Lemon Brioche Pull-Apart Bread

Are you looking for special bread for a weekend bake or even holidays? If so, you need to try this Lemon Brioche Pull-Apart Bread. It is the perfect blend of tender brioche and bright lemon flavor.

Why Make This Bread?

Brioche is not the quickest bread to make, but let me tell you why this loaf is worth it.

While this is a whole wheat brioche, you will be surprised at how light and tender it is. That is one of the best things about a rich dough like brioche.

They have a texture, unlike any other dough. If you have not tasted brioche before you are in for a treat. Buttery brioche dough is a favorite of mine!

Brioche gets a cool rise, which means the dough is made the day before and refrigerated for about 24 hours. I like this as the day of serving, you are not dealing with the dough-making process, only assembly, and baking of the loaf.

The lemon sugar creates the best subtle lemon flavor. I love the undertone. It also caramelizes on the sides, which is one of my favorite things!

It is a beautiful loaf. I love how pretty this loaf bakes up.

Ingredients

• Warm Milk- rich doughs generally have plenty of milk, eggs, and butter.
• Whole Wheat Flour- I used white wheat, but you could also spelt, red wheat, rye, einkorn, etc. There are a lot of great options out there.
• All-purpose Flour- I like to use a blend of all-purpose and whole wheat. You can always do 100% whole wheat, but my family prefers the blend. If you are new to whole wheat baking, this will be a great way for you to start out.
• Brown Sugar- Brioche is generally a sweet dough and I used brown sugar for the dough.
• Salt- it only takes a teaspoon of salt, but you cannot skip this.
• Instant Yeast- You could also use an active dry if you prefer, but I like instant for this recipe.
• Eggs- this is an egg-rich dough.
• Butter- this needs to be at room temperature. Make sure you start with soft butter and melted butter when you are forming the loaf. You can use unsalted butter or salt. I don't think it makes a lot of difference in this particular recipe.
• Lemons- you will use the lemon zest (lemon peel) for the lemon sugar.
• Granulated Sugar- this is used in the lemon-sugar mixture.

How To Make Brioche Dough

Start by adding your warm milk (you can heat it in a small saucepan or microwave. It is only heated to about 100 degrees), yeast, salt, eggs, brown sugar, and flour to the bowl of a stand mixer. It is not recommended to mix brioche by hand. Not only do you have to knead for a really long time, but your hands will warm the dough too much. Use the dough hook for this recipe.

Mix for about 1 minute. Then you will start adding the butter in 1 tablespoon increments. Butter is added slowly to the dough in making a brioche. In fact, the process of adding the butter should take about 10-15 minutes. So add a tablespoon, let it mix in, then add another. do not rush this process. At the end of the mixing time, you should have a very smooth dough.

Once the butter is all added and mixed in, it is time to chill. Now, transfer the dough to a ziplock bag sprayed with pan release, or you can turn the dough into a greased bowl and cover it with a piece of plastic wrap. Make sure and give it room to rise. It will double.

Forming The Pull-Apart Bread

The next day, remove the chilled dough from the fridge.

Wash your lemons, dry, and grate with a Microplane to get the fresh lemon zest. Mix the zest with the granulated sugar.

Flour your work surface and roll the dough to about 12x18 inches. Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle generously with the lemon sugar.

Now, with a sharp knife, cut the dough into strips that are around about 4+inchesx12 inches. So cutting in 4 sections widthwise. If there is any confusion on this, check the video.

Cut each of these down into 4 squares. Layer upright into the loaf pan. It will not fill up the pan right now, don't stress once it has risen and baked, it will be perfect! YOu can line the loaf pan with parchment paper for easier cleanup. I didn't worry about it this time and it came out just fine.

Let the dough rise in a warm place until it is doubled. Make sure and preheat the oven while it is rising. Rising time depends on the warmth of your kitchen.

You can brush the loaf with an egg wash, but I don't really think it is necessary. Bake until it is golden brown and reaches an internal temp of 190 degrees.

Remove and allow it to cool for about 5 minutes, then gently remove it from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

What is Brioche?

There are a few things that make brioche different than your regular loaf of bread. For one, it is an egg-rich dough. Meaning there are a lot of eggs.

It is also heavy in butter. The butter is added slowly over about a 15-minute period of time.

It is also best to give this dough a cool rise. While this means it takes longer than the average bread to make, this is also good as you can make it ahead of time. The cool rise makes the dough so much easier to work with and enhances the flavors.

Notes

This bread is best with a cool rise. Don't be tempted to cut corners here. Not only will it make the dough easier to work with, but also hydrates the bread, and enhances the flavor of the dough.

Make sure you allow the bread to rise until it is doubled. This will take time as the dough is chilled, to begin with.

You can also make this into a sweet rolls recipe, check out the recipe for lemon swirled rolls.

I like to take the temperature on my loaf to decide on doneness. It is really hard on a loaf like this one to go by time and color. You are looking for 190 degrees internal temp.

FAQ

Other Brioche Recipes

• Pumpkin Brioche with Pecan Filling
• Raspberry Swirled Loaf
• Herb Swirled Loaf
• Povitica
• Lemon Brioche Rolls