Sourdough Brioche Buns

    I feel like homemade dinner rolls are the top their of midwest baking, and when they are sourdough... well lets just say you will be the envy of all the stay at home moms. The catch is they have to be good. Like you'd rather eat it than a Hawaiian roll from the store good. They have to be light and fluffy without being dry and for years now I have not been able to figure it out. My rolls either end up light and fluffy but try to suffocate you with every bite due to it being so dry, or they aren't dry but they are dense and feel like a brick in your stomach. The closest I could get to the perfect dinner roll were my Hamburger Buns, and although they were great for a burger, they had a little too much structure for a dinner roll. I also wanted to add the challenge of using sourdough instead of store-bought yeast. 

    After some instagram scrolling, I saw all of the things people make with brioche dough. Bread loaves, buns, danishes, and more! That got me thinking... I bet that a sourdough brioche dinner roll would be amazing! I immediately got started on creating a recipe by scouring Pinterest for what makes a brioche dough different from a normal bread dough and then implemented the modifications into one of my sourdough recipes. 

    One of the similarities I saw between all of the sourdough brioche recipes is that it needs a stiff starter. Because this dough has so many extras such as egg and milk it needs a starter with a little more structure. I make my stiff starter by mixing together some of my starter at its peak with bread flour, water, and a little bit of sugar. The texture was almost like a stiff bread dough. I then covered my stiff starter and let it rise for about 6 hours until it was double the size it was before. The time you let it sit for can differ a ton based on how cold or warm your house is so it could be ready in anywhere from 4-8 hours.

    When my stiff starter was ready, I got going on making my dough. I first mixed together my stiff starter with eggs, and milk. I like to start with my liquids so that the starter doesn't clump up as much in my dry ingredients and is a little better dispersed. I mixed my wet with the starter until my starter didn't really have any clumps left. Then, I added in my flour, sugar, and salt and mixed everything again until I had a shaggy dough. I added in my soft butter last by cutting it up and kneading it in. I stop kneading when the dough starts to get a little hard to work with and cover it with a damp washcloth or plastic wrap. Don't worry if your butter isn't mixed in all of the way, it'll get mixed in more later. 

    After about 30 minutes of letting my covered dough rest, I start stretch and folds. I do this by gently grabbing one side of the dough, stretching it up as far as I can without ripping it, and folding over itself. I then turn my bowl 90 degrees and repeat until I have made it all around my bowl. For the first two rounds of stretch and folds I usually make it around my bowl a few times where with the last round or two I will just go once around. Stretch and folds help develop your gluten so that it puffs up a bit better. So, you can tell if you need to do more or less based on how elastic your dough is. If your dough is still sticky and gives very little resistance, you need to do more stretch and folds. However, when your dough starts to give a little more resistance and you can actually lift it all out of the bowl by grabbing one side, you know that your gluten is developed. I like to do 3 rounds of stretch and folds with 20 minutes in between. For the first round I stretch and fold about 8-12 times. For the second round I do it about 8, and the last one I do around 4-8. 

    When my dough is all stretched and folded I cover it up with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm spot for 4-6 hours or until it has risen to double the size it started as. You want it to be slightly rounded at the top. If it is super domed you could probably let it rise for a while longer. However, if the top of your dough is flat or just barely rounded around the edges, you might have over proofed it. You DO NOT want it to get over proofed. As of writing this post, I don't have a solution for over proofed dough so make sure you are always reading your dough more than the clock. 

    After my dough has proofed I get shaping. I like to use a 9x13 baking dish and make 12 rolls that are closer to the size of a hamburger bun so can divide them into smaller rolls if you want. You can also weigh out your dough if you want to get super precise but that is also not necessary. To shape my rolls, I just break off a piece from the main dough lump, flatten it, and pinch the sides together. I then place the roll in my pan with the pinched side down. Covering my rolls with my pan's lid or some plastic wrap, I put my pan of rolls in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours or overnight to cold ferment. 

    Bright and early in the morning the next day I preheat my oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and take my rolls out of the refrigerator. I like to let my rolls sit out while my oven is preheating so they have time to return to room temperature. I have found that it helps them stay fluffy. While my oven is preheating, I also make an egg wash by beating together one egg with one tablespoon of water. I use a culinary brush to spread my egg wash all over the tops of all of my buns. 

    Now is the time for the best part! I  bake my buns for 40-45 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. While they are baking they fill my house with the BEST fresh baked bread smell that is a little sweet and a little tangy. Honestly, part of me wants to make these daily just for the yummy smells! After my rolls are done baking, I let them cool for about 20 minutes. 

    I love to eat these warm with whipped honey cinnamon butter, dipped in a bowl of soup, or just all by themselves! They are so easy to make and never fail to impress. I am never going back to storebought dinner rolls! 

    What did you think of this recipe? What should I make next? Leave me a comment!