This sourdough brioche recipe is the softest, most delicious bread. An enriched dough made with butter, eggs, and milk – and naturally leavened with sourdough starter; this will become an absolute favorite around the table.
I’m not sure why it took me so long to create this recipe. Everything about this sourdough brioche is delicious. It is so light, fluffy, and buttery.
This would be perfect to grace your Easter, brunch, or breakfast table. You can turn it into many yummy creations (see below for ideas).
When most people think of sourdough bread, they think of your traditional crusty loaf that is a little bit denser. I’ve even heard people claim that you cannot make a fluffy loaf of sourdough bread.
Well, I’m here to prove that wrong with this enriched bread.
It is light, fluffy, buttery, and everything good in the world baked into a marvelous loaf. Make that two loaves. Because two loaves are always better than one loaf, especially when you are taking the time to make such a wonderful creation as this.
Why you will love this recipe:
Seriously so light and fluffy. Have I mentioned that yet?
Healthier than traditional brioche, since the grains are fermented, making the nutrients in the grain more bioavailable.
Easier to digest. If you have a hard time digesting unfermented grains, this long-fermented recipe will have less gluten and will be easier to digest than regular bread.
Delicious. You cannot beat the taste of this enriched sourdough bread.
Tips For Making Sourdough Brioche
- This dough is a wet dough. Even if you are tempted to add more flour, don’t. Too much flour will give you a tougher bread rather than something light and fluffy.
- If you don’t have bread flour, you can use all-purpose. It will not be quite as soft as using the mix of the two flours, but it will still be yummy. The bread flour also helps it rise more.
- You may be able to make this dairy free by using a milk alternative and vegan butter. I have not personally tried it.
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Ingredients:
Sourdough starter – Active and bubbly. You really want to have a very active starter for this recipe so it has a really nice rise.
Bread flour – Bread flour gives this dough a much lighter and fluffier texture compared to using all-purpose.
Unbleached all-purpose flour – Freshly milled or store-bought.
Sugar – Preferably organic cane sugar.
Eggs
Salt – I always choose sea salt.
Milk – Preferably whole, but 2% should also work just fine.
Butter – Room temperature. Unsalted. It is important to be able to control the amount of salt added to any recipe.
Tools you may need:
Bench scraper (optional, but handy)
Measuring cups and spoons
FAQ
What makes a brioche different from most breads?
Brioche is an enriched bread, meaning it contains butter, eggs, and milk, making it richer. On the other hand, a “standard” bread usually just contains flour, water, yeast (commercial or sourdough starter), and salt.
Is brioche better for you than bread? Can brioche be healthy?
I’m sure lots of people have differing opinions on this. Since it contains milk, eggs, and butter, it has more fat in it. While many people are “scared” of fat, this recipe uses wholesome and healthy fats that are naturally occurring.
Brioche does contain sugar, which isn’t the healthiest, but it’s a pretty small amount; it’s also lower in fiber than, say, whole wheat sourdough bread.
Can you autolyse brioche?
While you technically can, there really isn’t a point to autolyse brioche because of the amount of kneading that happens in the beginning. It is counterintuitive and will reduce any benefit the autolyse would have accomplished.
What is the difference between bread flour and all-purpose flour?
The biggest difference between the two is that bread flour has a higher amount of protein than all-purpose flour, which helps it develop more gluten strands. It also gives it a chewier texture. That increased gluten can help the bread rise more.
Can you make this with einkorn flour?
I have not tried this. Baking with einkorn requires the liquid amounts to be adjusted, and you may have to reduce the amount of water.
How much is two sticks of butter?
Two sticks of butter equals 1 cup.
How To Make Sourdough Brioche
Feed starter at night before bed. This way when you wake up in the morning, it will be nice and bubbly.
Kneading Sourdough Brioche
In the morning, combine all ingredients in a mixer and knead until smooth and glossy. The dough will be very wet, but after 10-15 minutes in the stand mixer (or by hand), it will come together. Don’t add more flour even though it is tempting.
Cover with plastic wrap, a damp towel, or tight lid and place in a warm spot for 6-8 hours (or until doubled).
After the 6-8 hours, refrigerate for a few hours (or overnight) so that dough is nice and stiff for shaping.
Shaping Brioche
Divide into two equal portions. I really like to use my bench scraper to do this.
Divide each half into eight, so that you have a total of 16 equal-sized pieces.
Roll into balls.
Add eight balls to a parchment-lined loaf pan. Repeat for the other eight in another loaf pan.
Cover and allow to rise until doubled, another 6-8 hours (or overnight).
Next day:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Create an egg wash by beating an egg with water. Brush over the loaf. This gives it that beautiful color.
Bake 25 minutes until the brioche starts to turn golden.
Baking For Dinner
Feed starter before bed.
Mix up dough in the morning, per instructions above.
Allow it to do the first rise: 6-8 hours until doubled – covered with plastic wrap, tight lid, or damp towel.
Place the dough into the fridge until the next morning.
In the morning, divide and shape. Place into parchment-lined loaf pans.
Cover and allow to rise throughout the day, and bake for dinner.
Uses For Sourdough Brioche
You really can use brioche for just about anything you would use regular bread for:
- Sandwiches
- French toast
- Hamburgers
- Bread pudding
- French toast casserole
- Grilled cheese
- Eggs in a basket
- Strata – you can find my favorite sourdough strata here.
Find More Of My Favorite Sourdough Recipes:
- Sourdough Hot Cross Buns
- Einkorn Sourdough Bread
- Sourdough Banana Bread
- 100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
- Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
If you make this recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone with your delicious creation.
Sourdough Brioche
Ingredients
- 1 cup active sourdough starter, active and bubbly 227 g
- 3 cups bread flour, 420 g
- 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour, 70 g
- 1/4 cup sugar, 48 g
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 8 g
- 1/2 cup milk, 122 g
- 2 sticks butter, room temp 226 g
Eggwash
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Feed starter at night before bed. This way when you wake up in the morning, it will be nice and bubbly.
- In the morning, combine all ingredients in a mixer and knead until smooth and glossy. The dough will be very wet, but after 10-15 minutes in the stand mixer (or by hand), it will come together. Don’t add more flour even though it is tempting.
- Cover with plastic wrap, a damp towel, or tight lid and place in a warm spot for 6-8 hours (or until doubled).
- Refrigerate for a few hours (or overnight) so that dough is nice and stiff for shaping.
- Divide into two equal portions. I really like to use my bench scraper to do this.
- Divide each half into eight, so that you have a total of 16 equal-sized pieces.
- Roll into balls.
- Add eight balls to a parchment-lined loaf pan. Repeat for the other eight in another loaf pan.
- Cover and allow to rise until doubled, another 6-8 hours (or overnight).
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Create an egg wash by beating an egg with water. Brush over the loaf. This gives it that beautiful color.
- Bake 25 minutes until the brioche starts to turn golden.
Notes
- This dough is a wet dough. Even if you are tempted to add more flour, don’t. Too much flour will give you a tougher bread rather than something light and fluffy.
- If you don’t have bread flour, you can use all-purpose. It will not be quite as soft as using the mix of the two flours, but it will still be yummy. The bread flour also helps it rise more.
- You may be able to make this dairy free by using a milk alternative and vegan butter. I have not personally tried it.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hello everyone, looking forward to trying this… any chance anyone has weighed what 1 cup of starter is?
Also Lisa, as you get more of a following, and clearly more europeans, would you consider adding weight measurements to your recipes? I find them so much more accurate than the cups method… Just a thought. 🙂
My cup of starter weighed 200 gms.
Lisa has said she doesn’t find sourdough to be very picky and doesn’t find super accurate measurements to be necessary!
I typically use 224 g of starter as 1c. I had found this to be the conversion used by a number of sources early on in my sourdough journey and just stick with it!
Not just Europeans. As a baker, I always use weights. Especially for flour.
I have to agree. Please start putting the weights of the ingredients in your recipes. I really like both your videos and recipes but like using weights when baking.I’m in Canada so know both metric and imperial. Prefer metric only when baking bread:)
I agree. I’m from the US and prefer weighing, especially with sourdough and bread recipes. It’s so much more accurate and my recipes almost never flop when the ingredients are weighed.
Totally agree. I’ve made a list to go through and update all my recipes with weights. It may take a little while. So bare with me.
To the one scrolling the comments, wondering if you really should add a little more flour, don’t. It does eventually come together into a smooth, glossy ball as Lisa says. Go fold that load of laundry waiting for you and come back later! 🤪
Just don’t let your KitchenAid fall off the counter like I did. Thankfully it still works 😂
LOL! I was watching the dough in the mixer and decided to walk away. My German Shepherd alerted me something was going on and when I came out my Kitchen Aid was jumping. Luckily I stopped it before it got to the edge of my counter.
Ha ha!! This is me! It doesn’t look like it will will come together! I’ll go crochet something and check it again. 🙂
Thanks for posting this because you were talking to me!! Haha!
I’m in love with your blog / you tube of a farmhouse life style. It’s simple, clean and just my jam.. lol
I’m in love with making bread, I’ve just learned to make sourdough and will never go back to anything else. Bread making is fun .
Would love to know more about treasure finds at yard sales / used furniture stores.
I made this recipe yesterday and baked it this afternoon – wonderful and fluffy. The recipe was easy, although I had to knead it in the mixer for closer to 25 min for it to come together. I think because I have a 7qt mixer and it wasn’t reaching the bottom very well. I turned the speed up after 15 min and it started catching – 10 more minutes and it was great. Thanks for the recipe, my boys loved it.
Yes, knead it at speeds 6-7 for a few minutes. Took me the same kneading time (abt 25 min) and i was afraid to put my brand new kitchen aid mixer on the spot, but the dough came out beautifully. I live in Ga and its pretty hot today.
Thanks and Happy Easter…
Hi Lisa! Have you tried converting this to Einkorn yet? I’ve tried converting a few recipes but haven’t had great results yet. Regardless this looks great! Thanks for sharing.
I can only imagine how busy Lisa is but I hope she responds to you as I was wondering this same thing. I have an embarrassing 😊amount of Einkorn starter and wanted to make rolls and freeze the dough before baking or maybe after. 🤔
The vlog post says she hasn’t tried making it with einkorn. I don’t think it would be an issue to use einkorn starter though and the rest of the flour AP and Bread Flour. I have done that with other recipes and it turned out fine.
The instructions are not included in the printable version of the recipe. It only includes the ingredients.
Whoops! Fixed. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
First time doing this recipe and did not turn out so fluff!! I’ll have to do it again, I’m sure I did something wrong!!!!
Oh no! So sorry it didn’t work out. Hopefully you can get it to be light and fluffy.
This looks amazing! I was just thinking of making sourdough challah, which is sorta like brioche. Keep it up Lisa!❤
I can’t wait to try this! Do you think it would be possible to braid the dough or would it be too hard to work with? I’m definitely going to try adding raisins to the dough and some colored eggs nestled on top for Easter, too. I’m pretty new to your blog and was so sad there was no brioche recipe when I first searched – this must be new. You read my mind!!!
I am loving your flatbread, English muffins, cinnamon buns, chicken pot pie and banana bread (all sourdough)!!! The only recipe I didn’t have success with so far was the chocolate zucchini bread. I fermented the dough for 24 hours (following some of your tips) and it didn’t taste sweet at all. I used unsweetened coconut milk (added lemon juice to make buttermilk) because I don’t feel comfortable leaving the dough to ferment with pasteurized milk. I know it’s my fault, but maybe you can try fermenting it and giving more direction? I know you said you hadn’t tried long fermenting it yourself. Thank you for everything you do!!!
Yes! It would be beautiful braided!
Hi there! How many grams are in the two sticks of butter? I live in Europe and we don´t have butters contained as sticks in the stores..
One U.S. stick of butter is 114g. Greetings from Germany!
Thank you Ashley, Maria and Racheal for taking the time to answer my question! It was really helpful as my google search failed me! Just got a batch of brioche going this morning and can not wait to try it out. Also, thank you Lisa for your wonderful videos and recipes both on youtube and here on your website. I find them so enjoyable and super fun to try for my own family! Keep up the amazing work!
One U.S. stick of butter is 114g. Greetings from Germany!
Wow! This bread is amazing! I was so excited to see you made this into a sourdough recipe that’s very similar to the rolls that I make for family gatherings. I’m always tweaking recipes so I used 1 cup of coconut oil in place of the butter. Instead of milk, I used 1/2 cup whey with 2T powdered milk (because I always have whey to use up since I make yogurt.) The dough stayed more sticky than what I would have liked so it was still difficult to work with after refrigerating, but I think that was my fault as I may have over measured on my starter. I made this into 32 dinner rolls; 16 from each loaf. We had them for lunch and I can’t get over how buttery and fluffy these are! Now I’m going to enjoy another…it’s hard to eat just one! Thanks for sharing this recipe, Laura!
Hi Nadja,
I‘m from Germany, so I have the same issue converting recipes. :))
1 stick butter has 113 gr.
Or is 1 cup, or 8 tbsp, or 4 oz.
Lots of love and have a great sunday!
Marita
One stick of butter is 1/2 cup. Two sticks will equate to 1 cup
227 g
Just try looking it up on the internet as I’m sure she is busy and might not have time to respond!