Super Soft Brioche with Nutella and Salted Caramel made with sourdough starter after trying many brioche recipes all very valid like this one I wanted to try the famous water roux. Water roux is a preparation of water and flour used to make doughs softer.
I often watched Japanese videos where this pre-dough is called tang zhong and I was amazed at the final result. Brioche and buns soft like clouds, so I decided to try it always using sourdough starter, but I will leave as always for those who do not use it the conversion with fresh yeast.
Preparing the water roux is very simple and a food thermometer can help but is not essential.
For lovers of leavened doughs, I also suggest
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 5 Hours
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 12 brioches
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
The ingredients for the filling can also vary according to your taste. I used Nutella and salted caramel, but you can use whatever you prefer among creams and jams, or you can keep them plain.
- 0.88 oz all-purpose flour
- 0.5 cup water
- 3.53 oz Manitoba flour
- 14.11 oz all-purpose flour
- 5.29 oz sourdough starter (active)
- 3.53 oz sugar
- 0.71 oz honey
- 2 eggs
- 2.7 tbsp milk (lukewarm)
- 2.47 oz butter (softened)
- 1 pinch salt
- 5.29 oz Manitoba flour
- 15.87 oz all-purpose flour
- 0.11 oz fresh yeast
- 3.53 oz sugar
- 0.71 oz honey
- 2 eggs
- 0.33 cup milk (lukewarm)
- 2.65 oz butter (softened)
- 1 pinch salt
- to taste Nutella®
- to taste caramel (salted)
Tools
The brioche dough could be made by hand, but it requires a lot of strength and a long kneading process for which I recommend using a stand mixer. If you don’t have one, you can proceed by hand; they will still turn out great, it just requires a bit of strength.
- 1 Stand Mixer Howork
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Pastry Cutter
Preparation
I recommend preparing the water roux in advance because it needs to cool. You could even prepare it the night before and keep it in the fridge, always covered with plastic wrap.
Preparing the water roux is very simple: put the flour in a saucepan, add the water while stirring with a fork to avoid lumps. Bring the saucepan to the heat and wait, while stirring, for the water roux to reach 149°F. If you don’t have a thermometer, just turn off the heat when you see the mixture gel, it will take less than 2 minutes.
Put the obtained water roux in a glass or ceramic container and cover it with plastic wrap to cool, as you can see from the photo the wrap must adhere completely to the dough because it shouldn’t form a crust while cooling.
Place the flour into the stand mixer bowl along with all the water roux and start mixing slowly, add the broken up sourdough starter, sugar, and honey. While continuing to mix, add the whole eggs one at a time, waiting for the first to be absorbed before adding the second. Then, continue by adding the lukewarm milk a little at a time, the salt, and finally the softened butter, adding it piece by piece. Consider that for a good elastic dough, it will take at least 20 minutes to add and combine all the ingredients.
When the dough is ready, place it in a rising container, it can be a box with a lid like I use or a bowl. The important thing is to seal it well with plastic wrap. Whatever container you use, grease it with a little oil and make folds in the dough with your hand before letting it rest.
The dough should rise until it doubles, it usually takes about 4 hours. However, you can use the refrigerator to help if you need to go out. You can bring the dough, after at least half an hour at room temperature, to the fridge, always covered, and wait for it to double or until you return to take it out of the fridge. In any case, you should roll out the dough only if it has doubled, do not do it before because the brioche will not rise.
When the dough has doubled, place it on a lightly floured work surface. It will be a nice soft and shiny dough as you can see in the photo, and you can fold it over itself again with simple rotary hand movements. Lightly flour the surface too, and with the help of the rolling pin, roll it out into a large rectangle.
Once you’ve created your rectangle, just a few millimeters thick, spread Nutella over the entire surface and then do the same with the caramel, being careful not to use too much caramel or it will be difficult to shape your brioche.
Now, using a smooth pastry cutter, create the triangles with which you will form your brioche. I cut them quite large, but I suggest dividing the dough in half and for each half making at least 6 triangles.
Once your brioche is formed, place them on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper, making sure to leave space between each as they will rise. Let your brioche rest for about an hour or a little less, always covered with a cloth.
Before baking your brioche, brush them with slightly beaten egg yolk using a fork.
Bake in a preheated oven at 356°F for about 15 minutes, or until golden. The cooking time obviously varies depending on the size of your brioche.
NOTES
You will be amazed by the softness of these brioche, which will stay quite soft for a couple of days if kept in sealed food bags. You can also heat them for a few seconds in the microwave and they will be perfect again. You can also freeze them and take them out a few hours before consuming.
I filled them with Nutella and salted caramel because it’s a combination I love, but you can use only Nutella or change the cream. You can also add crushed nuts.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does using fresh yeast halve the rising times?
I love long fermentation, so in the recipe, I only included 3g of fresh yeast, therefore the times remain long, but if you want to halve them, increase the fresh yeast to at least 12g.
Can I fill these brioche with savory fillings?
Certainly, the natural dough is sweet enough to remind you of brioche bread, so you could easily make simple brioche and fill them with cold cuts and savory creams.
