By Savini Gauri
Hello, fellow bread lovers! This No-Knead Brioche Loaf is the real deal – with a soft and slightly open crumb structure and a delicious brown crust. It’s super easy to prepare and requires minimal effort. It hardly requires any effort and is perfect for those who don't have a stand mixer or dough kneader. Though the brioche loaf does require patience like any other bread as it has two rounds of rising. And you do NOT require eggs to make this beautiful brioche bread loaf!
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Before we get to the bread recipe, here is a link to my Instagram handle Savini The Bakeshop, so you can stay up to date with all the content I post and all the experiments I do before a recipe goes live on this blog.
But for now: let’s talk bread, particularly brioche.
I’ve been working on a reliable and minimal effort bread recipe for quite a while now – and I have finally developed one brioche recipe which tastes, smells, looks and feels like all the longer and kneading-intensive recipes. The basic process remains the same: knead a dough, bulk ferment, shape, final ferment and then bake.
Before we get to the nitty-gritty of how to make your own brioche loaf, here’s a quick list of reasons why this brioche recipe is absolutely amazing.
Why you will LOVE this Brioche Loaf recipe
1. The chewy yet soft crumb. This loaf is the perfect balance of pillowy softness and chewy crumb. This bread has an open enough crumb to soak up any soups, sandwich spread or milk in desserts.
2. Flavour. This brioche loaf has a very neutral taste with hints of saltiness, sweetness and richness of butter. It is perfect to absorb the flavour of whatever you serve it with. Be it the sauce on your chicken, the soup you served it with or the milky custard in a bread pudding. It will soak it all up without losing its own texture and flavour. You can also have it like an everyday sort of loaf, and it’s amazing with some butter and jam, spread with hummus or as part of a lovely BLT sandwich.
3. The brown and caramelised crust. This brioche loaf does not have a hard and dry exterior. It rather has a chewy and caramelised brown crust adding a wonderful texture and flavour to it.
4. Basic and common ingredients. As always this recipe is made using ingredients one can easily find in their kitchens. Nothing fancy or difficult to pronounce.
5. Minimal effort. This recipe hardly requires any kneading. Unlike most breads you don't need a kneader or stand mixer for your dough. It hardly takes a few minutes to prepare and knead by hand.
The ingredients for this brioche bread
The list of ingredients for this brioche bread loaf is simple and conveniently available. (As always, the detailed recipe, including the ingredient quantities is listed at the bottom of the page.)
active dried yeast
sugar (for yeast food)
warm milk
flour
butter (salted or unsalted)
salt (if you are using unsalted butter)
See? 6 ingredients. That's all you need to make this amazing brioche loaf.
Mixing and kneading the dough
First, put the warm milk in a bowl. Add the yeast and sugar. Mix until completely dissolved. Then let this mixture sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes. It will become murky and frothy, which means that the yeast is active. If you notice that there is no foam formation or murkiness, you’ll know that it’s inactive (probably expired) and you should open a new yeast package.
Add to this butter, salt and half the flour. Now, we come to the mixing and kneading stage –
mix it up using a rubber spatula. You will notice that it will start to look like a thick pancake batter.
Now, add to it the remaining flour and gently mix using a rubber spatula or even your hands (if you are up for this dirty challenge). It will start to come together and you will notice that it will start looking like a dough. You don't need to knead it a lot. Just knead it for a minute or two until it comes together and that's it.
Take another bowl and apply some butter or oil to it. Then, put the dough in this well-oiled bowl. Cover it up using plastic wrap or cling film.
1st rise: Bulk Fermentation
For the bulk fermentation, place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 1.5 hour in a warm place. You will notice that it will approximately double in volume.
The purpose of this bulk fermentation is primarily flavour development – this is what ensures that your brioche loaf will have a wonderful flavour we associate with properly baked bread.
Shaping the Dough
Since we are making a simple loaf it doesn't require any specific shaping effort. All you have to do is, take a loaf tin and lightly apply some oil or butter. Then place the dough in the baking tin.
2nd rise: Final Proof
Then cover the baking tin using a damp cloth or plastic wrap. Let it sit in a warm place and let it rise for about 45 minutes. You will notice that the dough will rise one and a half times.
BAKING TIME
Preheat your oven to 180ºC . Then place your wire rack on the middle rack of the oven. Then place your loaf tin and bake it for 40-45 minutes or until the loaf has a nice and golden caramel crust.
In case the loaf starts browning a little too fast cover the tin with some tin foil and continue baking.
Cooling the Loaf
Once the loaf comes out of the oven brush the loaf with some butter and let it sit on the wire rack for 15-20 minutes. Then take it out of the baking tin and let it cool on a wire rack.
Okay, make sure you let the bread loaf cool 100% before you cut slices or use it at all. Cooling sets the crumb and ensures it’s not sticky or unpleasantly gummy.
If you cut it too early, the loaf will crumble and the crumb structure will be very dense and sticky.
On the other hand – if you are a terribly impatient human being like me and tend to run out of patience when it reaches the lukewarm stage. It’s still okay.
All this is to say: don’t cut into the loaf while it’s hot or even very warm, but if it feels only slightly lukewarm to the touch and you really want to go for it… get slicing.
Happy Baking!
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No-Knead BRIOCHE LOAF
Hello, fellow bread lovers! This No-Knead Brioche Loaf is the real deal – with a soft and slightly open crumb structure and a delicious brown crust. It’s super easy to prepare and requires minimal effort. It hardly requires any effort and is perfect for those who don't have a stand mixer or dough kneader. Though the brioche loaf does require patience like any other bread as it has two rounds of rising. And you do NOT require eggs to make this beautiful brioche bread loaf!
Course Bread
Prep Time 25 minutes
Bake/Cook Time 40-45 minutes
Rising Time 3 hours
Total Time 4 hours 10 minutes
Servings 1 loaf
Ingredients
3 cups (360 grams) maida or pastry flour
2.5 tsp Urban Platter active dry yeast
3 tbsp caster or powdered sugar
1/2tsp salt
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp (65 grams) unsalted butter, softened + 1 tbsp for brushing
1 cup (240 ml) milk (warm)
Instructions
In a bowl, whisk together warm milk, sugar and active dry yeast. Let it sit for 10 minutes. You will notice the mixture will get murky and frothy. ***Please Note: If there is no foam formation or murkiness, you’ll know that it’s inactive (probably expired) and you should open a new yeast package.***
Now add to it salt, butter and 1/2 the flour. Mix using a rubber spatula. It will turn into a thick pancake-like batter.
Now add the remaining flour and combine it into a dough. Either using a spatula or your hands. Knead until it starts to look like a dough.
Take another bowl and coat it using butter or oil. Then place the dough in it. Cover it using a damp cloth or plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place and let it rise for 2 hours.
You will notice that the dough will double in volume.
Now, take a loaf tin and lightly apply some oil or butter. Then place the dough in the baking tin.
Cover the baking tin using a damp cloth or plastic wrap. Let it sit in a warm place and let it rise for about 45 minutes. You will notice that the dough will rise one and a half times.
Preheat your oven to 180ºC . Then place your wire rack on the middle rack of the oven. Then place your loaf tin and bake it for 40-45 minutes or until the loaf has a nice and golden caramel crust. ***In case the loaf starts browning a little too fast cover the tin with some tin foil and continue baking.***
Once the loaf comes out of the oven brush the loaf with some butter.
Let it sit on the wire rack for 15-20 minutes. Then take it out of the baking tin and let it cool on a wire rack.
Storage instructions: This brioche loaf keep well in an air-tight container in a cool dry place for about 3-4 days.
