Butter, butter and more butter! This butter brioche with sourdough definitely lives up to its name. It contains 50 per cent butter (200g to 400g flour). If you think that’s a lot, let me tell you: 70 or even 90 per cent is not unusual for French brioche. This sourdough brioche is therefore a kind of entry-level model into the world of butter brioche. If you have any experience with recipes that contain more than 50 per cent butter, please let me know in the comments. Maybe I’ll be a bit braver the next time I try it. With so much butter, it’s definitely worth using the best butter you can find.
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Why you should definitely try this butter brioche
- It works without yeast and only with sourdough.
- The brioche tastes buttery and rich, yet is light and fluffy.
- The brioche consists of a few ingredients that you usually have at home.
- Stale brioche slices can be transformed into bostock.
- You can leave the dough to rest overnight.
Fluffy brioche with Tangzhong – an alternative to butter brioche
If you prefer to start with less butter, why not try this brioche recipe? The recipe makes do with 15 per cent butter and a Tangzhong ensures that the brioche is still soft and fluffy. The dough is also a little firmer and is therefore more suitable for Easter braids.

Bostock – Gratinated brioche slices
Thanks to the sourdough, the butter brioche stays fresh and moist for a few days. If you still have a few slices left over after that, you should definitely turn them into bostock. Bostock is like French toast, only much better. The stale slices are soaked in syrup, topped with jam, fresh fruit and the French almond cream frangipane and baked until crispy. Frangipane is also used to make crispy almond croissants.
Ingredients: What you need for French butter brioche with sourdough
- Wheat flour: Bread flour is best for your challah.
- Water (lukewarm).
- Sugar for sweetness.
- Sourdough starter: The sourdough doesn’t have to be freshly fed, but it shouldn’t have been more than a week since it was last refreshed. If you have discard left over, I have the right recipes for you here. I feed my sourdough with equal parts water and flour. For the flour, I use a mixture of wheat flour and wholegrain rye flour. If you feed your sourdough with a different water-to-flour ratio, you will need to adjust the amount of water in the recipe accordingly.
- egg
- Butter (soft): Because the recipe contains so much butter, it is worth making sure it is good quality.
In three steps: How to make the French butter brioche
- Mix all the ingredients to form a dough and leave to rest.
- Shape the dough and place in a greased loaf tin, cover and leave to rest.
- Preheat the oven and bake the butter brioche.
Helpful tools – My recommendations
✨ The links with an star* are affiliate links. If you click on one of these links and buy something, I get a small commission and you support my work (thanks for that 🧡). This does not change the price for you. You can find more information on privacy policy here.✨
- A Danish Whisk* – especially if you don’t use a kitchen machine. This allows you to mix your ingredients without the whole dough sticking to the spoon.
- A kitchen scale*.
- You can use a stainless steel dough knife* to cut your dough pieces or shape your loaves.
- A stainless steel loaf tin*.
- A wooden rolling pin*.
- A steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven mould* and lava stones*. The tray is filled with the stones and placed on the bottom of the oven during preheating. When you put your bread in the oven, pour hot water onto the stones. This creates steam, which ensures that your bread rises well.
- A cooling rack* for bread, rolls and waffles.
- A stainless steel toaster* for slices of bread, toast and rolls.
You can find more product recommendations here.
More sourdough brioche
Soft Sourdough Challah Bread Recipe with Pumpkin
Did you know that you can serve braided brioche not only at Easter, but also in the fall? Today I have an autumnal sourdough challah with pumpkin for you. The recipe doesn’t use industrial yeast and only the sourdough makes it fluffy and soft. You can prepare the…
Sourdough Easter Bread with Almonds and Raisins
A soft and fluffy Easter bread is a must at every Easter brunch. This recipe with sourdough contains almonds and raisins (or other dried fruit) and stays fresh and tasty for a long time thanks to the yogurt in the dough. You can leave the dough to rest overnight in…
Homemade Sourdough Brioche with Poppy Seed Filling
Homemade poppy seed brioche is a must at every Easter brunch. This sourdough brioche with a sweet poppy seed filling is made without yeast or eggs. If you replace the milk in the dough with a plant-based alternative, the Easter brioche will be vegan. Poppy seed…

How to Make Your own French Sourdough Butter Brioche
Ingredients
- 400 g wheat flour bread flour (or type 550)
- 200 g water lukewarm
- 50 g sugar
- 40 g sourdough starter
- 1 egg
- 200 g butter soft
Instructions
- For the dough, mix the flour, water, sugar, sourdough and egg. Gradually add the softened butter until it has combined with the rest of the dough.
- Cover the dough and leave to rest for about two hours at room temperature and then place in the fridge for two hours. This should make the dough firmer and easier to shape.
- Divide the dough into four equal parts, shape into rolls, roll out the dough flat with a rolling pin* and roll up into a swirl. Place the four swirls next to each other in a greased loaf tin*.
Preparation in a single day
- Cover the loaf tin and leave to rest for six to eight hours, depending on the room temperature.
- Preheat the oven with a steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven dish* and lava stones* to 200 °C convection.
- Brush the surface of the brioche with milk or egg yolk.
- Bake for 20 minutes with steam at 200 °C, then reduce the baking temperature to 170 °C and finish baking for 20 minutes without steam.
- Leave to cool in the tin for at least one hour, then carefully remove from the tin.
Preparation overnight
- Cover the loaf tin and leave to rest at room temperature for about two hours.
- Place in the fridge overnight.
- Preheat the oven with a steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven dish* and lava stones* to 200 °C convection.
- Brush the surface of the brioche with milk or egg yolk.
- Bake for 20 minutes with steam at 200 °C, then reduce the baking temperature to 170 °C and finish baking for 20 minutes without steam.
- Leave the butter brioche to cool in the tin* for at least an hour, then carefully remove from the tin.
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