In this delicious, tender vegan olive oil brioche, aquafaba stands in for the eggs. The texture is light, feathery, and with a tight crumb, exactly the way a brioche is meant to be.
There is something rather addictive about a brioche: a goodness so subtle, it makes me wonder if the guy or gal who uttered the phrase “je ne sais quoi” for the first time ever was tucking into a brioche at the time.
This rather hallowed French bread has a light but close-knit, almost feathery, crumb, an elegant, barely-there sweetness, and a flaky, golden crust that melts in your mouth. To say that to eat a brioche is to fall in love with this bread would be understating it, but I am going to say it anyway.
I have baked many a brioche in my day, and the traditional recipe uses a ton of butter and eggs to get that incredible texture and flavor. A few years back, I shared with you on this blog my recipe for an Avocado Brioche: a healthier way to have your brioche and eat it too. It’s a fantastic bread that I make over and over.
But this time I wanted to try out something a little less green 😉 and more authentic (that is if the French would ever consider olive oil and aquafaba an “authentic” replacement for butter and eggs — jamais?)
My Vegan Olive Oil Brioche with Aquafaba is a must-try if you love baking, but I’ll warn you at the start that it is a labor of love.
The bread needs two rises, as all brioches do, and the process of kneading the olive oil into the flour is a pain royale. But how else are you going to feel like the accomplished, get-your-hands-dirty-and-flour-all-over-your-hair baker that you really are?
While making a brioche, you beat in the fat after the dough has been mixed, and when you’re mixing in butter, which is semi-solid at room temperature, the process goes by quite smoothly. But when I dumped in the olive oil, my dough just flapped around in a pool of oil for a long time, giving me the jitters. Was my brioche doomed? Would I have to dump all that oil and make do with an unsatisfactory loaf, if it was edible at all?
But I soldiered on and although it took all of 25 minutes in my KitchenAid on medium speed, the dough did, in the end, incorporate all of the oil. Ouf!
Lesson? Patience. (Of which you need oodles, or you wouldn’t be making bread anyway.)
I baked my brioche in a sectioned loaf, made by shaping the dough into four even balls and stacking them side by side in the loaf pan. But you have some liberty with the design of it. You can make smaller balls and put them in the pan, which would make a rater cute loaf, or you could simply bake the bread into a single loaf without sectioning anything.
If you have brioche molds, use them to make 12 cute little brioche rolls with this recipe, but cut baking time down to about 12-15 minutes.
I have been experimenting with aquafaba in my breads, and you might remember the recipe for my Chocolate Vegan Babka where I used aquafaba or chickpea brine (the stuff left behind in the can after you’ve taken out the chickpeas) in lieu of eggs with great success. The aquafaba worked great in this brioche recipe too. In fact, I couldn’t have been happier with my decision.
Here’s the recipe for my divine Vegan Olive Oil Brioche with Aquafaba. Hope you try, and bon appetit!
Vegan Olive Oil Brioche with Aquafaba
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 tsp or 1 package active dry yeast
- 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp nondairy milk
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cup bread flour
- 3/4 cup aquafaba
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (I don't mean to sound like Ina Garten, but it's important you use a good olive oil for this recipe.)
Instructions
- Place the yeast and 1/3rd cup of warm, nondairy milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and let the yeast bloom, about five minutes.
- Add the all-purpose flour, aquafaba, sugar, and salt to the yeast mixture. Mix well on medium speed until everything is incorporated.
- Add the bread flour and knead for five minutes on medium speed or until the dough comes off the sides of the bowl and clumps around the dough hook.
- Add the olive oil and knead. It will look like there is too much oil in the beginning, but don't worry. Be patient and the dough will eventually begin to absorb the oil. It took me about 25 minutes on medium-high speed for all of the oil to incorporate.
- When all of the oil is gone and the dough looks smooth again, scrape it out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured board. Form into a smooth ball.
- Place the dough into a large, oiled bowl (or back in the bowl of the mixer after oiling) and cover with cling wrap. Place in a warm place to rise for 90 minutes.
- After 90 minutes, the dough should have doubled. Punch it down and once again form the dough into a smooth ball. Place it back in the bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight or for 8-12 hours.
- In the morning the dough should have risen again. If it's not doubled at least, let it stand outside in a warm place until it doubles. Otherwise, punch the dough down and shape into four even balls.
- Let the balls stand on the countertop, covered with a kitchen towel, for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, oil a standard eight-inch loaf pan. Place the four balls side by side in the pan so they are touching each other.
- If you want a shiny top, mix the remaining 2 tbsp milk with a tablespoon of aquafaba and some salt and apply to the top of the brioche. Do this once more just before putting the loaf in the oven.
- Once the loaf has risen and domed over the pan (about 90 minutes), place in a preheated 375 degree oven and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the loaf pan and let it cool on a rack until it can be handled. Remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool thoroughly on a rack. Serve.
Notes
**
Can you substitute sour dough for the yeast?
Thank you so much for this recipe! What are you thoughts on using a more solid oil like coconut oil or a store-bought vegan butter like the country crock plant butter? I’m thinking that might incorporate a little more easily into the dough.
Hmm..I don’t think I’d care for the strong coconut oil flavor in a brioche, but you could definitely do it. The olive oil does incorporate, FYI, it just takes a little time, and it’s totally worth it. 🙂 I don’t know much about the Country Crock plant butter–do they have baking sticks? My experience with spreadable butters is they usually don’t have the fat content that you’d need to get the correct texture, but I’m sure you would get an okay bread. If you try, I’d love to hear how it came out.
Hey there! This recipe looks amazing. I was wondering if I could divide the dough into 8 balls and bake in two smaller loaf pans or would that mess it up? Thanks for your time!
Hello! As i don’t have bread flour and grocery shelves are empty, would using APF for the entire recipe work? Thank you!
Hi, your recipe looks great! would vegan butter work though instead of olive oil?
Yes!
Do you whip the aquafaba so its white and makes stiff peaks before adding it or are you adding it whilst its still liquid and clear
No need to beat it — should be liquid. Go about it exactly as the recipe says.
So so good! I made them into 8 burger buns – they very a tad too sweet for that in my taste, but really delicious on their own – and that beatiful, fluffy texture!
Awesome! Brioche is a sweet bread, but you can always reduce the sugar if you like.
I was honestly skeptical about this recipe but it turned out just fantastic. It took about 15 minutes for the oil to incorporate. I stopped occasionally and used a bench press to bring things together a bit. It turned out as fluffy as regular brioche. I will definitely be making again.
Hi Vaishali, thank you for posting this recipe! It 100% provides the light, fluffy dough texture I was looking for to make my wife my vegan take on Dutch koffiebroodjes (coffee buns) for Easter. Altiugh rather than seperate buns, I wanted to make one big pie and see all the swirly goodness once the knife goes through. Following the long overnight rise, I flattened the dough to about a 1 inch thickness on my worktop and then spread vegan custard cream and soaked raisins on top before rolling it all up and curling it into a round baking tin. I then followed your recipe from step 11 on and it turned out perfect. I will defenately be making this again!
Hi Vaishali, I made your recipe and used it to make plum cake from a friends recipe, it turned out really
Can I use grape seed oil instead
You’re a fantastic cook.
Can you please update the estimated time for this recipe? It lists Prep time: 15min, Cook Time: 30 min, Total Time: 45 min but in the recipe instructions it actually lists that kneading alone was at least 25 minutes, there’s a 90 min rest period, and then another rest time of 8-12 hours, and one more rest period of 10 minutes.
This recipe is amazing, thank you! I’ve made it twice now. The first time it took 30 mins to incorporate the olive oil in my KitchenAid. The second time, I accidentally discovered a trick. After I had added the oil, I realized I had forgotten 1/2 cup of flour. I added it in after the olive oil, and everything incorporated immediately! I was worried it wouldn’t come out right, but it was perfect. It saved me 28 minutes of kneading!