Sourdough Brioche by Make It Dough

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Make this classic French bread in your home kitchen. Buttery, rich with a pillowy, tender crumb, this Sourdough Brioche is the tastiest sandwich bread you’ll ever have. In this recipe, I’ll share how you can make fluffy, soft brioche using your sourdough starter with no commercial yeast.

Sliced loaf of brioche on cutting board with butter and plates in the background

Jump to:

What is Brioche?
What to eat with sourdough brioche
Baking brioche with sourdough starter
Using a sweet stiff starter
Brioche ingredients
Step-by-step instructions
How to make sourdough brioche in a stand mixer
How to make no-knead brioche
What is the Windowpane Test?
Recipe FAQs
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Sourdough Brioche

What is Brioche?

Brioche is a classic French bread with a buttery, tender crumb. It's made with a rich enriched dough with lots of eggs and butter, resulting in a bake that’s a cross between a pastry and bread. Brioche has a much finer crumb and softer texture than a regular loaf of sourdough bread.

Brioche dough is incredibly versatile and can be shaped in various ways! Traditionally, it is baked in a fluted round tin with a small ball on top, known as Brioche à tête. Here I’ll be shaping mine into a sandwich loaf. This dough can even be shaped into rolls to make sourdough brioche buns. It’s also often used as the base for rich and fluffy babka or sticky buns.

3 brioche bread slices on a cutting board

What to eat with sourdough brioche

Tearing pillowy soft pieces of freshly-baked Sourdough Brioche is heavenly. My favorite way to enjoy it is on its own, but it's also delicious when used in grilled cheese sandwiches, smeared with garlic butter or toasted with butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. Day-old brioche makes the most delicious French toast or Bostock Pastry.

Baking brioche with sourdough starter

Sourdough deepens the flavor of any bread but it especially transforms the flavor of buttery brioche. Eggs, milk, sugar and butter have a tenderizing effect on gluten which impart characteristic soft, pillow texture of brioche. These ingredients also drastically slow down fermentation. Expect sourdough brioche dough to rise slower than usual, the initial rise for my dough normally takes about 8 hours, twice the amount of time I usually bulk ferment a basic loaf of sourdough.

Short on time? Try my Sourdough Discard Challah recipe!

baked brioche loaf on a wood cutting board

Using a sweet stiff starter

I like to use a sweet stiff starter when making enriched bread like brioche. A stiff starter is fed with a higher percentage of flour as a 100% hydration or liquid starter. Most of the hydration for this brioche comes from the eggs and milk, and using a low-hydration starter allows me to control the amount of additional liquid added to the recipe. This also enables me to add a higher proportion of starter to my dough, which helps the dough rise quicker. Adding sugar to the starter limits bacterial activity and acid build-up which reduces sourness.

Having a mature active sourdough starter is especially important for making sourdough brioche. Fermentation would occur too slowly if you used a weak starter, which could cause acidification, causing the gluten in your dough to break down. If this happens, dough will tear as it rises and will be unable to collect and hold on to the carbon dioxide that’s built up during fermentation. As a result, your brioche will be dense, heavy and gummy.

Looking for more soft, fluffy bread recipes made with sourdough? Try my Sourdough Dinner Rolls, Sourdough Babka, Sourdough Japanese Milk Bread, Sourdough Hamburger Buns, Sourdough Sticky Buns and Sourdough Monkey Bread.

Brioche ingredients

Active Sweet Stiff Starter: Make sure your sourdough starter is active before making this recipe! Your brioche will be too sour, heavy, and dense if you use a weak starter. I like to mix my starter the night before creating this recipe.
Cane Sugar: Organic cane sugar is produced using more sustainable methods, so I prefer using it in my bakes, it can be substituted 1:1 for granulated sugar in any recipe.
Bread Flour: The high protein content of bread flour provides structure and allows dough to hold its shape as it rises even with all of the enrichments in the dough, substitute all-purpose flour if that’s all you have. Do not use whole wheat or rye flour or your brioche will turn out too dense.
Milk: Softens gluten and imparts richness. Substitute your favorite plant-based milk.
Eggs: You’ll need 4 large eggs for this recipe. Three egg for the dough and one for egg wash.
Salt: Use sea salt or kosher salt for the best results.
Unsalted butter: Use soft but cold butter for this recipe, butter that’s too warm tends to be greasy and may impart an oily quality to your brioche.

Step-by-step instructions

bubbly sourdough starter in a glass bowl

1. Make the sweet stiff starter the night before mixing your dough

hand whisking eggs and milk together in a white bowl

2. Whisk together eggs, milk and sugar

3. Stir in the flour, salt and sourdough starter, until the mixture forms a shaggy dough

pat of butter on top of shaggy dough inside white bowl

4. Knead the butter in 1 tablespoon at a time

hands holding dough on wooden cutting board

5. Perform 3 to 4 sets of slap and folds to strengthen the dough

risen sourdough brioche dough inside glass bowl

6. Allow the dough to ferment until it has doubled in volume

hands rounding dough bowl with shaped loaf in loaf pan

7. Shape the dough, cover loaf pan with plastic wrap and cold proof overnight

Hand holding pastry brush brushing egg wash on dough inside loaf pan

8. Brush tops of the dough with egg wash and bake at 350F for 40 to 45 minutes

How to make sourdough brioche in a stand mixer

If you’re uncomfortable with working with sticky, slack dough, use a mixer.

Add eggs, milk, sugar, salt and sourdough starter into the mixing bowl and stir to combine with the paddle attachment.
Switch to the dough hook, and with the mixer on, add the flour in a third at a time.
Once the dough comes together into a cohesive mass, add the butter in a tablespoon at a time with the mixer on.
Continue mixing until the dough looks smooth and begins to climb on the hook, this could take up to 15 minutes, don’t be tempted to add more flour.
Gather the dough into a tight ball and transfer it into a clean bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and ferment.

How to make no-knead brioche

This is a wet and sticky dough that’s almost impossible to knead. To make this dough by hand and to create strength I found that slap and folds were more effective than kneading. Slap and fold also known as a French fold is a technique commonly used for high-hydration dough that's difficult to handle.

Turn the dough out on a clean work surface
Gently pick up the dough with your fingertips
Slap the dough on the work surface with some force
Fold the dough over itself and tuck it underneath itself

Perform 3 or 4 sets in 30-minute intervals, until your dough passes the windowpane test.

What is the Windowpane Test?

The windowpane test demonstrates the strength of the gluten network. To see if your dough is strong enough, you should be able to stretch a piece of dough thin enough to see the outline of your fingers through it without tearing.

hands stretching dough out thinly until translucent

Recipe FAQs

What does sourdough brioche taste like?

Sourdough Brioche is buttery and slightly sweet. Sourdough adds a nuanced character which balances its richness. Using an active sweet stiff starter tames the sour qualities of sourdough and prevents your brioche from becoming too sour.

What makes a brioche different to most breads?

Brioche is made with a rich dough that includes a high proportion of milk, eggs and butter. These ingredients tenderize gluten which results in bread that has a fine crumb with a soft and pillowy texture.

Is brioche better with bread flour or all-purpose flour?

Bread flour holds its structure and is able to hold its shape as it rises without collapsing in the oven even with all of its enrichments.

Why is my brioche so dense and gummy?

There are a few reasons your brioche did not turn out light and fluffy.

1. Your starter is too weak
2. You did not give your dough enough time to rise
3. Your dough was not kneaded enough and the dough is too weak
4. Your dough has acidified and the gluten has broken down

Soft Buttery No-Knead Sourdough Brioche Bread