather-soft crumb with a deep chestnut crust. The overnight cold retard in the refrigerator does double duty: it firms the dough for easier shaping and quietly develops a more complex, slightly sweet flavor while you sleep. Shaping the dough into four equal balls and nestling them into the loaf pan gives you those gorgeous, pull-apart domes that look like they came straight from a French boulangerie. A simple egg yolk and milk wash is all it takes to achieve that lacquered, bakery-worthy finish. Slice it thick for French toast, tear it warm with salted butter, or just admire it on the counter for a moment — it genuinely earns that.

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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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