Easter Brioche

3.60 (13)
⏱ 160 mins 🍽 Serves 6 🌶 french ✅ Easy 🏷 Breakfast

This French brioche is wonderfully light and surprisingly straightforward to prepare. It keeps well for up to two days and is perfect served as part of an afternoon tea, for breakfast, or as a snack. The enriched dough, made with butter, eggs and yeast, bakes to a beautiful golden brown with a crisp, sugary topping. It is delicious when spread with apricot jam. The recipe includes instructions for making the dough by hand if you do not have a food processor.

Easter Brioche

Ingredients

  • 250g plain flour
  • 100g butter
  • 2 rounded tbsp caster sugar
  • 7g sachet fast-action yeast
  • 3 eggs
  • beaten egg yolk, to glaze
  • 2-3 sugar cubes, lightly crushed

Method

  1. Place the plain flour into a food processor with the plastic kneading blade attached and add the butter. Process the mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Next, stir through the caster sugar, a generous pinch of salt and the fast-action yeast.
  2. Pour in the eggs and mix until a soft dough forms. Continue to knead using the machine for 2 mins. Prepare a brioche mould or a 2 pt loaf tin by greasing it with butter. Lightly flour your work surface and turn the dough out onto it. With hands dusted in flour, knead the dough briefly into a ball, then place it smooth side up into the prepared tin. Cover the tin with cling film and allow the dough to prove until it has doubled in size, which should take about 2 hrs in a warm spot.
  3. Preheat your oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Gently brush the top of the risen brioche with the beaten egg yolk for a glaze, then scatter the lightly crushed sugar cubes over it. Bake for 20-25 mins, until the loaf is a deep golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on its base. Turn the brioche out onto a wire rack and leave it to cool completely.
  4. If you do not own a food processor, you can rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips. Stir the sugar, salt and yeast into the flour mixture, then add the eggs and combine to create a soft dough. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for 20 mins (this makes it less sticky to handle), then knead it on a floured surface for 5 mins. Transfer the dough to the tin and proceed with the rest of the recipe as directed.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories365 kcal
Fat19 g
Saturates10 g
Carbs43 g
Sugars11 g
Fibre1 g
Protein9 g
Sodium284 mg

Recipe details

Skill levelEasy
CategoryBreakfast
Cuisinefrench