Classic sourdough brioche. The best culinary blog for cooking at home.

Classic sourdough brioche

  • Prep time: 1 hour 20 minutes + 24 hours for proofing and preparation of the sourdough starter
  • Cook time: 35 minutes
  • Servings: 2 brioches, about 700 g each of them
  • Difficulty: challenging
  • Course: baking
  • Cookware: 25×11 cm form, dough knife, scales, food processor KitchenAid
  • Cuisine: European

Ingredients

For the dough:

  • 300 g “ripe” stiff wheat sourdough starter
  • 500 g strong bread flour
  • 250 g eggs (4-5 eggs)
  • 220 g butter (room temperature)
  • 120 g milk
  • 60 g sugar
  • 12 g salt

For glaze:

  • 1 egg (beaten)

For greasing:

  • butter for greasing the bake tin

Cooking method

STEP 1

Make the dough. Mix the sourdough starter, flour, milk and eggs in the bowl of the food processor. Knead the dough with the food processor or by hand for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rest for 45 minutes. Mix sugar and salt. Add half of the mixture to the dough and knead until the salt and sugar are completely mixed. Then add the other half and continue kneading the dough. Divide the butter into two parts. Add the first half of the butter to the dough. Knead the dough until it “takes” all the butter and becomes smooth and shiny, for about 10 minutes. Then add the other half of the butter and repeat the process. The final dough will be soft and smooth. Grease the container for the dough with vegetable oil, lay out the dough, cover with foil or towel and leave in a warm place to proof. During the proofing period, the dough should double in size. Then transfer to the refrigerator for 10-12 hours to retard.

STEP 2

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, let it stand at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. Grease baking forms with oil. With wet hands form two loaves and gently transfer the dough into the forms. Cover them with a towel and let it retard in a warm place for 5-8 hours. The dough should visually grow and feel airy and soft to the touch.

STEP 3

Preheat the oven to 180C. Brush brioche with beaten egg and bake for 35 minutes. If the brioche turns brown too quickly, lightly sprinkle it with water. Remove the finished brioche from the forms and transfer to a rack to cool.

My tips and tricks:

Brioche is a rich and “heavy” dough, and for perfect raising, it is very important to properly prepare the leaven. For this, take 20 g of “ripe” sourdough starter at its peak and mix: 20 g of sourdough starter + 10 g of water + 20 g of flour. Get 50 g of sourdough. Put it in a warm place and wait until it ferments and is at its peak (it will increase 2-3 times). Then mix again: 50 g of sourdough starter + 25 g of water + 50 g of flour. Get 125 g of fermented sourdough starter. Then take from there 120 g of sourdough and mix: 120 g of sourdough + 120 g of water + 60 g of flour. This will give 300 g of “ripe” sourdough, thick sourdough starter for the recipe. Wait until it ferments and is at its peak (it will increase 2-3 times) and use it for the recipe. If you are confident in the strength of your sourdough starter and it does not sour, you can use it without preliminary preparation, but brioche is a kind of bread that contains more sourdough than flour, therefore, if the sourdough is sour, then the brioche will also be sour.

When brioche is baking, the dough grows very quickly. Correctly fermented dough forms a beautiful dome. If the dough is not fully fermented, it will crack during baking. To avoid this situation, you can make several cuts on the surface with a razor or scissors.

We bake brioche in the tin loaf. But you can use this dough to make a Parisian brioche (with a “head”, as in the paintings of E. Manet), brioches for burgers and brioches of any other shape you like.

Classic sourdough brioche

Classic sourdough brioche
 
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Author:
Recipe type: pastry
Cuisine: European
Serves: 2
Ingredients
For the dough:
  • 300 g “ripe” stiff wheat sourdough starter
  • 500 g strong bread flour
  • 250 g eggs (4-5 eggs)
  • 220 g butter (room temperature)
  • 120 g milk
  • 60 g sugar
  • 12 g salt
For glaze:
  • 1 egg (beaten)
For greasing:
  • butter for greasing the bake tin
Cooking method
  1. Make the dough. Mix the sourdough starter, flour, milk and eggs in the bowl of the food processor. Knead the dough with the food processor or by hand for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rest for 45 minutes. Mix sugar and salt. Add half of the mixture to the dough and knead until the salt and sugar are completely mixed. Then add the other half and continue kneading the dough. Divide the butter into two parts. Add the first half of the butter to the dough. Knead the dough until it “takes” all the butter and becomes smooth and shiny, for about 10 minutes. Then add the other half of the butter and repeat the process. The final dough will be soft and smooth. Grease the container for the dough with vegetable oil, lay out the dough, cover with foil or towel and leave in a warm place to proof. During the proofing period, the dough should double in size. Then transfer to the refrigerator for 10-12 hours to retard.
  2. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, let it stand at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. Grease baking forms with oil. With wet hands form two loaves and gently transfer the dough into the forms. Cover them with a towel and let it retard in a warm place for 5-8 hours. The dough should visually grow and feel airy and soft to the touch.
  3. Preheat the oven to 180C. Brush brioche with beaten egg and bake for 35 minutes. If the brioche turns brown too quickly, lightly sprinkle it with water. Remove the finished brioche from the forms and transfer to a rack to cool.
My tips and tricks
Brioche is a rich and “heavy” dough, and for perfect raising, it is very important to properly prepare the leaven. For this, take 20 g of “ripe” sourdough starter at its peak and mix: 20 g of sourdough starter + 10 g of water + 20 g of flour. Get 50 g of sourdough. Put it in a warm place and wait until it ferments and is at its peak (it will increase 2-3 times). Then mix again: 50 g of sourdough starter + 25 g of water + 50 g of flour. Get 125 g of fermented sourdough starter. Then take from there 120 g of sourdough and mix: 120 g of sourdough + 120 g of water + 60 g of flour. This will give 300 g of “ripe” sourdough, thick sourdough starter for the recipe. Wait until it ferments and is at its peak (it will increase 2-3 times) and use it for the recipe. If you are confident in the strength of your sourdough starter and it does not sour, you can use it without preliminary preparation, but brioche is a kind of bread that contains more sourdough than flour, therefore, if the sourdough is sour, then the brioche will also be sour.
When brioche is baking, the dough grows very quickly. Correctly fermented dough forms a beautiful dome. If the dough is not fully fermented, it will crack during baking. To avoid this situation, you can make several cuts on the surface with a razor or scissors.
We bake brioche in the tin loaf. But you can use this dough to make a Parisian brioche (with a "head", as in the paintings of E. Manet), brioches for burgers and brioches of any other shape you like.