Naturally Leavened Cultured Butter Maple Brioche

Long-winded title, I know, but I wanted to capture most of the bread in one go. This bread is almost identical to one created by WoodenSpoon a while back, and it has taken me until now to attempt to recreate it. I had goat milk from a friend that needed to be used, some extra cultured butter in the freezer, and I felt it was fitting to try it out!

Again, for those unfamiliar with my posts, ASBF is Artisan Sifted Bread Flour from Lonesome Stone Milling here in WI. The leaven was 20g normal starter, 100g goat milk, and 100g ASBF. The percentage for the leaven is listed by total/flour. So the total flour in the dough is, indeed, 100%.

I was up late by accident after coming home from a friend's party, when inspiration struck and I mixed the leaven, pulled the butter out of the freezer, and went to sleep.

I followed WoodenSpoon's procedure almost exactly, reducing everything by a bit because I was limited by butter available. I had 330g; I scaled back and just used appropriate ratios. After the retardation, the bread took longer than expected to proof properly, but it made up for it in spades with oven spring and gorgeous browning.

I brushed the loaf with a maple-egg wash, and baked at 400 for 20 minutes, rotated the pan, and baked at 380 for the remaining time, about 30 more minutes. The flavor is so, so good. A little dense from the T85-style flour, but incredibly buttery, rich, and pillowy. 

Thanks to WoodenSpoon for the inspiration!