Sourdough Brandy Rolls -- Two different shapes
Sending this to Yeastspotting.
This is inspired by the brandy roll formula from the book "A Handmade Loaf". I have made 80%+ of the recipes from that book, with variations, all have been great.
Note: makes 10 cloveleaf rolls OR 12 golden horn rolls (I double the recipe and made both)
Note: total flour is 250g
- levain
starter (100%), 13g
milk, 22g
bread flour, 41g
1. Mix and let fermentation at room temp (73F) for 12 hours.
- Final Dough
bread flour, 203g
sugar, 25g
salt, 5g
butter, 50g, softened
egg, 25g
milk, 50g
water, 59g
brandy, 25g
levain, all
1. Mix everything but butter until gluten starts to form, add butter, knead until moderate level of gluten developement. A relatively thin windowpane can be stretched, but holes can appear.
2. Rise at room temp for 2 hours, punch down, put in fridge overnight.
3a. For cloveleaf rolls, takeout, divide into 10 parts, round, rest for 1 hour. Divide each part into 3, round, put all 3 into a muff tin hole.
3b. For golden horn, takeout, round, press flat, rest for 1 hour. Roll out into a 14inch round (about 1/8inch thick), brush with melted butter, cut into 12 parts
Take each piece, roll out tightly
4. Rise at room temp for about 6 hours. The dough would have double. Brush with brandy, shift powdered sugar.
5. Bake at 400F for about 25min for cloveleaf rolls, 20min for golden horns.
Brandy brushed on surface made the roll crispy on the outside
But soft and shreddy on the inside
This is basically a "poor man's" brioche formula made into rolls. Sourdough starter and brandy lends sutle layers of flavor, but you can't really taste the alcohol at all (which makes sense since it would have disappeared during baking). 
Comments
Your rolls sound delicious! They look like the perfect dinner or breakfast rolls, great job.
Since you mention that the alcohol doesn't add much flavor, what do you think it really does add? I've been thinking of trying something similar and wasn't sure what it would taste like.
Great post.
Ian
I meant the "alcohol" part of brandy doesn't add much flavor, but brandy has flavor(s) other than alcohol, so those does get to the bread rolls. In addition, brandy brushed on top makes the crust crispy.
Txfarmer,
I love how you shaped the clover leaf rolls. I was planning on baking the brioche from PR book WGB next week and your post has given me a new way to shape some of them. (My daughter loves the cute little brioche pans so some will have to be baked in them too.....)
The 'horns' are nice too. I am so used to your extravagant croissants that I could no way duplicate but these I know I can do! Right up my alley :-)
Thanks for the post and the shaping ideas!
Take Care,
Janet
Thanks Janet, good luck with your brioche baking next week!
The way you get an idea from a book and tweak it to turn it into your own is always inspirational. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Lumos! Haven't "seen" you around for a while...
I like the cloveleaf rolls. They look so cute!
Thank you for sharing the formula and great photos!
codruta
Thanks Codruta!
These look and sound delicious, and I especially like the way you rolled out the circle to cut the croissant-shaped rolls. I usually pair rum with brioche, now you have me wanting to try brandy :)
Rum and brioche huh? Never done that before, have to try that combo!
Beautiful txsfarmer! That is a highly enriched dough and I can see you got a lot of fine blistering from the long fermentation. I made your pain de mie a few weekends back which is a very similar dough (less butter but more milk if I remember correctly) and it took forever and a day to rise, but the flavour was superb. It got really sour but in a smooth way; not sharp. I also got that fine blistering that I see in your pics. Another nice creation. :)
Syd
You are right, this dough is very similar to the enriched Asian sandwich dough I made several posts about (including the pain de mie). The main difference is that I used AP flour here, which yields a softer bite, and a somewhat less volume. As rolls, lesser volume is fine for me.