Bake a festive loaf of rich holiday brioche from this easy recipe using a bread machine. Frost with a simple white glaze and top with colorful sprinkles. The brioche looks so festive on the table and is a lovely food gift idea.
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Sharing a gift that we have made ourselves is very rewarding both to us as the giver and to the recipient. We have lovingly made something we feel someone will like and they appreciate the time and effort on our part. Sweet, right?
So let’s get started…
How to make a holiday brioche
Get your bread maker out and gather the recipe ingredients. Warm the milk and soften the butter. It is a good idea to allow the eggs to come to room temperature too. Place all of the ingredients into the pan and set the bread maker to the dough setting and start. After 2-3 minutes, I like to peek inside and sometimes need to scrape the sides with a rubber spatula to be sure all of the ingredients get incorporated.
When the cycle is competed, remove the dough and place on a silicone baking mat or lightly oiled surface.
Divide the dough into three equal pieces. You can eyeball this but I like to be more exact and use my kitchen scale.
With your hands, rolls each piece of dough into a length of about 14-inches long.
Braid the three pieces of dough and place into a lightly sprayed loaf pan.
Place a clean towel over the bread dough and place in a draft-free, warm place to rise.
Allow dough to rise
This is a little trick I use to proof bread dough:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. for just 2 minutes. I use the stove timer and immediately turn the oven off and the 2-minute time. This is just enough time to create a warm place for the bread dough to rise. I have an electric stove so I don’t know how this will work with one that uses gas.
This is how the bread looks after rising.
Separate an egg and beat the white.
Gently brush the top of the loaf with the beaten egg white wash. Place in the oven and bake.
Remove the bread from the pan and place on a cooling rack.
Frosting glaze for brioche
As the brioche is cooling, prepare the frosting.
Spread the brioche with frosting and sprinkle on some festive sprinkles!
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Holiday Brioche Recipe
Makes a 1 1/2 lb. loaf
INGREDIENTS:
- 2/3 cups warm milk
- 2 Tbs butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. Rapid Rise/Bread machine yeast
- egg white
DIRECTIONS:
Add all ingredients except the egg white to the bread machine pan in the order listed.
Set the machine to the dough setting.
At the end of the cycle, remove the dough from pan onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into bread shape or divide into three equal pieces and roll into ropes. Braid the three ropes; tuck ends under and place into lightly greased loaf pan.
Cover with towel and allow to rise in a warm place until 1-inch over top of pan, about 1 hour.
Gently brush the top with the beaten egg white.
Bake in a 350F oven for 35 minutes, tenting the top with foil if browning too quickly.
Remove from pan and allow to cool slightly before frosting.
FROSTING:
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon melted butter
2 Tablespoons cream or milk (more or less for desired consistency)
tiny pinch of salt (optional)
Colorful sprinkles
DIRECTIONS:
In a small bowl, stir together all of the ingredients until smooth. I like to spread the frosting on the brioche while it is still just a little warm so that it has a few drips but not so warm that the frosting melts and turns to a glaze.
You might like these entree suggestions that go well with the brioche (you can omit the sweet frosting, if desired)…
Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup
And, you might also be interested in these quick and easy ornaments to embellish your holiday gifts…
Easy Peasy Crochet Lamb and Wreath ornaments
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Beautiful! I love the proofing in the oven tip:@)
That looks really good. What a nice gift for someone else or a great for yourself
Lorraine, that looks delicious and so beautiful!! It would certainly make a lovely gift!