Naturally Leavened Bourbon Brioche With Homemade Cultured Butter
- 500g BF (88%)
- 140g Milk Levain (12% milk & 12% flour)
- 235g Egg (41%)
- 353g Cultured Butter (62%)
- 38g Bourbon (7%)
- 9g Sugar (1.5%)
- 9g Salt (1.5%)
I started thinking about making a sweet and or enriched loaf a week ago, the idea sort of evolved from pumpkin something or other to some sort of challah back to pumpkin brioche then finally to where it now lies, One thing I knew for sure though was if I was going to be using a lot of butter I wanted it to be cultured butter, and I knew I wanted to make it myself
So I started reading up on how to make cultured butter without having access to raw cream. I ended up finding out that all you have to do to make your own cultured cream is inoculate it with around a Tbl spoon of cultured buttermilk per cup of heavy cream and let it sit in a warm place for around 24 hours,
During the last twelve hours of the cream culturing I made a Levain with 5g chef 100g whole milk and 100g flour. Having never made a levain with milk I wasn't quite sure how it would go, but it turned out just how I hoped and right about peaked right when I was done making the butter.
After letting the cream culture for a day I put it in the fridge to chill it then churned it in a vitamix. after washing the butter I put it back in the fridge and got ready to make the dough.
I mixed the ingredients with a wooden spoon then beat the heck out of it until my arm was really tired then covered the bowl and let it rest for an hour. Then for the next hour I gave it a good few sets of slap and folds followed by rests until the dough finally started to come together, then I put it in the fridge over night (12hrs)
The following morning I pulled the now super firm dough out of the fridge and shaped it into four 300g strands and braided it and put it in my pullman pan, at this point it filled the pan right to half way and proofed it at room temp for 7 hours, by that time the dough had doubled plus just a little.
Right before baking I washed it with a mixture of egg and whole milk then immediately popped it into a oven preheated to 380 and baked it for 40 minutes. I started with it on the middle shelf but it sprung a considerable amount and was getting too brown too fast so I moved it down a level. By the time it was done it was golden brown all over and temped around 208.
This rascal tastes great, super soft and buttery with all sorts of fermentation'y complexity, also you can really taste the cultured butter which lends an almost cheesy taste, more like the smell of raw dairy then cheese but kinda the same. You can't taste the bourbon but you can smell it for sure which I think is almost as good. I'm thinking this loaf has some serious french toast in ints future.
Comments
This loaf looks great and sounds delicious.
I just happen to have some homemade cultured butter in my freezer which I have been saving for holiday breads but now I am wondering why wait for Dec. I have been working on perfecting dense Vollkorn type loaves for the past month and something light and buttery has a lot of appeal right now.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Take Care,
Janet
P.S.
Not sure where you live but whipping cream goes on sale around here around the holidays - organic is almost 1/2 price and making your own cultured butter then becomes less expensive than purchasing it 'ready made'.
It is nice to switch it up sometimes, I very very rarely make enriched breads like this but I never regret it when I do. Thanks for the heads up on the cream it is pricy for sure,
Great looking bread. When you make the french toast, I'd be tempted to make bourbon-spiked maple syrup to go with it.
Fermentation of all different sorts is so amazing, I've been doing the same trick as you for cultured butter for ages, although I just ferment the cream, which makes creme franche. Works even better if you ferment up some buttermilk first, so your microboes are good, active, and happy (think of it like a starter). 1TBS of buttermilk into a pint of milk, leave it out for 24 hours and boom! more buttermilk!
the loaf was eaten to fast to get any french toast out of it but if I had got the chance bourbon maple syrup would of been a necessity.
Creme Fraiche and then you made butter from that! I heat the mix ti 85 F before letting it sit out on the counter to do its thing. I keep Creme Fraiche in the fridge all the time since it won't break under heat and is perfect for those things that need a tart or sour cream flavor where sour cream would break. Never thought of making butter from it though. Nice bread WS. So tall with the perfect crumb and the extra tart cultured butter should really stand out. Well done and happy baking.
It was a really tasty loaf for sure, The butter made all the difference, you outta churn up some of yer creme fraiche next time you bake with butter.
at Bourbon. That sounds amazing! I just made my favorite Bourbon Pecan Pie, but never thought about using it in bread.
I tried my hand in homemade cultured butter, using Cook's Illustrated recipe (with heavy cream). It was easy and fun to make, but, since I can't get really fresh cream from a farm, the butter didn't taste any better than the one from the supermarket.
Karin
thats for sure, and yeah fresh/raw cream makes all the difference, I as well don't currently have access to it but if get my hooks into any anytime soonI'lI try culturing it naturally as opposed to inoculating it with buttermilk.
i'm with Karin, I definitely fell in love at "bourbon"!! We get such a variety of delicious butters here that I've not ventured into making my own, got to put that on my list though! This bread is just beautiful, I bet it has a very short future - it wouldn't last the day in our house, yum!
Oh wow... I've no words to describe how much I want that in my mouth. Brioches, one of my weaknesses, and made with cultured butter! Extra bonus, extra allure.
Thanks for posting your results and the formula. Wish there were more sourdough-based pastries / viennoiseries on this forum.
Zita
(1) To clarify, the levain was fermented for 12 hours?
(2) Do you think a relatively lightly sifted flour (i.e. T85) would suit this recipe at all?
(3) Do you have any recommendations for substituting maple syrup for sugar and omitting the bourbon?
(4) What size was the loaf pan you used?
Beautiful loaf and incredible selection of inspiration in your blog!
Best,
Bradley
the levain was indeed fermented for twelve hours. While using high extraction flour for this type of bread isn't something that immediately occurs to me as a match made in heaven I would also say why the heck not give it a try in all reality it will probably be great, you will probably have to up the hydration somewhere though. I think you could pretty much just leave out the booze and sugar and add a few percent maple. I baked this in a 9x4x4 Pullman pan.
Cool; I may try this within a week or two and get back to you. Thanks for the prompt reply!
and it is crazy good. Used maple and goat milk. Check out my blog if you're interested.
Thanks again, WS!
gave me a lot to think on. This was my first fortified dough, so I have nothing to compare it to. I have access to raw milk and cultured butter, so I was feeling pretty set at the get-go. The mixing, kneading, and bulk fermentation seemed to go just fine. I think I'll omit the booze next time. The final proof after shaping caused a hiccup. I couldn't ever really tell if the dough was rising. I figured that there was so much butter, and the dough was cold coming out of the fridge, perhaps it was taking awhile for the it to relax and the yeast to wake up. After six hours in a 72 degree house, I went to bed and left everything covered on the counter. Six hours later, the dough looked pretty much the same, but a bit puffed. I went ahead and fired it off. Oven spring! The tops hadn't browned after twenty minutes (internal temp read 205F), so I broiled a little color onto them. I had shaped a couple of rolls, and tried one just now. The extra long proof created a mouthwatering sourness to balance the cheesey cultured butter richness. I was thinking of making sliders with some ground chuck and bacon, but these rolls are already intensely rich and complex. I may cut the butter and add some milk next time.
Thanks for the recipe WS. It was a great learning experience.