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Dessert

Brioche

A yeasted bread with butter and eggs, shaped into rolls or baked in molds.

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

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. Sift the flour and place about ¾ of it in a bowl.

  2. Stir in the warm water mixed with the yeast to form a soft dough.

  3. Cover the dough.

  4. Let it rise in a warm place.

Make the dough

  1. Make a well in the remaining flour.

  2. Add sugar.

  3. Add salt.

  4. Add butter.

  5. Add eggs one by one.

  6. Beat well.

  7. Wait until the sponge has doubled in size.

  8. Mix it thoroughly with the paste.

Shape and bake

  1. Place the dough in a warm place.

  2. Let it rise for about 3 hours.

  3. Shape the dough into rolls or buns.

  4. Bake in tins or molds.

  5. Glaze the dough with beaten egg.

  6. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

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. Butter + sugartop 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
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure.
Yeast
Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes it rise and become light.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and enriches the flavor.
Eggs
Add richness, moisture and structure, and help the dough set as it bakes.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and gentle browning.

The step that matters

Let the sponge double before adding the rest. The sponge must rise fully so the yeast is active and well established. Adding the butter and eggs too early can slow fermentation and leave the brioche dense.

“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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