AI-generated illustration of a golden homemade butter brioche loaf with two slices showing its fine crumb

Bread

Homemade Butter Brioche

Published 02 November 2026 · Updated 02 November 2026

This butter-rich brioche has a tender, fine crumb beneath a glossy golden crust. Gradually working the butter into an elastic egg dough, then chilling it overnight, makes a soft loaf that slices neatly for breakfast or toast.

Not kitchen tested by The Black Farmer.
Serves 6
Prep 1173 min
Cook 40 min
Total 1213 min

Timing: Baseline 1213 minutes (20 hours 13 minutes), including the 720-minute refrigerator chill. Hands-on preparation totals 63 minutes, including 10 minutes weighing within the 30-minute butter-conditioning window; only 53 standalone prep minutes contribute to elapsed time. Installed active_prep_minutes therefore encodes 53 elapsed prep minutes, while hands_on_prep_minutes records 63. Elapsed equation: 53 prep + 1020 marinate/waiting + 40 cook + 100 cooling + 0 rest = 1213. Display prep_minutes 1173 includes all non-bake waits and cooling; 1173 + 40 = 1213. Each parallel group contributes its maximum duration only: conditioning 30, final prove 180. Preheating lasts 25 minutes, starting at offset 155 within the baseline final prove; it is not extra hands-on work or additional baseline elapsed time. Conditional segments use minutes=0 solely for their baseline contribution because the installed checker does not skip conditional flags; extension_block_minutes records the real repeatable 5- or 15-minute block where specified. Other conditional waits have unknown actual duration, not zero duration. Add every used block and actual extra conditioning, motor-cooling, oven wait or rack-cooling minute to the appropriate phase and total; recalculate overlaps if the final prove changes. All durations are untested estimates, and proof, dough elasticity, cooling and doneness cues override the plan.

Ingredients

  • Longman's Unsalted Roll Butter (200g)

    Butter

    160g unsalted, cut into roughly 1cm cubes

    All incorporated into the dough, not greasing. One 200g retail roll supplies this; 40g remains unused. Contains milk.

    £3.80

Adds 1 items across 1 products — £3.80 total.

Pantry ingredients such as oil, salt and herbs are not included.

Other Ingredients You'll Need

  • Strong white bread flour — 365g total: 350g dough flour and up to 15g for dusting (Use bread flour around 11–13% protein. Keep dusting flour separate; unused dusting flour does not go into the dough.)
  • Caster sugar — 42g (All in the dough.)
  • Fine salt — 7g (All in the dough; butter is unsalted.)
  • Fast-action dried yeast — 5g (Use yeast intended for direct mixing with flour, not active dried yeast requiring activation.)
  • Whole milk — 85ml total: 80ml in the dough and 5ml for the glaze (Pasteurised. Keep the glaze portion refrigerated until needed.)
  • Eggs — 175g beaten egg, weighed without shells: 150g dough and 25g glaze (Beat enough whole eggs to weigh both portions, usually 4 medium eggs; egg sizes vary. Keep the separate glaze portion covered in the fridge; discard any unused raw beaten egg.)

Method

Condition the butter and organise the ingredients

Allow 30 minutes at a moderate room temperature for the 160g cubed butter to soften until a finger presses into it easily without an oily sheen; do not melt it. During the first 10 minutes of this same window, weigh the flour, sugar, salt and yeast, measure the milk and beat and weigh the eggs. Reserve 15g flour for dusting, 5ml milk and 25g egg for the glaze. Keep both egg portions and milk refrigerated until needed. This preparation overlaps softening, not an extra 10 minutes. If butter is still hard, extend this stage and count the extra wait.

Mix the egg dough

Allow 3 minutes. Fit the dough hook. Stir 350g dough flour, all sugar, salt and fast-action yeast together in the mixer bowl. Add 150g beaten egg and 80ml milk, straight from the fridge. Mix at low speed until the flour is moistened and there are no dry pockets. Do not add the butter yet or taste the raw dough. Wash hands and clean utensils after handling raw eggs.

Develop elasticity before the butter

Knead for about 10 minutes at the manufacturer-approved bread-dough speed, scraping down as needed within this allowance. The dough should become cohesive and stretchy, pulling partly away from the bowl; a small piece should stretch thinly before tearing. It can remain tacky. If it tears immediately, knead for a further 5 minutes and reassess, counting the extra time. Do not add the separate dusting flour to make it dry.

Work in all the butter

Allow about 10 minutes at the same safe mixer speed. Add the 160g softened butter in small batches, waiting until each has mostly disappeared before adding more. Stop and scrape the bowl as necessary. The dough may briefly look slippery and broken, but should gather again; do not compensate with more flour. All the measured butter goes in, with none reserved for the tin.

Finish the knead and transfer

Knead for another 8 minutes, until glossy, elastic and gathered around the hook, with a thin translucent membrane when a small piece is gently stretched. It should feel soft and slightly tacky rather than pourable or greasy. If still weak, continue in 5-minute kneading blocks; if becoming greasy or approaching 28°C, stop, cover and refrigerate the bowl for 15 minutes before resuming. These corrective blocks add time. Respect mixer duty limits; any required motor-cooling break also extends the schedule. Allow 2 minutes to scrape into a clean ungreased covered bowl, mark the starting height and cover.

Let the dough rise

Allow about 90 minutes at 22–24°C, away from direct heat, until approximately doubled and visibly aerated. Do not use a heated oven. A cooler room or cooler dough may need longer: check at 90 minutes, then in additional 15-minute blocks until expanded. Time is a guide, not the endpoint.

Deflate and refrigerate overnight

Allow 3 minutes to gently press out the large gas pockets with the scraper, fold the edges towards the centre and turn the dough smooth-side up. Cover with room for expansion. Refrigerate for 12 hours at 5°C or below; it should be cold and firm enough to handle by the end. This long chill is part of the recipe, not hidden preparation.

Shape one loaf

Allow 12 minutes, including lining the base and all sides of the straight-sided metal tin specified above (approximately 20 × 10 × 8cm internally, about 1.6 litres geometric capacity) with baking parchment; do not grease. Use only as much of the reserved 15g flour as needed to dust the worktop and your hands. Turn out the cold dough, gently flatten to a rectangle about 20cm wide and 25cm long, releasing large bubbles without tearing. From a 20cm edge, roll up into a snug log, pressing the seam closed without stretching. Tuck the ends to make a log about 18cm long so it fits along the tin, and place seam-side down. Brush away loose dusting flour; unused dusting flour is not added. Cover the tin loosely without pressing on the dough.

Prove the shaped loaf and preheat alongside

Allow about 3 hours at 22–24°C. Judge readiness by a puffy dough and roughly doubled volume relative to its shaped starting size; a gentle floured-finger indentation should return slowly and remain faintly visible. Do not chase a particular rim height: the stated tin capacity is a geometric specification, not a measured test-tin capacity, and no tested loaf height is claimed. If it springs straight back and feels tight, continue in 15-minute blocks and count the extra time. Do not wait for a fragile dough to collapse. On the baseline plan, start preheating 155 minutes after the final prove begins (25 minutes before its planned end); if the dough is progressing differently, use its expansion cues to bring the oven on in good time. To preheat, preheat the oven to 180°C conventional / 160°C fan / gas 4 with a shelf just below the middle. The covered loaf stays on the worktop; preheating overlaps the prove. If the oven is not ready, count any additional wait rather than hiding it.

Glaze lightly

Allow 3 minutes. Whisk the reserved 25g beaten egg with the reserved 5ml milk. Brush a thin film over the risen top without pressing it down or pooling glaze around the edges. Discard unused glaze, wash the brush and hands, uncover fully and place the tin in the preheated oven.

Bake through the centre

Bake for about 40 minutes at the same temperature, including brief checking and handling. At 25 minutes, look at the colour and loosely tent with foil if the top is already strongly golden. At the end, look for a deep golden crust and a set loaf, and check the thickest centre with a clean thin-tip thermometer, avoiding the tin: aim for 90–93°C as a bread-doneness cue, not merely a brown egg wash. If below this or still wet/pasty, continue baking in 5-minute blocks under loose foil and recheck with a clean probe; count the extra time. Do not taste raw flour-and-egg dough.

Cool in the tin, then on a rack

Leave in the tin on a heatproof surface for 10 minutes. Lift out carefully with the paper, peel the paper away and cool on a wire rack for a further 90 minutes, until no longer warm through the centre. This lets the crumb settle; extend the rack cooling if needed and count it. Allow 2 minutes to transfer to a board and cut into 12 slices with a serrated knife. Serve two slices per person.

Serving Suggestion

Serve two slices with strawberry jam, sliced ripe pear and plain yoghurt, prepared separately. These optional accompaniments are excluded from recipe quantities, basket and timetable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why knead before adding the butter?

Developing an elastic dough first gives it strength before the substantial butter addition. Add butter gradually and keep kneading until the glossy dough stretches thinly; an oily or tearing paste is not ready to rise.

Why chill the dough overnight?

Cold butter firms the enriched dough so it can be shaped without adding excessive flour. The scheduled refrigerator stage also separates mixing and baking across two days; it is included in the total time.

Can I use melted or salted butter?

Use softened unsalted dairy butter for this formula. Melted butter changes incorporation and salted butter changes seasoning; neither is an automatic like-for-like substitution here.

Why is the final prove taking longer than expected?

The loaf starts cold and contains substantial butter, eggs and sugar. Follow expansion and a slowly returning indentation rather than baking a tight loaf when the timer ends. Keep the proving space moderate rather than trying to hurry it with strong heat.

Why is the crust brown before the centre is ready?

Egg glaze and enriched dough colour readily. Tent loosely with foil and continue baking until the centre is set and the bread-doneness check passes; surface colour alone is not enough.

Can I put this brioche into the existing bread-and-butter pudding recipe?

Not as an assured equivalent. That recipe specifies ordinary sliced bread and warns that brioche absorbs and bakes differently. This recipe is for a sliceable loaf, not a tested pudding substitution.