Buttery Vegan Brioche

Buttery vegan brioche with a fluffy and tender crumb that melts in your mouth. This brioche uses only 7 common pantry ingredients and is egg-free and dairy-free!

Notes about the ingredients

Bread flour or all-purpose (plain) flour. This brioche works very well with either flour. However, I recommend bread flour for a more traditional brioche texture. It's higher in protein so creates a chewier rather than cakier bread.

Vegan butter. Brioche typically contains more butter than typical bread which helps create a tender melt-in-your-mouth texture. The butter needs to be at room temperature, not melted as the latter can interfere with the formation of gluten.

Dairy-free milk for dairy-free brioche (it's really that easy!). Any type of dairy-free milk will work but I prefer soy milk as it's higher in protein and leaves no aftertaste.

Instant dried yeast which is the easiest yeast to use and doesn't need to be proved beforehand. However, you can use dry or regular yeast, you will need to prove it.

Traditional French brioche is usually enriched with eggs or egg yolks. However, by increasing the amount of fat through butter and rising power through yeast, we're able to create an eggless brioche that is soft, fluffy and tender. You don't need any store-bought egg replacers!

A complete list of ingredients, quantities and instructions are in the gray recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Two ways to knead the dough

There are two different ways you can knead the vegan brioche dough:

1. Easy method where you add all ingredients to the mixer and knead. It takes 5-10 minutes and makes a soft and buttery brioche (left picture).
2. Advanced method where you knead in the butter afterward. This is the traditional way of making brioche and takes at least 20-30 minutes. It makes a softer bread which is more feathery when you pull it apart (right picture).

Easy kneading method

For an easy vegan brioche bread, add all the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer or large bowl and knead until it's soft and stretchy.

Initially, the dough will be very sticky but try to avoid adding any flour. Kneading the dough strengthens its gluten structure and, over time, the dough will become less sticky and pull away from the side of the bowl.

If you don't have a stand mixer, you can mix and knead the dough by hand! It will take a little longer so consider it a free arm and hand exercise ;).

Advanced kneading method

The advanced method takes a little longer so I recommend using a stand mixer.

First, knead together all the bread ingredients (except the butter) until it forms a rough and stretchy dough with no pockets of flour. If it's too tough, add a dash of milk. The longer you knead, the better!

Next, while the bread is kneading, gradually add the butter (around 3 tablespoons at a time). The first time you add the butter, the dough will resist it... just keep kneading!

When each lot of butter has been mixed in, add a little more. Eventually, your dough will be soft and stretchy.

How to tell if the dough has been kneaded enough?

No matter how you knead your bread, the windowpane test is the best way to tell if your dough is ready.

Simply grab a small piece of dough and stretch it between your fingers. The dough shouldn't break and, if you hold the bread against a light, you should be able to see gluten 'membranes' in the dough.

If the dough tears, just keep kneading!

Tips for the first rise

Place the vegan brioche dough in a bowl, cover it and place it in a humid and WARM spot in your home for 1 hour. It should double in size like below.

If your dough doesn't double in size, move it to a warmer spot. In a cold environment, it can take over 2 hours for the dough to double in size.

Tips for shaping the brioche and second rise

It doesn't really matter how you shape your brioche. You can place it as a whole in a loaf pan or braid it into a pretty challah bread.

However, this is what I did:

1. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts
2. Shape each part into a smooth ball. Squish each ball into a longer bun shape.
3. Squish each 'bun' into a lined loaf pan!

You'll need to rest the brioche for a second time. It should increase in size by around 50% and become puffy again. If you poke the dough, it should spring back slowly (otherwise known as the poke test).

Baking the vegan brioche

The brioche is ready when the top is golden brown. If the top of your bread is turning brown but the middle isn't cooked, simply turn down the temperature or cover the bread with aluminum foil.

While the bread is still warm, brush it with a little maple syrup to create the most beautiful egg-free glaze ever!

See, it is 100% possible to make DELICIOUS vegan French bread!

Customizing this recipe

Replace the flour with whole wheat or spelt flour. The latter two flours won't rise as much and create a denser brioche, but it will still be delicious!

Replace vegan butter for olive oil. I recommend adding a generous pinch of salt to the dough to mimic the buttery flavor and adding more flour as the dough will be softer. The final brioche is a little denser and more cake-like compared to the original brioche.

Replace organic cane sugar for coconut sugar or maple syrup for a refined sugar-free brioche, which will be slightly darker in color.

Replace yeast with a sourdough starter. This brioche rises and bakes well with 75-150g of an active sourdough starter with 100% hydration. For a stronger sourdough flavor, use more starter. Or you can make sourdough cinnamon rolls!

To make vegan brioche BUNS, you can use this recipe or check out my Buttery Vegan Brioche Buns recipe.

Unfortunately, this recipe will not work with a 1:1 gluten-free flour. I am working on a gluten-free vegan brioche so watch this space!

Troubleshooting baking issues

Problem 1: "My bread didn't double in the first rise (when it's in the bowl)"

a: Your brioche dough needs to be in a WARM spot at ~25°C (77°F). This dough is enriched with a lot of butter so it rises slower than regular dough. Try placing the dough in your oven with the light on or in the warmest spot in your home! King Arthur Baking gives some tips on how to keep your dough warm.

The exception is if you're proofing the bread overnight. The dough can be cold because it has more time (8+ hours) to ferment.

b: Your vegan brioche dough is too dry which may be due to your ingredients or incorrectly measuring them. As Steps 1 and 2 say, if your dough is too dry, add a little more dairy-free milk and knead again. The dough should be smooth and stretchy!

If your dough hasn't risen, you can still knead more liquid into it and let it rest again.

c: Your yeast is old and no longer active. If you've already made the dough, you may still be able to find an active batch of yeast, combine it with warm milk then knead it into the dough.

d. Ingredient substitutions affect the rise of the dough. For example, dough made with spelt flour or olive oil will rise slower!

Problem 2: "My bread didn't bake in the middle"

Before you finish baking, make sure you test your dough by inserting a knife or skewer into it.

If the outside is brown and the inside is uncooked, tent it with aluminum foil or cover it with a large oven-proof bowl. This slows down the outside of the bread baking and forces the heat into the middle of the loaf.

Serving suggestions

If you don't devour the whole brioche fresh, you can enjoy it in many ways:

• Toast a slice and smother it with jam, cream, or any sweet spread!
• Use stale leftovers for vegan french toast casserole. You deserve it!
• Freeze and enjoy it when the cravings hit.
• Crumble the vegan bread, bake it at low heat and use it as a decadent topping for ice cream or other desserts.

More vegan bread recipes!

This brioche is used as 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 since then with an improved recipe that is more similar to traditional French brioche.

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