Early on a Monday and it’s time to change topics again in the little Ingredient Game that we have going on. Up this week is Citrus Week and the first thing that I made are these delicious Sourdough Lemon Brioche Milleswirlie. Mille means 1000 in Italian so I like to calls these tight breakfast swirls “milleswirlie”. The lemon curd has a nice hit of tartness this morning too. Overall pleased with this recipe. I’ve made blueberry and cinnamon versions of these previously.
Ingredients
for the dough
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (113 grams) ripe sourdough starter
1 cup milk, warmed to between 100-110F
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
for the filling
1 1/2 cups lemon curd (any recipe or even store bought is fine; here is my recipe)
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 teaspoon salt
For baking and garnishing
1 egg, beaten with a tablespoon of milk for egg wash
powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)
Directions
Combine flour, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle. Heat milk and butter, combine with your sourdough starter, and pour into the well. Add egg mix until fully combined. Turn out onto a well-floured counter and knead until you have cohesive dough. It should be fairly soft and supple. Set aside in a warm, draft free place for a couple of hours in a greased bowl until it has doubled in size.
Make your filling by combining the lemon curd, lemon extract, corn starch and salt. Make sure there are no lumps of corn starch.
Spray a pie dish or square/rectangular baking dish with baking spray.
Once the dough has risen, turn out from the bowl and divide in half. Roll first half out on a lightly floured surface to a 8 x 14 inch rectangle. It should be very thin. Brush with half of the lemon curd filling all the way to the edges. Roll up into a log from the short side — there should be a lot of swirls here — so at the end, you have an 8 inch log. Pinch together and set aside, seam side down so it won’t unroll. Repeat with second half of the dough. Using a serrated knife, cut the dough into slices, about 2 inches thick and space the slices out on the prepared baking pan, approximately 1 inch apart. Ideally, you will have 16 swirls from the two logs. Cover loosely with a clean dish towel and let rise for an additional 20-30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Using a pastry brush, brush each swirl with the egg wash. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 20-30 minutes before sprinkling with powdered sugar (optional). Can be served warm or at room temperature.
