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Brioche dough can easily be made without a bread machine, whether by hand or with an electric mixer. Follow these steps and you will be making the most wonderful dough.
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Difference between bread, pizza, brioche and cake dough
Bread, pizza, brioche and cake are very different in taste, texture and ingredients. Here are their main characteristics:
- Bread and pizza dough are simply made with flour, yeast and water. They have a crunchy crust and a soft center.
- Brioche dough is made with flour and a mix of milk, eggs, butter and sugar. The texture is softer and buttery.
- Cakes have baking powder as their rasing agent, not yeast, so the preparation is completely different.
When yeast is used as the raising agent, the dough needs to rest to rise and it is baked once the dough has risen.
Instead, if baking powder is used, the cake has to be put in the oven immediately once the batter has been mixed. Delaying may result in reducing its rising power.
Ingredients
The basic ingredients for a brioche dough will normally constitute:
- Yeast
- Wet Ingredients: usually melted butter, egg, and milk
- Dry Ingredients: flour (usually all-purpose, 55 or 0), salt, sugar
The amount will vary based on the recipe, some recipes, as for example Muffins, do not use egg.
Sugar or honey is often added even to savory dough as it helps to activate the yeast.
Brioche in the bread machine
It is certainly so much easier to make the dough in the bread machine. You only have to mix the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients and pour them in the machine. The bread machine will do the rest.
- You don’t have to worry about activating the yeast, as the bread machine will warm up the basket achieving the best temperature for the yeast to activate.
- It will mix the dough for the right amount of time and let it rest at a perfectly gaged warm temperature.
- The other great advantage of the bread machine is the timer. If you want to bake your brioche or bread rolls in the morning, you can pour the ingredients in the machine and set the timer for the dough to be ready the next morning. If you are an earlier riser like me, you can have your freshly baked rolls before everyone is up.
If you make the dough without a bread machine
If you are making the dough without the bread machine, there are few things you will need to watch out to make sure your brioche dough will come out perfect.
- You need to activate the yeast with lukewarm water, not colder, not warmer. To make sure the yeast is active, let it rest for 10 minutes and you will see foam forming on the surface. If the yeast is active and you can proceed. The water you used to activate the yeast should be subtracted from the liquid you need to add for the wet ingredients.
- Mix all the wet ingredients first: if you need to melt the butter, don’t add the eggs while the butter is still warm.
- Add some cold milk or water (depending on the recipe) before adding the eggs otherwise, the eggs will cook in the hot melted butter.
- Mix all the dry ingredients together before you add the wet ingredients. Make sure the sugar and the salt are well distributed within the flour
Using an electric mixer
- If you are using an electric mixer, you just add the dry ingredients, the wet ingredients, and the activated yeast and mix thoroughly.
- Make sure the dough is compact and amalgamate.
- Mix it until the dough becomes a ball that comes away easily from the side of the bowl.
Mixing it by hand
- Pour the dry ingredients on a flat surface and make a ‘well’ in the center of the flour mix.
- Slowly pour the wet ingredients in the ‘well’ of the flour and mix it with the wet ingredients gradually, using your fingers.
- Knead the dough until it is smooth and compact.
Resting the dough
- Shape it into a smooth ball and place it into an oiled bowl covered with a wet towel to rest.
- Let it rise for 30 minutes.
- Your dough is now ready to use. For cooking instructions, follow the recipes
Recipes you can make with the brioche dough
Here are some of the recipes you can make using this method, just adjust your ingredients according to the recipe measurements:
If you are making brioche or rolls’ dough from scratch without the bread machine leave your comment below I would like to know which one is your favourite. You can find more delicious ideas if you FOLLOW ME on Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram or sign up to my newsletter.
📋Brioche & Bread Rolls’ dough without a bread machine
Ingredients
Brioche
- 1 1/8 cup lukewarm Milk or 1 cup – 230 ml of water + 3 tbsp of dry milk
- 2 fresh eggs
- 2/3 cup melted butter
- 4 cup flour
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 pkg yeast 7 grams, or 1/4 ounce and equals 2 1/4 teaspoons
Bread Rolls
- 1 cup lukewarm Milk 250 ml
- 3 tbsp melted butter 40 gr
- 1 fresh eggs
- 3 cup flour 450 gr
- 1/4 cup caster sugar 50 gr
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 pkg yeast 7 grams, or 1/4 ounce and equals 2 1/4 teaspoons
English Muffins
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tbsp melted butter 20 gr
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cup flour 300 gr
- 1 pkg yeast 7 grams, or 1/4 ounce and equals 2 1/4 teaspoons
Instructions
Activate the yeast
- To activate the yeast mix the Dry Active Yeast with ¼ cup of the water needed for the recipe. The water should be lukewarm.
- You can also add ½ tsp of sugar, and let it rest until it becomes foamy.
Combine the wet ingredients
- Combine all the wet ingredients together: milk, butter, eggs and the frosty yeast.
Combine the dry ingredients
- Strain the flour along with the sugar and the salt into a bowl, ensuring they are completely mixed.
Making the dough with an electric mixer
- Once they are thoroughly mixed, you can either continue mixing the flour with your hands, or put it into an electric mixer with a dough hook.
- Mix it until the dough becomes a ball that comes away easily from the side of the bowl.
Making the dough by hand
- Pour the dry ingredients in a flat surface and make a ‘well’ in the centre of the flour mix.
- Slowly pour the wet ingredients in the ‘well’ of the flour and mix it with the wet ingredients gradually, using your fingers.
- Knead the dough until it is smooth and compact.
Resting the dough
- Shape it into a smooth ball and place it into an oiled bowl covered with a wet towel to rest.
- Let it rise for 30 minutes.
- Your dough is now ready to use.
- For cooking instructions, follow the recipes: Panini, pizza focaccia, sausage rolls
Video
Notes
- You need to activate the yeast with lukewarm water, not colder, not warmer. To make sure the yeast is active, let it rest for 10 minutes and you will see foam forming on the surface. If the yeast is active and you can proceed.
- The water you used to activate the yeast should be subtracted from the liquid you need to add for the wet ingredients.
- Mix all the wet ingredients first: if you need to melt the butter, don’t add the eggs while the butter is still warm.
- Add some cold milk or water (depending on the recipe) before adding the eggs otherwise, the eggs will cook in the hot melted butter.
- Mix all the dry ingredients together before you add the wet ingredients. Make sure the sugar and the salt are well distributed within the flour
Mary Lou Boni
Can u print recipe in English. Don’t know how to measure in grams. Thankyou
Laura
Mary, I added the imperial measurements for you. You can also download the conversion chart if you sign up on the newsletter or find the charts on the link provided over the recipe template