Buttery Vegan Brioche

This buttery vegan brioche bread has a fluffy and tender crumb that melts in your mouth. It's made with only 7 simple pantry ingredients and is egg-free and dairy-free!

Notes about the ingredients

Bread flour or all-purpose plain flour. All-purpose flour creates a cakier vegan brioche whereas bread flour gives the brioche a slight 'chew'.

Vegan butter creates a rich and tender texture that's typical of traditional brioche and makes it different from sandwich bread.

Dairy-free milk. I prefer soy milk as it's higher protein and creates a richer brioche. However, any dairy-free milk will work.

Instant-dried yeast because it's easier and quicker to use than any other yeast. Or you can use dry or fresh yeast, as long as you proof it first.

Traditionally, French brioche bread is enriched with eggs or egg yolks. However, by increasing the amount of fat through butter and rising power through yeast, we can create an eggless and dairy-free brioche that is soft, fluffy and tender.

The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the gray recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Two different kneading methods

You can knead the dough by hand or in a stand mixer. However, there are two different methods for kneading the dough.

1. Easy method where you knead all the ingredients at the same time. This takes 5-10 minutes and makes a soft and buttery brioche. If you're kneading by hand, this is the best method for you (left picture).
2. Traditional advanced method where you add the butter later on. This takes at least 20-30 minutes and makes the bread more feathery when you pull it apart (right picture).

For a step-by-step guide on both methods, watch the video earlier in this post.

Kneading tips for the fluffiest brioche

Initially, your dough will be sticky but avoid adding more flour. Kneading the dough strengthens its gluten structure and makes it come together in a smoother ball. If your dough is still sticky after 5-10 minutes, you can add more flour.

For the 'advanced kneading method', if your dough is too dry before adding the butter, add a dash of dairy-free milk. The dough may initially resist the butter when you start adding it, but just keep kneading.

The windowpane test is the best way to tell if you've kneaded your dough enough. To do this, grab a small piece of dough and stretch it between your fingers. The dough shouldn't break and you should be able to see its 'gluten membranes'. If the dough breaks, keep kneading.

Resting the dough

After kneading the vegan brioche dough, let it rest in a WARM place for 1 hour or until it's doubled. Ideally, it should be somewhere that's around 25°C (77°F). Brioche dough has a lot of butter which can slow down its rise, but if you keep the dough in a warm place, it'll rise more efficiently.

If your dough is taking longer to rise, move it to a warmer spot in your home.

Shaping the brioche and second rise

There are a few ways you can shape vegan brioche. These are just for presentation and don't affect the texture or flavor of the bread:

• As one whole piece. Shape the dough into a large oval shape and place it your loaf pan.
• Divided into 3 to 10 equal pieces and arranged in your loaf pan.
• Braided into challah bread.

If you want to make a fancier shape, check out my cinnamon babka and raspberry jam wreath.

Finally, let your dough rest one more time. It's ready when it grows in size by about 50% and looks puffy. If you poke the surface of the loaf, it should slowly spring back (known as the poke test).

When is my brioche done baking?

Here are a few ways to tell if your vegan brioche is fully baked:

• Remove the hot brioche from the pan and tap the bottom of the loaf. Your brioche will sound hollow when it's baked through.
• Insert a toothpick into the middle, and collect some dough. If the dough is fully cooked, your brioche is ready.
• The top of the brioche should be a deep golden brown.

Instead of using egg wash, brush a little maple syrup on top of the brioche while it's warm. This will give the bread a beautiful golden shine!

See, it is 100% possible to make brioche vegan!

Customizing this recipe

Use whole wheat or spelt flour instead of all-purpose flour for a more wholesome and dense vegan brioche.

Replace vegan butter with extra virgin olive oil for a denser cakey bread.

Use coconut sugar or maple syrup to make this brioche refined sugar-free.

Use a sourdough starter instead of yeast. This recipe works well with 75-150g of an active sourdough starter with 100% hydration. For a stronger sourdough flavor, use more starter. Or make my sourdough cinnamon rolls!

For brioche dinner rolls and burger buns, check out my recipe for vegan brioche buns.

Unfortunately, this recipe won't work with 1:1 gluten-free flour. I am working on a gluten-free version so watch this space!

Additional Tips

Serving suggestions

This vegan brioche is amazing when it's warm from the oven. However, here are some other ways to enjoy it:

• Toast a slice and serve it with jam, cream, or any sweet spread.
• Use stale leftovers for vegan french toast casserole. You deserve it!
• Crumble the brioche, bake it at low heat and crumble it on ice cream.

More vegan bread recipes

This brioche recipe is the base for many other bread recipes on my site! My favorites are:

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This post was originally published in August 2019 and has been updated a few times with an improved recipe that is more similar to traditional French brioche.

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