how can this php have formatting applied?

I have a line above the loop to show the page title for breadcrumbs. It looks like this and works well:

echo wp_title();

but I need to add a <p> tag so I can control the formatting. Have tried many things but it breaks the site. My most recent attempt is this:
echo '<p><?php wp_title(); ?></p>';

but the title doesn’t display.

any ideas?