Sourdough Pastry Braid

Sourdough pastry braids are a delicious sourdough puff pastry with a cream cheese and fruit filling that is baked until golden to create a beautiful bread that is perfect for special occasions. 

Have you seen the common theme here yet? I’m on a sourdough pastry kick. I just talked about how I get onto food kicks in the last post (strawberry stuffed French toast, just in case you missed it) and pastry is another one.

From sourdough croissants to Danish pastry, and now sourdough butter braids.  This has become one of our favorite recipes. It is just like those fancy beautiful braided breads you can buy at a bakery, but made right at home with your favorite filling (sweetened cream cheese filling with fresh blueberries is my favorite) and a sourdough twist.

Lately, over on Instagram, I’ve been talking a lot about how those who are gluten sensitive can enjoy grains that have been fermented. Just because you may not be able to digest unfermented grains doesn’t mean you can never enjoy those things again.

That is why I love sourdough so much. You can find a sourdough version of just about any recipe you could desire. From brownies, to challah bread, to bagels, pizza, and more. The limits are endless. Just make sure to long ferment the dough for better digestion.

Tips

• During lamination you don’t want the dough to get too warm, so you want to work fairly quickly. The butter will just melt into the dough rather than creating the flaky layers. If the butter does get too warm, you can stick it in the fridge for 10-30 minutes and then continue working on the dough.
• The dough and the butter should be about the same temperature. This is so when you are laminating the dough the butter doesn’t push out.
• This recipe uses natural yeast rather than commercial yeast to rise the dough. If you are totally new to sourdough, make sure to check out how to make a sourdough starter here.
• I suggest placing a baking sheet on a lower rack where the pastry braid is baking just in case any butter leaks out during baking. The pan will catch the butter, rather than possibly dripping to the bottom of the pan 

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

FAQ: 

Ingredients

Dough Ingredients:

• All purpose flour
• Sugar
• Active sourdough starter, bubbly and active
• Whole milk
• Egg
• Vanilla extract
• Salt

Butter for laminating

• 16 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour 

Cream Cheese Filling

• Cream cheese – I like to use my homemade Greek yogurt cream cheese since we currently have so much milk.
• Granulated sugar
• Egg yolk
• Lemon juice
• Vanilla extract

Filling ideas:

Fresh, canned or frozen fruit. If using canned fruit, make sure to drain any excess liquid. For frozen fruit, use from frozen, don’t let it thaw.

Lemon curd

Pie filling

Jam

Egg wash:

• 1 large egg white, beaten lightly with 1 tablespoon cold water

Glaze

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch of salt

Tools you may need:

Stand mixer with dough hook attachment. Could also use a hand mixer for creating the cream cheese filling.

Rolling Pin

Baking sheet – I like these stainless steel baking sheets

Pastry brush

Parchment paper

Large bowl

Bench scraper

How To Make Sourdough Pastry Braids

Add the flour, sugar, sourdough starter, milk, egg, vanilla and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. 

Mix on low speed for about 5 minutes or until it becomes a glossy and smooth dough. This recipe actually doesn’t need to knead for a super long time and doesn’t have to pass the windowpane test. You can also easily do this by hand. Mix and knead to make a shaggy, sticky dough. Continue to knead for about 5-10 minutes.

Form the dough into a ball and place in a large greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, foil, or a beeswax wrap and place in a warm place for about 4 hours.

Place the bowl in the refrigerator to continue fermenting for 8 hours, or up to 3 days.

Laminating the dough with butter

To roll the butter block out into a 6″ by 8″ rectangle, place the sticks of butter on a large piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle it with flour.

Fold the parchment paper around the butter, so that the butter will fill the entire envelope once you roll it out. You are aiming for a butter block that is 6″ by 8″. It doesn’t need to be too precise here. You just want to make sure the pastry dough can entirely encase the butter when you roll it out for laminating.

Tap out the butter with a rolling pin lightly to start to spread the butter, then roll smooth.

Chill the butter for 10 minutes. You want the butter to stay nice and cold to create the flaky butter layers. Too warm and it will just smush out. Cold butter is essential.

Remove the pastry dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface.

Roll it out into a 16″ by 8″ inch rectangle.

Place the butter packet in the middle of the dough. Fold the edges over, so they meet in the middle and completely encase the butter. Pinch the middle seam and sides closed, so none of the butter can escape.

First fold

Roll the dough, with the butter sealed inside, back out into a 16″ by 8″ inch rectangle on a lightly floured work surface.

Fold each side into the center again; then fold one side over the other to make a rectangle with 4 layers of dough. (See picture)

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it back in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Second fold

Roll the dough out into another 16″ by 8″ inch rectangle.

Again, fold each side into the center; then fold one side over the other to make a rectangle with 4 layers of dough.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it back in the refrigerator for 2 hours up to 12 hours.

Make the pastries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Divide the dough in half. 

Put the half you aren’t working with back in the refrigerator, so that it doesn’t get warm while you are shaping the other.

Roll the pastry dough out into a 12” by 9” rectangle. Visually divide the dough into three equal sections. You could also mark it with small cuts, if desired.

Place on a prepared baking sheet.

Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut 10 strips on each side of the filling, avoiding cutting into the center of the dough. Remove the strips from the top (leaving the center portion). This gives you a bit of dough to encase the filling.

Spread the cream cheese filling down the center of the long side. Top it with fruit, jam or pie filling.

Fold the remaining top piece of dough down over the filling.

Next fold the strips to the center, alternating sides to create a braid. You can choose your favorite braiding technique.  Angle them down a bit, so that by time you get to the bottom, there is enough dough to encase the bottom of the pastry braid.

Chill for one hour.

Brush with an egg wash.

Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until golden brown.

Spread the glaze on top. (optional)

Serve warm.

Storage:

Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 7 days. Can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Allow to cool completely, wrap in plastic wrap and place in a freezer safe ziploc bag. Remove as much air as possible.

Find More Delicious Sourdough Recipes:

• Sourdough Challah Recipe: A soft and fluffy traditional Jewish bread
• Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread
• Sourdough Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
• Sourdough Snickerdoodle Cookies

If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone .

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