Combine warm milk, yeast, and honey into a mixing bowl. Add about ½ cup of flour. Mix well. Let rest for 10-15 minutes until bubbly (this step may be optional with instant yeast, but if active dry yeast is used you MUST do this step)

After yeast mixture has proofed, add 5 large eggs and 1 egg yolk. Mix together.

Add vanilla, sugar, salt, and 2 cups of freshly milled flour. Mix together until all ingredients are incorporated. It will look very scraggly. Do NOT add more flour at this time.

With dough hook attachment on, knead dough for about 3 minutes (See notes below for speeds for various mixers)

Divide butter into roughly 4 portions.

Add one quarter of butter, mix until incorporated about 1-2 minutes.

Add second quarter of butter, mix until incorporated about 1-2 minutes.

Do this for the rest of the quarters - add, mix, add, mix. Scrape down the sides as needed.

Once all butter is incorporated, keep mixer on and add ¼ cup of flour at a time. Once you add a little flour, wait until it's mixed in before adding more. Add flour until dough is BARELY pulling off the sides of the bowl (see video for details). It will still be rough and shaggy looking.

Once dough is JUST starting to pull away from the sides of the bowl, increase mixer speed to about medium (See notes below). Knead for about 9 minutes, up to 15 minutes depending on mixer. The dough is ready when it has smoothed out, it looks shiny, and it's easier to work with. See video for details.

Once dough has been kneaded, it's come together as a loose but manageable dough, you're now ready to prepare however you wish. This is your base brioche dough. Options are below. Do know for loaves, this makes two loaves around 1lb - 1.5lb each.

Option 1: Shape dough into whatever type of bread you are making. Let rise. Then place in preheated 325 degree F oven and bake until golden brown.

Option 2: Shape dough into a ball, place in bowl or mixer, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour. Then shape into whatever shape you desire.

Option 3: Shape dough into a ball, place in bowl or mixer, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour. Gently deflate, reshape into ball. Place back in bowl, cover with plastic and place in fridge for 8 up to 24 hours. If dough has been placed in fridge, when removed it will be harder because all the butter has hardened. You can possibly still work with it, but if it's not manageable just let it warm up to room temperature on the counter or until it's where you can work with it.

Pull-apart roll loaf (seen in video): When ready to shape, divide dough into 2 for two loaves. Take one half of dough and divide into 8 pieces. With those 8 pieces, form into rolls and place in a slight zig-zag pattern in 9x5 loaf pan. Let rise until it's about 1in from the top of the pan. Bake in preheated 325 degree F oven for about 35 minutes until golden brown on top and/or internal temp is 190 degrees F. You can do this again with the second half of dough, or shape in a different way. Let rest in bread pan for 5 minutes outside of oven, then gently place on cooling rack to cool completely OR you can serve nice and hot! This is a great option to serve hot bread on the table and everyone can pull apart their roll.

Braided Loaf (seen in video): When ready to shape, divide dough into 2 for two loaves. Take one half of dough and divide into 3 pieces. With each piece, roll into small rectangle. Roll up each rectangle like a sleeping bag and roll out into a thin strip about 12-14 inches long. Once you have 3 long strips, place then side-by-side and mush together the very top of the 3 strands. Slightly tuck under. Braid the dough ropes into a 3 strand braid. Once you reach the end, mush together the ends like you did at the top end and gently fold under. Gently place in 9x5 bread pan. Rise in warm spot until loaf reaches about ½ - 1in below the top of pan. Bake in preheated 325 degree F oven for about 35 minutes until golden brown and/or internal temp reads 190 degrees F. Let rest in bread pan for 5 minutes outside of oven, then gently place on cooling rack to cool completely (or slice and serve hot, no judgement here. Bread just may fall if sliced while hot).

Regular loaf shape: See detailed folding technique in my "Simple Yeast Bread" recipe. Let rice until even with bread pan, bake in preheated oven at 325 degrees F for about 35 - 45 minutes until golden brown and/or internal temp is 190 degrees F

Rolls: For regular rolls, just roll into rolls like the "pull apart bread" but place slightly apart in a 9x13 pan. Rise until double, bake in preheated 325 degrees F oven for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

To get a more shiny, browned look to your loaves, before baking brush loaves with an egg wash (1 egg yolk with 1 tsp water mixed together). Bake as normal.

For a shiny look, but necessarily browned, once bread is baked just brush melted butter on top.