Brioche Donuts: 8 Irresistible Tips for Heavenly Delights

Making Delicious Brioche Donuts at Home

Creating delicious brioche donuts at home might seem daunting, but with the right steps, it’s a truly rewarding experience. These aren’t just any donuts; brioche donuts stand out due to their rich, buttery, and incredibly tender crumb, a result of the high egg and butter content in the dough. Unlike regular donuts, brioche offers a more luxurious and melt-in-your-mouth texture that is simply irresistible. Mastering this homemade brioche donuts recipe means you’ll enjoy fresh, warm, sweet brioche treats that far surpass anything store-bought, making any morning or dessert occasion extra special.

Quick recipe overview

The journey to homemade brioche donuts begins with preparing a rich yeast dough, which then undergoes two crucial rising periods. After the first rise, the dough is gently rolled out and cut into classic donut shapes. A second, shorter rise ensures maximum fluffiness before they hit the hot oil. The final step involves frying them to a beautiful golden brown perfection, followed by a quick drain and your choice of delightful finishes. Each stage is important, contributing to the ultimate texture and flavor of these luxurious sweet brioche treats.

Why make brioche donuts?

The primary reason to make brioche donuts is their unparalleled quality and taste. The brioche dough itself is renowned for its richness and airy structure, thanks to generous amounts of butter and eggs. This yields a donut that is profoundly more tender and flavorful than standard varieties. There’s also immense satisfaction in crafting such delicate pastries from scratch. The aroma of baking brioche filling your kitchen, the joy of seeing the dough rise, and the first bite into a warm, fluffy donut you made yourself are unmatched. Moreover, you control the ingredients, ensuring a high-quality, fresh product. If you enjoy other rich desserts, you might also enjoy making peanut butter brownie swirl cookies or similar baked goods.

Brioche is a type of pastry of French origin, whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb.

Gathering Brioche Donut Ingredients

Success in baking brioche donuts starts with selecting the right ingredients. Each component plays a vital role in achieving the desired rich flavor and soft, airy texture. Quality ingredients truly make a difference in the final product, especially when dealing with a delicate dough like brioche. Take the time to gather everything before you begin, ensuring all items are at the correct temperature for optimal mixing and rising. This attention to detail will set the foundation for your delicious donuts.

Essential baking ingredients list

For truly heavenly brioche donuts, you’ll need all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, salt, active dry yeast, warm milk, large eggs, and unsalted butter. A little vanilla extract can enhance the flavor profile. Ensuring your flour is fresh and unbleached will contribute to a better dough structure. Sugar not only sweetens but also feeds the yeast, aiding in the rising process. Don’t skip the salt; it balances the sweetness and strengthens the gluten network, giving your donuts better structure. For more sweet recipes, browse our desserts category.

Yeast, milk, and eggs needed

The heart of a fluffy donuts recipe lies in the yeast, milk, and eggs. Use active dry yeast for reliable leavening; ensure it’s not expired. Warm milk (around 105-115°F or 40-46°C) is crucial for activating the yeast without killing it. If the milk is too hot, it will destroy the yeast; too cold, and the yeast won’t activate properly. Large eggs, preferably at room temperature, are essential for brioche. They contribute richness, moisture, and help create the dough’s signature tender crumb and golden color. Cold eggs can stiffen butter in the dough, making it harder to emulsify.

Softened butter is important

Softened unsalted butter is perhaps the most defining ingredient for brioche. It provides the characteristic richness, flavor, and tender texture. The butter should be soft enough to easily indent with your finger but not melted. Room temperature butter incorporates smoothly into the dough, emulsifying with the other ingredients to create a cohesive and pliable mass. Cold butter will create lumps and make the dough difficult to knead evenly, while melted butter can alter the dough’s consistency too much. Use good quality butter for the best flavor in your homemade brioche donuts.

Mixing Your Brioche Donut Dough

Mixing the brioche donut dough is a foundational step that requires precision and attention to detail. This process sets the stage for the dough’s texture, ensuring it’s rich, elastic, and ready to develop into those wonderfully light and fluffy donuts. Using a stand mixer with a dough hook is highly recommended for brioche dough, as it can be quite sticky initially due to its high fat and egg content. However, hand-mixing is also possible with patience and a strong arm. Focus on combining ingredients thoroughly but gently.

Combine dry ingredients first

Start by whisking together all your dry ingredients: the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and salt. This ensures they are evenly distributed throughout the dough. Uneven distribution of salt or sugar can affect yeast activity and overall flavor. This step also aerates the flour slightly, which can contribute to a lighter final product. Set this mixture aside while you prepare the wet components, ensuring a smooth transition when combining them later.

Warm milk dissolves yeast well

In a separate bowl, gently warm your milk to the ideal temperature (105-115°F or 40-46°C). Sprinkle the active dry yeast over the warm milk, along with a pinch of sugar (taken from the recipe’s total sugar amount). Let this mixture sit for 5-10 minutes. You should see it become foamy and bubbly, indicating that the yeast is active and ready to work its magic. If there’s no foam, your yeast might be old, or the milk temperature was incorrect, and it’s best to start again with fresh yeast and properly warmed milk to ensure a good rise for your fluffy donuts recipe.

Add wet mixture to dry

Once your yeast mixture is active, add it to the dry ingredients. Crack in your room-temperature eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition until fully incorporated. Initially, the dough will be quite shaggy and sticky. Continue mixing until a rough dough forms. Only after these wet ingredients are well combined should you start gradually adding the softened butter, piece by piece, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding the next. This slow incorporation of butter is key to developing the rich texture of perfect brioche.

Kneading Dough for Heavenly Brioche

Kneading is where the magic truly happens for brioche dough, transforming a sticky, shaggy mass into a smooth, elastic, and luxurious foundation for your homemade brioche donuts. This process develops the gluten strands in the flour, which are essential for trapping the gases produced by the yeast, leading to that characteristic light and airy texture. While it requires a bit of time and effort, the result is well worth it, producing a dough that is a joy to work with and yields exceptional fried donut dessert.

Knead until dough is smooth

Using a stand mixer with a dough hook, knead the dough on medium-low speed for about 10-15 minutes, or until it becomes smooth, elastic, and pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl. If kneading by hand, this could take 15-20 minutes of continuous effort. The dough will be quite soft and pliable. A good indicator of proper kneading is the “windowpane test”: gently stretch a small piece of dough; if you can stretch it thin enough to see light through it without tearing, the gluten has developed sufficiently. This ensures a strong but tender structure for your fluffy donuts recipe. For another delightful fried dessert, consider trying funnel cake bites, which also rely on careful dough preparation.

The First Dough Rise Explained

The first rise, or bulk fermentation, is a critical stage in creating truly heavenly brioche donuts. During this period, the yeast becomes active, consuming sugars and producing carbon dioxide gas, which causes the dough to expand and develop flavor. This slow fermentation process also contributes to the brioche’s complex taste and tender crumb. Patience is key here; rushing this stage can lead to dense or less flavorful donuts. Finding the right environment for your dough to rise is as important as the mixing itself.

Let dough rise one hour

Once kneaded, lightly grease a large bowl with a neutral oil, place the dough in it, and turn it once to coat. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place for approximately one hour, or until it has roughly doubled in size. A slightly warm oven (turned off) or a warm spot in your kitchen works well. The exact time can vary depending on your kitchen’s temperature. This initial rise builds the internal structure and ensures your easy donut making process results in airy and light donuts. After this rise, gently deflate the dough, cover it again, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight. The cold fermentation makes the dough easier to handle and further develops the brioche’s rich flavor profile.

Shaping Perfect Brioche Donut Rounds

After its relaxing time in the refrigerator, your brioche dough will be much firmer and easier to handle, making the shaping process a breeze. This stage is crucial for achieving uniform, aesthetically pleasing brioche donuts that fry evenly and cook through perfectly. Precision here contributes to both the look and the texture of your finished fried donut dessert. Working on a lightly floured surface will prevent sticking without incorporating too much extra flour into your tender dough.

Roll out dough evenly

Remove the chilled brioche dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface, gently roll out the dough to an even thickness of about 1/2 to 3/4 inch (approximately 1.25-2 cm). Maintaining an even thickness across the entire sheet of dough is vital for consistent frying and a uniform texture in your easy donut making process. Avoid rolling it too thin, which can lead to dry donuts, or too thick, which might result in uncooked centers. Use a rolling pin with even pressure to ensure flatness.

Cut into donut shapes

Now comes the fun part: cutting your donuts! Use a donut cutter to achieve classic donut shapes with a hole in the center. If you don’t have a donut cutter, you can use two round cutters: a larger one (about 3-3.5 inches or 7.5-9 cm) for the outer ring and a smaller one (about 1 inch or 2.5 cm) for the center hole. Alternatively, you can simply cut rounds for filled donuts or even square shapes for a different presentation. Carefully transfer the cut donuts and the donut holes (which can be fried separately for delicious little treats) to a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving ample space between them to allow for their second rise. Don’t discard the dough scraps; gently gather them, knead lightly, re-roll, and cut more donuts, being careful not to overwork the dough.

Second Rise: Fluffy Donuts Prep

The second rise, also known as proofing, is a vital step for achieving the incredibly light and fluffy texture characteristic of perfect brioche. After the dough has been handled, rolled, and cut, it needs time to relax and for the yeast to once again produce carbon dioxide, expanding the individual donut shapes. This careful preparation ensures that your brioche donuts will be airy and tender once fried, rather than dense or heavy. This stage is a testament to the easy donut making process when done right.

Let cut donuts rise 30 minutes

Once your brioche donuts have been cut and arranged on parchment-lined baking sheets, cover them loosely with plastic wrap or a light kitchen towel. Place them in a warm, draft-free spot and allow them to rise for about 30 minutes. During this time, the donuts will visibly puff up, becoming noticeably larger and lighter. You should see a slight expansion, but they won’t double in size like the first rise. To test if they’re ready, gently poke a donut with a floured finger; if the indentation slowly springs back, they are perfectly proofed and ready for frying. If it springs back too quickly, they need a bit more time. If it doesn’t spring back at all, they may be over-proofed. Proper proofing is crucial for achieving that signature fluffy donuts recipe texture, ensuring a beautiful golden brown crust and a soft interior.

Frying Your Golden Brioche Donuts

Frying is the moment your carefully prepared brioche dough transforms into irresistible, golden brown donuts. This stage requires attention to detail, especially regarding oil temperature, to ensure your donuts are cooked through, beautifully colored, and not greasy. A good frying technique is the key to creating a truly delicious fried donut dessert that boasts a crisp exterior and a light, airy interior. This is where your easy donut making efforts truly pay off, resulting in the perfect brioche treat.

Heat oil to right temperature

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, pour about 2-3 inches of neutral oil with a high smoke point, such as vegetable, canola, or sunflower oil. Heat the oil over medium heat until it reaches a consistent temperature of 350-375°F (175-190°C). An accurate deep-fry thermometer is indispensable here. Maintaining the correct temperature is crucial: if the oil is too cool, the donuts will absorb too much oil and become greasy; if it’s too hot, they will brown too quickly on the outside, leaving the inside raw. For similar cooking methods, you might also be interested in achieving perfect golden brown edges on crispy cauliflower.

Fry until perfectly golden brown

Carefully lower 2-3 donuts into the hot oil, ensuring not to overcrowd the pot, which would lower the oil temperature. Fry them for about 1-2 minutes per side, or until they are puffed up and a beautiful golden brown. Use a slotted spoon or spider to gently flip them. Keep an eye on the color; brioche dough browns quickly due to its sugar content. Once golden brown on both sides, they should be cooked through. The internal temperature should reach about 200°F (93°C) if you check with an instant-read thermometer.

Drain on paper towels after

As each batch of golden brown donuts finishes frying, carefully remove them from the oil with your slotted spoon or spider. Transfer them immediately to a wire rack set over a baking sheet lined with several layers of paper towels. This allows excess oil to drain off, preventing your sweet brioche treats from becoming greasy. Resist the urge to stack them while hot, as this can steam them and make them soggy. Allow them to cool slightly before moving on to adding sweet finishes.

Adding Sweet Finishes to Donuts

Once your brioche donuts are perfectly fried and drained, it’s time to elevate them with sweet finishes. This is where you can truly personalize your homemade brioche donuts, adding layers of flavor and visual appeal. Whether you prefer a simple dusting or a luscious filling, these finishing touches make your sweet brioche treats utterly irresistible and complete the delicious fried donut dessert experience.

Dust with powdered sugar

For a simple yet elegant finish, dust your warm brioche donuts generously with powdered sugar. The warmth of the donuts will allow the sugar to adhere beautifully, creating a delicate, sweet coating that melts in your mouth. This classic finish highlights the rich, buttery flavor of the brioche itself, making it a favorite for many. A fine-mesh sieve works best for an even dusting, ensuring every crevice of your fluffy donuts recipe is coated.

Fill with jam or cream

If you prefer a more decadent experience, fill your brioche donuts with your favorite jam or cream. Once the donuts have cooled slightly, use a piping bag fitted with a long, thin nozzle to inject fillings into the side of each donut. Popular choices include raspberry jam, strawberry preserves, rich vanilla pastry cream, chocolate hazelnut spread, or even a tangy lemon curd. This adds an exciting surprise with every bite, transforming your golden brown donuts into an even more luxurious treat. You can find more inspiration for sweet finishes and toppings on our Pinterest page or see our latest creations on Instagram.

Tips for Irresistible Brioche Donuts

Creating irresistible brioche donuts involves a few key techniques and considerations that can significantly impact the final outcome. Beyond the recipe steps, paying attention to these expert tips will ensure your sweet brioche treats are consistently perfect, from their texture to their taste. These small details can make all the difference in achieving truly exceptional homemade brioche donuts.

Ensure oil is hot enough

Reiterating this crucial point: always ensure your frying oil is at the correct temperature, ideally between 350-375°F (175-190°C), and maintain it throughout the frying process. Fluctuating oil temperatures can lead to greasy, undercooked, or overly browned donuts. Use a reliable thermometer and adjust heat as needed. Frying in batches helps maintain the oil temperature and prevents overcrowding, which can lead to uneven cooking. This is the secret to perfect brioche with a crisp exterior and fluffy interior.

Store donuts properly fresh

While brioche donuts are best enjoyed fresh, warm, and within hours of frying, proper storage can extend their freshness slightly. Store cooled donuts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1-2 days. If filled with cream or custard, they should be refrigerated and consumed within the same day for best quality and safety. Avoid storing them in the refrigerator unless necessary, as the cold air can dry them out. Reheat plain donuts briefly in the microwave for a few seconds to restore some warmth and softness before serving.

Brioche Donuts Nutrition Facts

Brioche donuts, while undeniably delicious and a wonderful sweet brioche treat, are generally considered an indulgent dessert. Given their rich ingredients like butter, eggs, and sugar, they tend to be higher in calories and fat compared to other lighter pastries. These nutrition facts provide a general idea; actual values can vary significantly based on recipe specifics, ingredient brands, and portion sizes. Enjoying homemade brioche donuts in moderation is key to a balanced diet.

Serving size and calories

A typical serving size for a brioche donut is one medium-sized donut. On average, a plain brioche donut can contain anywhere from 250 to 400 calories. This can increase substantially if toppings like glazes, fillings, or chocolate are added. For example, a donut filled with cream and topped with glaze could easily exceed 450-500 calories per serving. It’s a rich treat meant for enjoyment, not a daily staple.

Sugar, fat, and protein content

Brioche donuts are generally high in sugar, ranging from 20-40 grams per donut, depending on added finishes. The fat content is also significant due to the butter and frying oil, often 15-30 grams per donut, with a notable portion being saturated fat. Protein content is moderate, typically 5-8 grams, mainly from the eggs and flour. While they offer a delightful experience, they should be enjoyed as an occasional treat within a healthy eating plan.

Storing Fresh Brioche Donuts Well

To fully enjoy the delightful texture and flavor of your homemade brioche donuts, proper storage is crucial. While these sweet brioche treats are always best served fresh and warm, knowing how to store them correctly can help maintain their quality for a short period. The goal is to keep them as soft and fresh as possible, preventing them from drying out or becoming stale too quickly, ensuring your perfect brioche remains delicious.

Airtight container for freshness

To preserve the freshness of plain, unfrosted brioche donuts, allow them to cool completely after frying and finishing. Once cool, place them in an airtight container at room temperature. This will help prevent them from drying out and keep them soft for up to 1-2 days. Avoid refrigerating plain donuts, as the cold air can actually make them stale faster and toughen their delicate texture. If your donuts are filled with perishable ingredients like cream, custard, or fresh fruit, they must be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container and ideally consumed within 24 hours for safety and best taste. For a quick refresh, plain brioche donuts can be gently warmed in a microwave for 10-15 seconds.