Vegan Brioche Recipe

With September now fully behind us, and summer officially over, we have started the baking again. And I am sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised to know that this vegan brioche is something so easy and quick to make you will be in the kitchen immediately. 

I know what you’re thinking too – we have gone pretty obsessed with vegan recipes. And yes, I admit it: we have been trying to diversify our offering a little when it comes to recipes. But fear not, because this vegan brioche might as well pass as a non-vegan. It’s a soft, crusty roll packed with vegan butter and barely any sugar. It goes extremely well with extra butter (because what works without butter, really?!) and fresh jam. Or as is, if you are a purist. All I can tell you is that we have made it a few times now. And it gets better every time we make it. 

Plus it has the seal of approval of our flatmate who’s vegan. And we are already planning some different versions of it – because this vegan brioche is so versatile too, you can’t stop at plain. Aside from the many tries, we have done to get to the perfect recipe, of course, we are now in need of variety. I have literally just taken out of the oven a version with a completely different butter and chocolate chips. Who knows, it might even be better than our latest.

But for those extra versions, you might need to tune into our Instagram stories soon. Do you even follow us yet?!

Vegan Brioche Recipe

What’s a brioche?

Brioche is a type of bread originating from France. It is made with what bakers call an enriched dough, which is basically the addition of butter and eggs to the dough. And what an addition! Isn’t it true though that butter makes everything better? Exactly my point. Brioche is soft, light and slightly sweeter than its bread counterpart. It works extremely well in both sweet and savoury recipes. And I do strongly believe my favourite way to have it is in french toast form. Fight me on that one. It’s also very much useful when it comes to breakfast, makes some mean sandwiches and works oh so well with burgers too! Find me something as versatile as brioche, I dare you.

But how did brioche come to life? Well, let me tell you. First off, brioche used to be a bread for the rich. Butter back in the day was not very common due to the lack of refrigeration available. But also very expensive. So it was to be used quickly. And adding it to the bread dough seemed to be the best idea. With butter consisting of 80% fats, the mouthfeel is smoother than regular bread. And boy, did they love it back then! Just not as much as I do, now, in 2022.

How can I make a brioche vegan?

Of course, we are going to have to omit both the butter and the eggs in this vegan brioche. And while milk, fat and all the above are definitely needed, we have had to find an alternative to that. As mentioned, in this day and age there are so so many alternatives you should never worry a single moment about transitioning to vegan in most of your recipes. By switching a couple of ingredients out, you will end up creating a vegan brioche bread that will rock your socks off. And this particular vegan brioche bread recipe, you cannot go wrong.

Your dairy milk will be switched to oat milk (we used Oatly). And you will use it also mixed with maple syrup to replace the egg wash. Then the butter, and with the many many options around, finding the vegan butter that works for you will be easier than a walk in the park. We use this one from Flora, but the options are endless.

What ingredients do I need to make this vegan brioche?

Nothing easier than putting together the ingredients you will mostly have in your pantry and fridge! To start, the flour: you can use all purpose flour or bread flour, alike. And if you have the need for gluten free, as long as you use your favourite blend you will be fine. Make sure the yeast you use it’s also gluten free!

Next up is the granulated sugar, the yeast and the oat milk. The vegan butter – note that if you use salted butter, you will need to omit the salt – should be unsalted, and then the egg wash will be a mix of oat milk and maple syrup. Nothing easier, nothing yummier.

One note on the yeast, as well. My Achille’s tendon has always been big-leavened bakes. Think bread, brioche – it’s one of those things where I struggle. And come to find out, most of the time it’s all down to the yeast. Because I do not check expiry dates. Hear me out before you start judging. To me, yeast is one of those hero products that never expire, and never go bad. Why would it? I mean, that tiny tin of dried yeast has been opened in my cupboard for a year or two now. Why should I worry? Because the breads, focaccia and brioche just won’t rise! Fun anecdote, right? Right.

And how do I make the brioche?

Now, when it comes to making this vegan brioche, it is as easy as it sounds. As long as you have a standing mixer or you’re not scared to get your hands dirty and use some elbow grease. The stand mixer is just the easiest, quickest way for the dough to come together and develop the gluten. A hand mixer with a dough hook will also do the job, but it might take a little longer.

So you will place all the dry ingredients in the bowl of your standing mixer and give it a quick turn. You will then measure the oat milk and warm it up slightly. We used the microwave and run it for 30 seconds. Once the milk is lukewarm, you will add it to the dry ingredients and let it combine quickly.

Now that the oat milk is added, you will cut the vegan butter into cubes and add it all so that it gets folded in the dough. The butter in this case does not need to be at room temperature, since it’s not dairy – the warm milk will help in the folding process. If you are using a standing mixer, you will let it knead on low to medium speed for 6 to 10 minutes.

Then what?

Once the kneading is done, the dough has come together and it’s stretchy and nice, you can move it into a bowl and let it rise. Now, the rising process really depends on the warmth in your house. We have an extremely hot house, and it does double in size within an hour or so. Ideally, the rule of thumb is to let it rise until doubles in size, 1 hour and a half to two hours. But then again you might need a little longer, or even less!

After it doubled in size, you will punch the dough down. Trust me, it’s so satisfying! Deflating it will help you shape it. What we did is divide the dough into 4 equal parts and rolled them to fit in the loaf pan. We let it rise for a further 40 minutes, then baked at 180°C for 35 to 40 minutes after brushing it with the oat milk and maple syrup mixture.

So without further ado, let’s check out this recipe for a vegan brioche.

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Notes on storage and anything else. 

I highly doubt this brioche bread will last for longer than three days. But should that be the case in your household, know that wrapping it in cling film it’s the secret here. Also, because it is soft, it tends to be difficult to slice on the day you bake it. But it will get better as you go so don’t fret.

You can omit the wash on top if you feel it gets too much, but know it is not that sweet – with less than 25 grams of sugar in the dough. Or if you don’t have maple syrup, you can simply use oat milk and sprinkle some sugar. Either way, it will be absolutely delicious!

We love it as vegan french toast, of course. But we are also planning to make some vegan brioche buns for our next burger night. And some cinnamon rolls for good measure too!

When it comes to milk, you can use any alternative drink you prefer. We always have oat milk on hand, but I am sure you can use almond or soya too – among the many options there are now on the market! Our only advice is to use something with a subtle taste to it, as you don’t want it to overpower the general flavour of the vegan brioche. Almond milk might work extremely well, though. And you might even consider adding some almond extract to make its taste come through even more!

And it’s the end of this brioche post. 

Whether you are vegan or not, we cannot recommend this recipe enough. Somehow I often struggle with leavened products like this one, and I was extremely happy to see it come out correctly on all of the many tries we have done of it. Dare I say this is a foolproof and fail-proof recipe? I think I honestly can, yes! As mentioned, just make sure your yeast is fresh, not expired and unopened. One too many times I have made the mistake where I’d be using yeast that was no good, being the stubborn human being I like to be. And of course, that is a failure waiting to happen. 

If you liked this recipe for a vegan brioche, make sure you also check out the other vegan recipes we’ve shared recently like this pumpkin spiced iced latte or apple cider doughnuts! 

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