If you are looking for a traditionally leavened, super soft, lightly sweet, rich dough recipe then this is your lucky day!
I’ve been messing around with this recipe for a few months and even before it was perfect it was sooooo good. The dough is easy to handle, ferments beautifully, and tastes incredible.
I chose the classic braided presentation for my photos but any shape will work well. This rich dough makes wonderful dinner rolls, sweet buns, filled pastries, and brioche.
What is a Rich Dough?
Rich dough is short for a dough that has been enriched. Enrichment is typically done by adding fats and sweeteners. Most often enriched dough or rich dough has whole eggs or egg yolks, butter, milk, and sugar added into the dough too make it soft and sweet. The addition of fats in rich dough also shortens gluten strands making the crumb more tender. Rich doughs are delicious and in this case made even better with healthy real-food fats and unrefined sugar.
Try this bread sliced thin, brushed with butter, and baked for the most delectable toast points you’ve ever had. Serve your toast points with a classic Chicken Liver Pâté or my famous Cranberry Apple Duck Liver Pâté.
Of course my favorite way to eat this bread is sliced and slathered with pastured butter!
The perfect multipurpose rich dough for Challah, rolls, buns, pastry, brioche, and more!
- 1/2 Cup Sourdough Starter (125 grams at 100% hydration)
- 1/2 Cup Butter Melted
- 5 Egg Yolks
- 1/2 Cup Coconut Sugar Or other unrefined sweetener (75 Grams)
- 1 1/2 Teaspoon Salt (12 grams)
- 1 Cup Whole Milk (255 grams)
- 2 Cups Organic All Purpose Flour (300 grams)
- 2 Cups Organic Bread Flour (280 grams)
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 1 Tablespoon Water
Whisk the starter, cooled melted butter, egg yolks, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk until throughly combined.
Add the milk and whisk again.
Using a dough whisk, stir the flour into the liquid in two additions until fully combined.
Let the dough rest for 5 minutes before doing a series of 3-5 stretch and folds with wet hands or a dough whisk.
Repeat the resting and S&F process up to 5 more times.
Cover the bowl and leave it in a cool place overnight. If your house is very warm you will let it double before refrigerating it for the remainder of the time.
Do a stretch and fold of the dough in the bowl to deflate it.
Lightly flour your work surface and turn the dough out on it.
Divide the dough and shape it into your desired shape.
Move your dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Let the dough double.
Preheat your oven to 350°.
Mix the egg yolk and water to make an egg wash. Brush it lightly over the dough covering all exposed areas.
Bake for 25-35 minutes depending on the size of the breads.
Want to learn everything about sourdough? Well, I have the free guide for you!
Hi Courtney,
SO I had lots of ambition this break, and not only tried your English muffin recipe, but 2 types of crackers, and then had this lovely loaf on New Year’s Day…the kids and hubby were beyond impressed! I have a pic to share, if you’d like. I will be making this one again, too, and maybe add more coconut sugar, or maybe stevia, to crank up the sweetness and give the illusion of eating a junkier sweet bread….ha! A small part of me wants to try rolling out each braid piece very thin, smear with nutella, re-roll, then braid. Thanks again and again for sharing recipes that yield such good results!!