Bread Machine Brioche Rolls (Pull-Apart Style)
Sneak Preview: Make rich, buttery brioche dough in your bread machine, chill it overnight, then shape it into pull-apart rolls and bake them in a muffin pan. Allow about 14 hours total, including chilling and rising time.
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When I make brioche, I don’t skimp on the eggs or butter. Very few bread machine brioche recipes qualify as classic brioche because they cut back on one or both. This recipe keeps the generous amounts that give brioche its rich flavor and tender crumb. It belongs to the same family of enriched breads as my Bread Machine Challah and Egg Bread, but brioche contains considerably more butter.
Temperature matters with such a buttery dough. A very warm kitchen or overly soft butter can leave it greasy, so I start with cold eggs and cold but pliable butter. The bread machine handles the sticky mixing and kneading, and a long chill makes the dough easier to shape.
I divide the chilled dough into small balls and place two in each muffin cup for tender, pull-apart rolls. It’s not diet bread—but it is bread worth sharing.
Ingredients & Substitutions
• UNBLEACHED ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR: Bread flour works too, but will make the crumb slightly chewier.
• EGGS: Use cold, large eggs weighing approximately 50 grams each. Don’t reduce the number; eggs provide much of brioche’s characteristic richness and structure.
• BUTTER: For classic brioche flavor, use unsalted butter that is cold but still pliable—not soft or greasy. One reader reported successfully substituting dairy-free butter.
• MILK: Whole milk adds the most richness, although 2% milk will also work. The milk and a small amount of flour are cooked together to make the tangzhong.
• INSTANT YEAST: Instant or bread-machine yeast is easiest to use. If substituting active dry yeast, add an extra ¼ teaspoon.
How To Mix and Knead Bread Machine Brioche Dough
⬇️ See the recipe card for exact amounts and complete instructions.
How To Shape Easy Pull-Apart Rolls Using a Muffin Pan
If you noticed raisins in some of the dough, you have a good eye. I kneaded raisins into a few rolls and sprinkled those rolls with sparkling sugar after glazing.
Bread Machine Brioche Rolls (Pull-Apart Style)
Video
Ingredients
Tangzhong Paste
- ⅓ cup (76 g) milk
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose unbleached flour
Dough:
- 4 large (200 g) eggs cold
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon table or sea salt
- 2½ cups (300 g) all-purpose unbleached flour
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- ¾ cup (168 g) unsalted butter (1½ sticks) cold but pliable
- ½ cup (60 g) all-purpose unbleached flour
Glaze:
- 1 large (50 g) egg
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
Instructions
- Make the tangzhong paste: Whisk ⅓ cup (76 g) milk and 1 tablespoon all-purpose unbleached flour in a microwave-safe bowl until smooth. Microwave for 45-60 seconds, stopping halfway to stir. The paste should be thick, like gravy. Cool completely before adding to the bread machine pan. (Tip: Chill the pan in the freezer to cool the paste instantly.)
- Build the Dough: Add Tangzhong, 4 large (200 g) eggs, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon table or sea salt, 2½ cups (300 g) all-purpose unbleached flour, and 2 teaspoons instant yeast to the pan. Select the DOUGH cycle and press START. After 1–2 minutes, use a spatula to help incorporate all the flour. The dough will look sticky and rough.
- Add the Butter: Once the dough starts clumping, add chopped cold ¾ cup (168 g) unsalted butter (1½ sticks) a little at a time while the machine kneads. Squish each piece with your fingers into the dough as it mixes. Work quickly to avoid warming the dough.
- Finish the Mix: After the butter is incorporated, add the remaining ½ cup (60 g) all-purpose unbleached flour. The dough will be sticky but should pull away from the sides—but not cleanly. Add no more than 1 tablespoon of flour if needed.
- First Rise: When the kneading portion of the DOUGH cycle ends, remove the pan from the machine. Let the dough rise at room temperature until nearly doubled. Keep it at or below 75°F (24°C) to prevent the butter from melting and the dough from becoming greasy.
- Chill the Dough: Restart the DOUGH cycle and let it run 5-10 seconds to compress the dough. OR, remove the dough onto a lightly floured surface and compress it with your hands to remove the air. Fold it a few times into a smooth ball, then place it in a large covered bowl. Refrigerate for 4–24 hours. Don’t skip this step.
- Shape the Rolls: Remove chilled dough to a floured surface. Divide into 12 equal pieces, then divide each piece in half. Roll into 24 smooth balls. Place two balls per cup into a greased muffin pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled.
- Make the Glaze: Whisk together 1 large (50 g) egg and 1 tablespoon heavy cream.
- Bake: Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) while the rolls finish rising. Brush with the glaze, place the rolls in the oven, and immediately reduce the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Bake for 15–18 minutes or until golden brown.
- Cool the rolls: Let the rolls cool in the pan for a couple of minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack.
Notes
Equipment
Nutrition
All images and text ©️ Paula Rhodes for Salad in a Jar.com
Final Thoughts
This brioche requires more patience than an everyday dinner roll, but the bread machine makes the rich, sticky dough much easier to manage. Keep the ingredients cool, give the dough plenty of time to chill, and enjoy the rolls on the day they are baked. This is one bread that is worth planning ahead for.
— Paula, Home Economist
Homemade Food Worth Sharing
Need help troubleshooting?
Email me: Paula at saladinajar.com — photos help!
Hey, Paula! I am intrigued, but I just can’t do bread experiments in this heat! I am impressed that you can. I have been baking extra loaves on cooler (NOT COOL) days and freezing them. However, I may try this when it gets cooler. It looks fabulous! I have never tried brioche, but I do make a bread that is similar called Portuguese Sweet Bread.
Hi Becky,
I love Portuguese bread. My Cardamom bread is similar in texture and sweetness. I understand about heat and bread. It can be challenging.
Instead of making rolls, I’d like to make a King Cake. Do you think this recipe would lend itself to that?
Hi Rose,
Possibly. I looked at a traditional recipe, and they seem to be similar. Sounds like a fun experiment.
Hi Paula,
The dough cycle for my bread machine (West Bend) begins the first rise 10 minutes into the cycle. So, by 15 minutes, the dough has already formed into a ball, as one commenter has observed. I attempted to correct this by restarting the cycle and adding it in the kneading phase.
Should I just start over and add the butter around 5 minutes of the knead cycle?
Thanks,
Madeline
Hi Madeline,
Yes, start over and add the cheese. You may have to help the machine a bit by pushing the butter into the dough with a spatula as you add it.
Absolute disaster. I followed your recipe to the letter and came out a buttery mess! Maybe this recipe works for some people but not for me! Ouch!
Hi Rick,
I’m so sorry your bread did not turn out. Brioche can be tricky with all that butter. If you will send me an email, I am eager to troubleshoot with you. Give me as many details as you can.
I have my bread in my machine right now, but I’m following your directions, I don’t think it will come out correctly. I set timers to check the dough and to add the butter, but by the time I added the butter it’s not incorporating because the dough is already in a ball. I’ve restarted the knead cycle in hopes to salvage it, but I don’t think there’s any hope. I guess I’ll try again at some point and adjust my times. Do you have any other suggestions?
Hi Melissa,
You may need to help the butter incorporate into the dough by pushing it into the dough with a small spatula as you add it. See the video.
My bread machine has a receptacle for adding the dry yeast. Can I still add it there or should I bypass that and add according to the instructions?
Hi Margaret,
I would bypass it. Just lay it on top of the flour as long as flour is the last ingredient you add.
Wonderful recipe. I wanted a slightly more cake like stollen, so thought I would try this recipe and add red & green candied cherries. It was just what I had hoped for. Thank you!
Fantastic Jori. You’re my kind of cook. Experiment until you figure out what suits you perfectly. Good job!
I just wanted to say that this is a really fantastic recipe, I’d tried others before that didn’t work but this really does. I even managed to make it using dairy free butter for my son who’s allergic to dairy and it worked a treat. Thank you!
Oh Lissie, I’m so glad to hear this. I’ve never made these with dairy-free butter. Happy to know that’s an option.
Can I use unbleached enriched artisan bread flour For the brioche recipe? I plan on making the brioche with the raisins and sanding sugar…The brand of the flour is bobs red mill..Also, can the milk be either whole milk or low-fat milk? Thanks for your reply!
Hi Ingrid,
Yes, that flour should work just fine. Regarding the milk: whole milk will result in a richer (and more delicious) product, but low-fat will work, too.
Hi. I plan to try the brioche recipe, but I have a question before starting. Milk is listed as 1/3 cup in the ingredients section, but the instructions indicate making the tang zhong with 1 tablespoon of flour and 1/3 cup of milk, and then adding an additional 1/4 cup of milk. So which is correct, (a) 1/3 cup of milk or (b) 1/3 + 1/4 cups of milk?
Mel, You are very observant. I tested and changed this so many times. Looks like I missed deleting the instructions to add additional 1/4 cup of milk. I have corrected the recipe.
Let me say it another way so there will be no misunderstanding. You will need only 1/3 cup of milk to make the Tangzhong. You WILL NOT need to add any more milk.
Let me know how these turn out for you if you try them.
Hey there! I found your brioche recipe via a search for brioche on Foodgawker. I simplified it even more but baking it in a pullman loaf pan. The result is most beautiful toast ever to grace the planet.
I wanted to thank you for posting this recipe. I have made many types of bread before but never tackled brioche as I thought it would be too complicated (I don’t know where I got this idea!) and your encouragement to just dump in all the stuff and mix for 15 min – really worked! It was a very beautiful dough, I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t cool the dough, against your warning, and still achieved a slice of toast the likes of which I have never encountered.
Really, thanks so much!