Ginger Free Buttery Soft Brioche Bread

Total time11 hr 15 min

Prep time40 min

Cook time35 min

4.6

(18)

Rich, pillowy, and impossibly tender, this brioche is the kind of bread that makes you want to clear your whole Saturday afternoon just to bake it. The dough is built on a generous amount of real butter worked in slowly, plus eggs and whole milk, which together create that signature feathery crumb and golden crust that brioche is famous for. For anyone avoiding ginger, this recipe is a completely natural fit — there's nothing to swap, skip, or second-guess, just classic French-style enriched bread made exactly as it should be. The overnight cold retard in the refrigerator does double duty: it firms the butter so the dough is easy to shape and quietly deepens the flavor while you sleep. Shaping the dough into four equal balls and nestling them into a loaf pan gives you those beautiful, pull-apart domes on top that look like they came straight from a bakery window. The egg wash brushed on just before baking is what delivers that deep chestnut color that's almost too pretty to slice into — almost. Let it cool the full hour before cutting, because the crumb is still setting and the patience is absolutely worth it.

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Ingredients

10 servings

For the dough

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 ¼ tsp instant yeast (1 standard packet)
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 ¼ tsp fine salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup whole milk, warm (about 100°f / 38°c)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, softened to room temperature

For the egg wash

1 large egg
1 tbsp whole milk

Instructions

1
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour, instant yeast, sugar, and salt. Whisk briefly by hand to distribute evenly.
2
Add the 4 room-temperature eggs and the warm milk to the flour mixture. Mix on low speed until a shaggy dough forms, about 2 minutes, then increase to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl, about 8 minutes.

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