Blueberries and Thyme: Sicilian Sourdough Brioche

This is just too good to not post it. Today (well, starting yesterday actually) I had a go at Sicilian brioche. My husbands family is from southern Italy and one of his fondest childhood memories is having true Italian gelato. And in southern Italy, gelato comes in a brioche bun with a 'tuppo' on top.

This recipe is translated and adapted from a recipe on Il Giallo Zafferano. The original recipe calls for Manitoba flour, a kind of high protein flour made from a soft wheat that is grown in the Manitoba province in Canada. I couldn't find Manitoba flour here, so I used high grade flour which has a high protein content and works well for baking bread.

Ever since I obtained sourdough starter from a friend, I like to use this instead of commercial yeast for my bakes. However, the original recipe does include options to make the brioche with commercial yeast. I also replaced the barley malt, which the original recipe calls for, with a tablespoon of runny honey and it worked perfectly.

About rising times: The original recipes calls 26-28°C "room temperature". This is probably Sicilian summer room temperature but definitely not Auckland room temperature. I tried to shorten the rising times by preheating my oven to 30°C and letting the dough rise in the oven. For the second rise I put the baking tray with the buns on top of my turned on coffee machine. They rose very quickly, more like 2.5h instead of 3-4h which is recommended in the original recipe.

I need to practice putting on the tuppi, because - as you can see - my brioches are rather lopsided. They taste amazing though. Brioche and gelato are a spectacular combination and I highly recommend you give it a try. We filled them with hazelnut and blueberry-mascarpone gelato.

Update: Since posting this for the first time, I have invested in a Brød & Taylor home proofing box. It's amazing and I get much more consistent results. I can definitely recommend it.

Sicilian Sourdough Brioche

makes 4 large brioche buns

for the dough

210 g high grade flour*
50 g white sourdough starter (100% hydration)
55 g egg (1 whole medium egg)
70 g low fat milk
35 g butter at room temperature
40 g sugar**
1 tbsp honey
zest of half an untreated lemon
zest of half an untreated orange
0.5 tbsp of vanilla extract
0.5 g sea salt (a good dash)

for the glaze
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk

Day 1, in the evening (around 7 pm)

1. Starter mix: Add sourdough starter, milk and honey to your food processor bowl and whisk together until it foams.

2. Add flour: Equip your food processor with a dough hook. Mix salt with the flour. Turn the food processor on low (2 on the KitchenAid) and add the flour/salt to the sourdough starter mix. Leave the food processor on low for the next steps.

3. Add sugar: Slowly add the sugar e.g. one tablespoon at at time.

4. Add flavourings: After the sugar is incorporated, add the citrus zest and vanilla extract.

5. Add egg: Whisk the egg. Add it very slowly to the mix while the food processor is still running on low. The egg should be well incorporated before you move to the next step.

6. Add butter: Add the soft butter to the mix.

7. Knead until smooth: When the butter is well incorporated, turn the food processor up to medium low (5 on the Kitchen Aid) and knead until the dough is very smooth and the window pane test is successful (meaning the gluten has developed enough). It took about 13 minutes of kneading, so be patient. You might need to stop the food processor and scrape down the sides a few times.

8. Rest on the bench: Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and leave to rest for about 30 minutes.

9. Perform two sets of fold and stretches and rest: Press the dough into a rectangle. Fold a the left third of the rectangle over to the center. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center on top of the part you folded over just before). Turn the rectangle by 90 degrees and perform another set of folds as described above. Finally shape the dough into a boule and put it back in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a large plate. Leave the dough to rest at room temperature (we're talking Sicilian room temperature, about 26-28°C ) for about an hour. Our house is very cold, so I heated up the oven to about 25°-30°C and left it in there.

10. around 10pm - Let mature in the fridge overnight: After an hour rest put it in the fridge overnight (8-10 hours).

Day 2, in the morning (around 7 am)

1. First rise at room temperature: Take the bowl with the dough out of the fridge. Because this recipe uses sourdough, the rising times are quite long. Again, because my house is cold and I am impatient, I heated up the oven to about 25°-30°C and let it rise in the oven. The dough will start rising only after it has warmed up again. Warming up takes considerable time, 1-2h. Let it rise until it has doubled in size (6h in total for me).

2. Shape the brioche buns: Cut the dough into 4 pieces. Cut a small portion off each piece. Now fold the bigger part as you did with the entire dough the day before. Shape into a ball by cupping your hand over the dough and moving it in a circular motion with the fingers of that hand slightly tucked in. Do the same with the smaller part. With your thumb, push a hole in the middle of the large ball. Put the small ball on top and, at the base of the small ball, push it down into the hole with your thumb.

3. Second rise at room temperature: Transfer the brioche buns to a baking tray lined with parchment paper and cover with a tea towel. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in size. Depending on how warm your house is, somewhere between 2-4h. Mine took 2.5h, but I left the tray on top of the turned on coffee machine, which is a very warm place.

4. Glaze and bake: Preheat your oven to 170°C fan (180°C top and bottom heat). Whisk together the ingredients for the glaze and brush it on the brioche buns. Make sure you don't miss a spot. This will give them the characteristic shine. Bake on the middle shelf for about 16-18 minutes until golden and shiny.

Notes
* Manitoba flour is the best to use, if you can find it. Bread flour or strong flour are good alternatives.
** It's better to use white sugar than e.g. palm sugar because dark sugar would give the dough a dark colour