Braided Sweet Sourdough Butter and Egg Bread Recipe

Sometimes you want a sweet bread recipe, but you don’t want to betray your beloved sourdough starter. You love making homemade sourdough bread, but are there some sweet sourdough recipes?? Can we have both?? Why yes, yes we can! This Braided Sweet Sourdough Butter and Egg Bread recipe is made with a sweet sourdough starter or a stiff starter, as it’s called. 

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This Braided Sweet Sourdough Butter and Egg Bread is so pretty in braid form with a glossy golden brown from the egg wash. It goes perfectly with dinner, or for little finger sandwiches, or the dough can be used as a base for other sweet dough recipes like Sourdough cinnamon rolls or other filled breads. The butter and egg in this sweet bread recipe make it a rich dough. It really is a scrumptious bread with a soft crumb!

What Is a Stiff Starter?

A stiff starter has half the hydration (water) than the amount of flour. This reduces the vinegary tang of sourdough and gives you a very mild sweet sourdough. With normal sourdough bread recipes we start with an active sourdough starter with 100% hydration (meaning equal parts flour and water.)

With this recipe we make a stiff starter the night before. You can also add a bit of sugar to the stiff starter to help give it a boost. The wild yeast in your sourdough starter feeds off the sugar and gives it a good rise. Making a stiff starter out of your sourdough starter is a great way to get the benefits of sourdough, but still satisfy your sweet tooth with a sweet, rich dough. My kids also appreciate the sourdough recipes that don’t taste sour!

What Temperature Should Liquid Be For Bread Baking?

Temperature is important when working with sourdough (wild yeast) and active dry yeast. If you add the yeast to liquid that is too hot it will kill the yeast. For this recipe the milk will be heated to melt butter and dissolve sugar, but it will be cooled before we add the yeast. When we scald the milk we are going to heat it up just until it starts to steam – about 180 degrees. Once you see steam, take it off the heat and add butter and sugar to hot milk. Remember, you will need to wait until the milk mixture has cooled slightly before adding your starter. Your milk mixture should be 100-110 degrees, or if you stick your finger in the liquid it will feel warm, but not burn you.

Kneading Bread

This recipe can be either mixed and kneaded by hand (like my grandmother) or it can be done in a stand mixer. Either works great. It just depends on if you want an arm workout for the day or not. I usually use my kitchen aid with a dough hook and have the machine knead it for me with this recipe. But it is kind of fun to knead by hand! 

Rise Times For Braided Sweet Sourdough Butter and Egg Bread Recipe

This bread rises beautifully (as long as your sourdough starter is good and healthy.) The first rise takes between 4-8 hours for the dough rise to double. The second rise (after the dough is formed into a braided loaf) takes about 2-3 hours. It all depends on how warm your home is and even the time of year. Baking bread in Summer, with warmer temperatures, will give you a quicker rise for bread. If your home is cool, you can use your oven to proof your bread. Either you can use the Proof setting, if your oven has that, or you can place a bowl of boiled water in the oven (that is not on) and place your dough in and close the oven door. 

How To Shape Braided Sweet Sourdough Butter and Egg Bread

After the first rise, when the dough has doubled in size, punch the dough down in the bowl. Divide Dough into thirds with your bench scraper. Roll out each of the portions into about a 14 inch log. Line them up in the middle of your prepared baking pan that is lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Take the log on the far right and fold over top the middle log and replacing that log with the middle one. Now take the far left one and move that over top of the middle and replace it. Keep doing that until you come to the end of the strands. Tuck the ends under the loaf on each side. 

How To Store Braided Sweet Sourdough Butter and Egg Bread

Keep bread in a sealed bag for best freshness. This sweet sourdough bread will stay fresh about 3-4 days at room temperature. It can also be placed in the freezer. Wrap in plastic wrap and seal in ziploc freezer bag if freezing. Use within 3 months. 

Ingredients you’ll need

To get started making this recipe, you’ll first want to gather all your ingredients first.

Here is what you’ll need for Stiff Starter (made the night before):

Here is what you’ll need:

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1: Make Stiff Starter the night before.

• 50 grams Sourdough Starter
• 60 grams Water
• 120 grams Flour
• 24 grams Sugar

The next morning your stiff starter will have doubled. It is ready when you see lots of bubbles all around and under the jar and it has double. 

Your stiff starter should look like the jar below on the left after it has doubled and is ready to use. Look at those beautiful bubbles! The sourdough starter on the right was fed at the same time with 100% hydration (same amount of water and flour.)

Step 2: Scald milk over stove top or microwave. Slice butter and place in heated milk along with the sugar. Stir until butter is melted. Pour milk, melted butter, and white sugar into bowl of your stand mixer.

Step 3: Once your milk mixture has cooled to to below 110 degrees (or is comfortable to your finger,) add all of your stiff starter and blend with dough hook to incorporate starter into warm liquid. 

Step 4: Add egg, salt, and flour 1 cup at a time, with the mixer on low speed, until dough pulls away from bowl and is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl, that will be about 2 3/4 – 3 cups. Knead in a stand mixer on medium speed (or turn out on a clean surface if kneading by hand) for 5 minutes until soft and elastic.

Step 5: Form dough into a ball and place dough in a greased large mixing bowl, cover with a tea towel, and let rise until double in a warm place for about 4-8 hours.

Step 6: After the first rise, turn out onto your work surface and let dough rest for 10 minutes. Divide dough into three equal pieces and roll into about 14 inch logs. Place on a baking sheet prepared with a piece of parchment paper or silicone mat and form into a braid. Cover and let rise again for about 2-3 hours.

Step 7: When the braid has doubled in size, brush with egg wash and bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

I hope you enjoy this Braided Sweet Sourdough Butter and Egg Bread Recipe!

Braided Sweet Sourdough Butter and Egg Bread Recipe

This Braided Sweet Sourdough Butter and Egg Bread recipe is so pretty in braid form with a glossy golden brown from the egg wash. It goes perfectly with dinner, or for little finger sandwiches, or the dough can be used as a base for other sweet rolls recipes like Sourdough cinnamon rolls or other filled breads. It really is a scrumptious bread with a soft crumb!

Print Recipe

Prep Time:30 minutes mins

Cook Time:15 minutes mins

Rise Time:6 hours hrs

Total Time:6 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Ingredients

Stiff Starter made the night before

• 50 grams Sourdough Starter
• 60 grams Water
• 120 grams Flour
• 24 grams Sugar
• 3/4 cup milk
• 6 Tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• All of stiff starter
• 1 egg
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 3/4- 3 cups of all purpose flour
• egg wash – 1 egg 1 T water

Instructions

Make stiff starter the night before.

• Feed 50 grams of starter 60 grams of water, 120 grams of flour, and 24 grams of sugar.

Instructions for making the bread the next day

• The next morning your stiff starter will have doubled. It is ready when you see lots of bubbles all around and under the jar and it has double.
• Scald milk over stove top or microwave.
• Slice butter and place in heated milk along with the sugar. Stir until butter is melted.
• Pour milk, melted butter, and white sugar into bowl of your stand mixer. Once your milk mixture has cooled to to below 110 degrees (or is comfortable to your finger), add all of your stiff starter and blend with dough hook to incorporate starter into warm liquid. 
• Add egg, salt, and flour 1 cup at a time, with the mixer on low speed, until dough pulls away from bowl and is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl, that will be about 2 3/4 cups.
• Knead in a stand mixer on medium speed (or turn out on a clean surface if kneading by hand) for 5 minutes until soft and elastic.
• Form dough into a ball and place dough in a greased large mixing bowl, cover with a tea towel, and let rise until double in a warm place for about 4-8 hours.
• After the first rise, turn out onto your work surface and let dough rest for 10 minutes. Divide dough into three equal pieces and roll into about 14 inch logs. Place on a baking sheet prepared with a piece of parchment paper or silicone mat and form into a braid. Cover and let rise again for about 2-3 hours.
• When the braid has doubled in size, brush with egg wash and bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Notes

Substitutions

Sugar: You can substitute honey or any sweetener of choice

All-purpose flour: You can substitute with bread flour, but you may need to add more water. The bread may end up being a bit less fluffy and more chewy. You can also use wheat flour, but only substitute half of the flour for wheat and the rest all purpose flour.

For even more delicious recipes, you may like these:

Easy Sourdough Sandwich Bread with Honey and Oats

Quick Sourdough Pizza Dough

Best Sourdough Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting