Instant Sourdough Brioche

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I’ve used Red Star Yeast in my recipes since the very first book in 2007, so I was super intrigued when they introduced the Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast. It’s the perfect entry into sourdough baking, if you don’t have the days to create a sour starter, nor the hours and hours to let each loaf rise. This yeast contains real sourdough starter, which is activated along with yeast, to create an instant loaf of real sourdough, without the wait. Here is the Brioche recipe from Holiday and Celebration Bread Book made with the Platinum Instant Sourdough. You can use this Super Fast Sourdough Brioche for anything you’d make with Brioche, but it has the extra depth of flavor you get from a sourdough starter. The strength of that flavor will increase as the dough rests and we found that the dough behaved best within the first 3 days of storing it in the refrigerator, after that we froze the dough to use later.

Super Fast Sourdough Brioche

1 1/2 cups (340g) lukewarm water

2 packets Platinum Instant Sourdough – they are larger than a typical yeast packet, because they include a real rye-based sourdough starter and instant yeast with natural enzymes that strengthen the dough so it will rise better.

1 tablespoon kosher salt

6 large eggs, room temperature*

1/2 cup (170g) honey

1 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, melted

7 cups (990g) all-purpose flour

Mix the Platinum Instant Sourdough yeast, salt, eggs, honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or lidded (not airtight) Danish Dough Whisk or Stand Mixer (with paddle attachmnet) until all of the flour is incorporated.

Cover (not airtight), and allow to sit at room temperature for about two hours. *Note: if you don’t use room temperature eggs and warm water, the initial rise can be very slow.

Refrigerate the dough for about 4 hours, before using. The dough can be used as soon as it is chilled. This dough is way too sticky to use after the initial rise, but once it is chilled it is very easy to handle. It can be used to create any brioche recipes: caramel sticky buns, Star Bread, Baked Ham and Cheese Brioche Sandwiches and fabulous doughnuts! The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. After that you can freeze the dough.

The Super Fast Sourdough Brioche can be used for any of the rich breads from the books, including this Chocolate Babka from our Holiday and Celebration Bread Book.

You can watch a video on Super Fast Sourdough Doughnuts on Instagram Video

Note: Red Star Yeast (Lesaffre Corp) sponsored of this post, and supplied yeast for recipe testing.

Note: BreadIn5.com is reader supported. When you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.

23 thoughts to “Instant Sourdough Brioche”

  1. Wow. Thanks for this information and recipe. Now a question, in “The NEW Artisan Bread in 5MD” on page 46 you say sourdough starter works in your recipes….my question now is…can we use a packet of Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast in place of the normal yeast (for basic full batch recipes)? OR do we need to use more than one packet and adjust water or anything else? Thanks so much.

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  4. By any chance is that Instant Sourdough yeast not vegetarian? I purchased some sourdough starter from King Arthur a few years ago and when it arrived, it was labeled with beef in it! I was stunned, to say the least. I looked on the Red Star site and could not find anything one way or another.

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    1. Which of our books are you working from, and what recipe and page number? We have sourdough instructions and I can point you to it.

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    1. Sure, just omit the ordinary yeast from our non-brioche recipes in any of the books, and swap in 2 packets of the instant starter.

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  7. I am intrigued by your recipes and cookbooks! Does your basic brioche recipe in your cookbook, like this sourdough recipe, include honey? Is there a substitute I can use for it? One member, the biggest bread eater, cand absorb fructose, so honey is out for us. White sugar or corn syrup would work better for us.

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  8. Can we use regular sourdough starter instead of instant? Would you subtract 1 c flour and 1c water, and add 2 cups starter? Do you need yeast, too?

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    1. Sure–those all depend on the water content of your starter, and no, you don’t need yeast too (though I often use a little in case my starter isn’t that active).

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  10. The instant sourdough yeast link is no longer valid, and I’m having trouble finding it anywhere but eBay. Can you recommend another source?

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      1. Thank you, Zoe, from a fellow Minnesotan who loves to bake bread. I like the sourdough taste but don’t have the discipline to keep a healthy starter … yet. At my advanced age, I’m learning to work WITH my known shortcomings instead of fighting myself. (grin)
        (By the way, the video ads on your website take up a LOT of real estate, especially on a phone. It’s difficult to read and maneuver around them. Just a comment about user experience.)

      2. Thanks Margo, about starter and flavor–you can get partway there to sourdough flavor if you use some old dough in your new batches. See “Lazy Sourdough Shortcut” in any of our books. About ads and videos–as you can see, there’s a tremendous amount of recipe content here on the website, completely free to visitors, including those who won’t be buyers of our books. As folks who’ve been trying to make part of our living by creating recipe content, and as paper books become less and less the way people acquire recipe content–we’ve had to make peace with using advertising as the way we’re compensated for all this work.

  11. Hi Jeff,

    Wondering what your thoughts are for swapping yeasts in your GF Breads…can I use the Platinum Sourdough Yeast instead?

    Reply

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