Buttermilk Panbrioche with Egg Whites

If there is some king of sourdough bee or mosquito or whatever, I must have been stung by it. And the symptoms are rather serious. My brain is itching, my hands can't stand still, my eyes keep catching the sight of differnt types of flour on shelves. And above all my electricity bill, and not less important my belly, are screaming revenge.
Phew!
But when a beauty like this Panbrioche, slightly sweet breakfast bread, comes out of the oven, I'm in peace with myself again, and I'm already dreaming about my next baking project, involving my baby...or better say one of my two sourdough starters.

I love baking with buttermilk because everything's so soft, whether it's a cake or bread. Things really stay soft for days, and this panbrioche was not an exception.
If however it should get dry if not eaten within 2 or 3 days, don't throw it away. It will still be wonderful if toasted, or if you make french toast or bread pudding with it.

Buttermilk Panbrioche with Egg Whites

Ingredients:
*350 g strong flour
* 80 g liquid sourdough starter (100%-hydration)
*115 g buttermilk
* 75 g sugar
* 75 g butter, melted and cooled
* 2 egg whites
* a pinch of salt
* seeds from ½ vanilla bean
* zest of ½ organic lemon

                                 

Warm up the buttermilk slightly and put it into the mixing bowl. Add the sugar and the sourdough starter. Stir for the sourdough starter to dissolve.
Stir in a couple tablespoons flour, then egg whites, a couple tablespoons flour again, butter, and in the end the rest of the flour, a pinch of salt, scraped vanilla seeds and the finely grated lemon zest.
Work the dough for about 10 minutes, by hand or in a stand mixer using the dough hook.
Should the dough be too sticky, add a little flour.
Leave the dough in the bowl to rest for 45 minutes.
Fold the dough once - flatten the dough on a slightly floured surface to form a square. Fold the upper and the lower third towards the middle, overlapping them. Fold from the left and from the right towards the middle. Round the dough with your hands to form a ball and place it in a clean, slightly oiled bowl. Cover/seal and let proof until doubled in size (depending on temperature and the strength of your sourdough starter, it may take 4-8 hours).
Shape the panbrioche the way you prefer. You may simply flatten the dough and roll it up. Or divide into three/four (like I did)/six parts, form strands and braid them (I used this tutorial for braiding challah as a guide).
Place the shaped dough into a loaf pan (I usually line it with slightly oiled baking paper).
Seal the pan with plastic wrap and let it proof until the dough reaches the top of the pan. Remove the plastic wrap and let it proof a bit more, until it's 1 or 2 cm above the rim.
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C.
Brush the panbrioche with egg wash (an egg or only eggwhite diluted with a little milk) or just milk and icing sugar (dissolve 1 TBspoon icing sugar in 2 TBspoons milk) and bake it for about 40 minutes.
Remove the panbrioche from the oven and from the pan, let it cool on a cooling rack.

Panbrioche con albumi e latticello

Ingredienti:
*350 g di farina forte (io: Garofalo W350)
* 80 g di licoli (lievito madre in coltura liquida, idratato al 100%)
* 115 g di latticello (o yogurt liquido, o kefir se non trovate il latticello/buttermilk)
* 75 g di zucchero
* 75 g di burro, fuso
* 2 albumi
* un pizzico di sale
* semi di ½ baccello di vaniglia
* scorza grattugiata di ½ limone

Scaldare leggermente il latticello, unire lo zucchero e il licoli, mescolare, aggiungere un paio di cucchiai di farina, e in seguito albumi, un paio di cucchiai di farina, il burro (fuso e raffreddato), il resto della farina, sale, vaniglia e scorza di limone.
Impastare finché l’impasto risulti liscio (10-ina di minuti), a mano oppure con l'impastatrice usando il gancio. Se dovesse risultare appiccicoso spolverate la spianatoia mentre impastate.
Lasciatelo riposare 45 minuti poi fate un giro di pieghe a tre.
Mettete a lievitare fino al raddoppio.
Formare a piacere. Se fate una treccia dividete l’impasto in tre/quattro/sei pezzi, formate dei cordoncini e intrecciateli (io ho fatto una treccia a quattro, qui trovate illustrati diversi modi di intrecciare l'impasto). Poi sistemate la treccia al interno di uno stampo per plumcake, copritelo con la pellicola e lasciate lievitare finché raggiunge il bordo dello stampo. Scopritelo e lasciate lievitare ancora fino ad arrivare a 1-2 cm sopra il bordo, mentre il forno si riscalda a 180°C.
Cuocetelo per circa 40 minuti.
A piacere prima di infornarlo spennellatelo con l’uovo sbattuto con un po’ di latte oppure latte mescolato con lo zucchero a velo per rendere il panbrioche lucido.

Panbrioche s bjeljanjcima i mlaćenicom

Sastojci:
*350 g di brašna za dizana tijesta (najmanje 13-14% bjelančevina)
* 80 g di tekućeg kvasa (sa 100%-tnom hidratacijom)
*115 g mlaćenice (možete zamijeniti tekućim jogurtom ili kefirom)
* 75 g šećera
* 75 g maslaca, otopljenog i ohlađenog
* 2 bjeljanjka
* prstohvat soli
* sjemenke 1/2 mahune vanilije
* naribana korica 1/2 limuna (neprskanog)

Umlačite mlaćenicu pa je sipajte u zdjelu. Dodajte šećer i kvas, promiješajte da se kvas otopi. Dodajte par žlica brašna, zatim bjeljanjke, ponovno par žlica brašna, maslac i na kraju ostatak brašna, sol, sjemenke vanilije i sitno naribanu koricu limuna.
Izmijesite dobro tijesto (rukom ili u stolnom mikseru, kukastim nastavkom).
Ako je tijesto jako ljepljivo (ovisi puno o brašnu koje koristite i o tome koliko tekućine upija), pobrašnite dodatno površinu na kojoj mijesite, ali neka tijesto ostane meko i podatno.
Stavite tijesto u zdjelu, pokrijte ga i ostavite da odmara 45 minuta.
Nakon toga tijesto premijesite tako da ga preklopite na troje - istresite tijesto na lagano pobrašnjenu površinu. rukama ga raširite na kvadrat, pa preklopite donju i gornju trećinu prema sredini tako da se preklapaju, a zatim i s desna i s lijeva također prema sredini. Okrenite tijesto tako da je spoj dolje i zaokružite rukama u kuglu.
Stavite tijesto u zdjelu, poklopite i ostavite da se diže dok se ne udvostruči (ovisno o temperaturi može vam biti potrebno od 4-8 sati, sad po ljeti ide puno brže).
Oblikujte tijesto po želji. Možete ga samo rastanjiti i smotati u rolnicu, ili ga podijelite na tri/četiri (kao ja)/ili šest jednakih dijelova pa uplesti pletenicu (ovdje možete vidjeti različite načine uplitanja pletenica za challah).
Smjestite oblikovani panbrioche u duguljasti kalup (ja prethodno kalup obložim malo nauljenim papirom za pečenje).
Pokrijte kalup prozirnom folijom i ostavite da se diže dok tijesto ne dostigne rub kalupa.
Skinite foliju i ostavite da se diže još barem pola sata ili dok nije 1-2 cm iznad ruba.
U međuvremenu zagrijte pećnicu na 180°C.
Premažite panbrioche jajetom ili žumanjkom razmućenim s malo mlijeka, ili pomiješajte 2 žlice mlijeka sa žlicom šećera u prahu (ja više volim ovako, jer poslije tijesto nema neugodan okus po jajetu), da bi dobio ljepšu boju i bio sjajan nakon pečenja.
Pecite ga oko 40 minuti.
Izvadite panbrioche iz kalupa i ostavite ga da se ohladi na rešetki.