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Bread

Brioche

A yeast‑leavened bread made with flour, yeast, salt, sugar, butter, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Brioche

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, mix flour, salt, and sugar.

  2. Add 6 eggs one by one, mixing until smooth.

  3. If desired, add an additional egg or yolk for moisture.

  4. Incorporate the leaven into the dough until smooth and pliable.

  5. Dust a cloth with flour, roll the dough in it, and place in a pan.

  6. Let it rise in a cool place in summer or a warm place in winter, preferably overnight.

Shape and bake

  1. Knead the dough again in the morning.

  2. Shape into uniform balls, pressing a thumb into the top to create a hollow.

  3. Brush with egg wash and place a smaller ball in each hollow.

  4. Glaze with egg yolk and bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes or more.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that the gluten network builds as the dough is kneaded.
Eggs
Add richness, moisture, and structure, giving brioche its tender crumb.
Yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, causing the dough to rise.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and gives a rich flavor.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning during baking.

The step that matters

Letting the dough rise slowly. Brioche dough is very rich and soft, so it rises slowly. Rising in a cool place or overnight develops flavor and a fine structure, while a place that is too warm can over-proof the dough.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More brioche recipes

Dough 14Cakes 4Cake 3Fritters 3Rolls 3Cheese 3 See all 27 →

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