CARDAMOM BRIOCHES

After the second lockdown pretty much everyone has had a go at making their own sourdough. Some with more, others with less success. We currently have three sourdough jars in our fridge. Our rye sourdough Eugen, our white lievito madre sourdough Franz and the leftover jar Hans Peter.

The desperation, time and frequent confusion that goes into the process of making ones sourdough is not visible at all when you look at the happily rising and then falling dough lump. It still seems crazy to me that something as simple as sourdough, which consists of nothing more than flour, water and a few million bacteria, can cause so much rage, joy and surprise and produce a magical loaf one moment and a rock-hard pancake the next. Admittedly, even I (Marie) have not yet fully grasped the art of sourdough baking (to be honest, not even close), I mostly hope that whatever I bake with my sourdough will somehow turn out OK...

May I introduce to you our sourdough Franz!

However, after a while I got bored with baking bread with sourdough, especially because I was terribly annoyed when the bread didn't turn out the way I imagined. For this reason, I started to incorporate my sourdough into sweet bakes like panettone, babka and the like. That's eventually how this recipe came about. My mum used to bake incredibly delicious Norwegian cardamom-cinnamon-buns, and I had an insane desire to bake a kind of braided cardamom brioche with sourdough, based on these buns. Admittedly, with a total preparation time of 23+h, the recipe may seem intimidating to some, but as it is usually the case with sourdough, 80% of this overall-time is the bulk and bulk fermentation time of the dough, i.e. time in which you are free as a bird.

The most important thing with this recipe is to manage your time well so that you can make the most of the resting and rising times of the dough so that you don't find yourself sitting at the kitchen table at 1am in the middle of the night braiding brioches (this example is based on true events that happened during the first recipe testing).

Accordingly, here is a small step-by-step guide for this recipe with time details and one or two hopefully useful tips.

Day 1

8:00 a.m.

Prepare your sweet levain

To prepare your sweet levain, mix your mature sourdough, ideally prepared in a 1:1 ratio (water, flour = 100% hydration) with cold plantmilk, wheat flour and sugar. Put it in a glass or a bowl and let the levain rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, which usually takes 2-3 hours. I like to fill my levain into a small jar and mark the starting height with a rubber band, so I can see exactly how high my levain has risen.

The picture shows the ripened levain. You can see from the rubber band that it has more than doubled in size. Now it is perfect for further using it in my bake.

11:00 a.m.

Mixing the main dough PART I

Mix the flour* together with your prepared sweet levain, the COLD milk, the salt, the cardamom and the egg substitute for 2 eggs. For the egg substitute I normally use psyllium husk powder and water. 1tsp psyllium husk powder mixed with 60-100 ml of water makes up for 2 eggs. Leave the dough for short time, about 30 Minutes so that the flour and milk can combine (Autolyse). It is important that the milk is cold so the dough does not get too warm during the long kneading.

*TIP: The right flour

When it comes to baking, flour is always a question of choice. For me, type specifications and other specifics that are often given on flour packaging are still totally confusing and I have to look up which flour I actually need every time before I go shopping. So here's a quick tip or flour recommendation for this recipe: Basically, American bread flour would be best for this recipe, but since you can't buy it almost anywhere in Europe, I recommend the following wheat flour for this recipe:

Germany: Type 550

For example from Spielbergermühle (available in organic food shops) or Naturaland from DM.

Austria: Type W700

There's not really much choice, as most wheat flours in Austria are type 480, so we usually have the one from Finis Feinstes (Weizenmehl glatt) at home or the type 550 flour from DM.

Italy: 00 flour or Manitoba

In Italy, most brioches and sweet pastries are baked with Manitoba flour, a special flour made from Manitoba wheat. The flour is particularly sticky and is therefore well suited for fluffy baked goods with a long rising time. The flour actually comes from Canada and the USA, in Europe you can hardly find it in supermarkets except in Italy, where you can get it in almost every supermarket. That's why I always bring 10 kg of Manitoba flour to Austria after I've been home during the summer holidays. Of course, you can also just order it online to save yourself the trouble with the customs officials ;)

11:30 a.m.

Mixing the main dough PART II

Atach the dough hook to your kitchen machine and knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes until soft. Then slowly add in the softened butter, one at a time.

Knead the dough on medium speed for 15 to 25 minutes. After kneading, the dough must pass the so-called window test. What does this mean? Well you either take out a piece of the dough or pull up a portion of the whole dough and stretch the dough between your two hands so that you can almost see through it, like a window.

If the dough cracks or is still quite unstable and fibrous (picture, above left) it means that it has not been kneaded enough, in which case you should simply knead it for another 5 minutes. When it can be stretched out, is smooth and elastic as in the second picture above, it is ready for further processing.

12:00 Noon

Now place the dough in a clean bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 2h.

2:00 p.m. Afternoon

After 2 hours of proofing at room temperature, place the dough in the fridge for the next 6 hours. If you like, you can now prepare the filling for the brioches. First you need to take your vegan butter/margarine out of the fridge for it to soften. When the vegan butter/margarine is soft, simply put it in a bowl, add the brown sugar and cardamom and mix with a fork until a spreadable 'cream' forms. Leave at room temperature until ready to use.

8:00 p.m. Evening

Remove the dough from the fridge and place on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out evenly to a 50x30 cm rectangular surface. Now pour the prepared cardamom filling onto the rolled out dough and spread it evenly in a thin layer.

There may be some leftover filling, as it really should be spread as thinly as possible to make it easier to plait the brioches afterwards.

Fold the dough in half on the left (see pictures below) and then fold the right half completely over the left. Carefully roll out again with a rolling pin (to approx. 55x20cm). If the dough is already too soft, place it in the fridge for another 15 minutes too cool down again and firm up a little.

Finally, cut the dough into 12 pieces of 5-6cm each. Then divide each piece into three strands again, but leave the top end of the piece whole (see photo).

Now braid the strands into a plait, pick it up and press the ends of the strand together and place the finished brioche bun in a lightly greased muffin tin. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough until all 12 brioches are formed. Cover the brioches with cling film and leave to rise at room temperature overnight (9-12h) to final size.

DAY 2

8:00 a.m. The next morning

Preheat the oven to 180° convection. Once the oven is preheated, remove the cling film and place the muffin tray with the brioches in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. In the meantime, prepare the cardamom glaze by placing the 3 ingredients in a saucepan and simmering over medium heat for 5 minutes.

The last and final step is to brush the finished cardamom brioches with the cardamom glaze (2-3 times) as soon as they come out of the oven.

And that is it. For those who find the length of the recipe a bit intimidating, I can only say: DARE! Nothing can go dramatically wrong and the end result is definitely worth the 23 hour wait, believe me. So get your sourdough ready and get going! Have fun with the recipe!

Total time: 23+h

Preparation time: 1 1/2h

Ingredients

FOR THE SWEET LEVAIN

45g active sourdough starter (100% hydration)
45g cold plantmilk
45g wheat flour type W700 (OE), type 550 (D), Manitoba flour (I), bread flour (USA/UK)
10g sugar

FOR THE MAIN DOUGH

145g sweet levain
550g wheat flour type W700 (OE), type 550 (D), Manitoba flour (I), bread flour (USA/UK)
90g sugar
10g salt
2g cardamom (1 tsp)
250g plantmilk(cold)
2 psyllium husk 'eggs' (= 1tsp psyllium husk powder mixed with 60-100ml of water)
110g vegan butter/ vegan block/ or margarine (soft)

FOR THE CARDAMOM FILLING

100g vegan butter (room temperature)
90g brown sugar
1½ tsp cardamom

FOR THE CARDAMOM GLAZE

50g brown sugar
50g water
1g cardamom

PREPARATION

1) Mix the ingredients for thesweet levain together, pour the sweet levain into a jar or bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 2-4 hours until the dough has doubled in volume.

2) For the main dough, mix all the ingredients (except the butter) at medium speed until combined. Leave the dough covered for 30 minutes.

3) Fit the dough hook into your kitchen machine and knead the dough again for 5-10 minutes. Then gradually add in the soft vegan butter pieces and knead in.

4) Continue to knead the dough on medium speed for 15-25 minutes.

5) Place the dough in a clean bowl and leave to rise in a warm place, for 2 hours (covered).

6) After 2 hours of proofing at room temperature, place the dough in the fridge for at least 6 hours.

7) Remove the dough from the fridge and let it stand at room temperature for 10-15 minutes to warm up.

8) Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients for the cardamom filling together in a bowl until you have a smooth, spreadable paste.

9) Place the dough on the work surface, dust with a bit of flour and roll out to a 50x30 cm rectangle.

10) Spread the filling thinly, then fold the dough over by half then fold the other half over (see picture instructions above). Carefully roll out the dough again (55x20cm). If the dough is already too soft, place it in the fridge for another 15 minutes.

11) Cut the dough into 12 strips of 5-6 cm each.

12) Cut each strip again into 3 parts (leave the upper end whole) and braid into a plait. Press the two ends of the plait together and place in the shape of a greased muffin tin. Repeat with all the other strips of dough until you have used up all the dough.

13) Cover the brioches with cling film and leave to rise at room temperature for a further 7-12 hours.

14) After the last rise, preheat the oven to 180°C and bake the cardamom brioches for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

15) Meanwhile, put all the ingredients for the glaze in a saucepan and let simmer over a medium heat for 5 minutes.

16) Brush the cardamom brioches with the glaze as soon as they come out of the oven.