Yes, that’s more or less how I made the first batch of sourdough pompe à l’huile described in the recipe. The bread will be more sour due to the longer fermentation, and the final proof might take significantly longer than 4 hours as the dough will be starting from cold.
Looks excel and anxious for a go at this process for the Holidays , now here
Final proof ongoing in my kitchen now. The bulk took about 7 hours at 80ºF so my starter is still producing strong levains. My kitchen is cold and the baking sheet too large for my proofing box, so the shaped and cut doughs are now in my oven with the light on and the door propped open. Fingers crossed that they will turn out well. I like the look of them with the icing sugar so plan to dust with that in the end.
They remind me of sand dollars.
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Boy do these ever smell good. You’d not really know that there wasn’t butter in there, it doesn’t smell like butter but there is that lovely enriched dough baked fresh smell in my kitchen, yumm.
I should have rotated them part way through the bake, but I didn’t want to disturb them as they were rising and then forgot to rotate because you know, life. I’m waiting until my partner gets home and then we’ll tear into one.
Thanks for posting the recipe and doing all the experimental bakes Melissa, I suspect these are going to be baked again soon if they taste as good as they smell. Nice to have a vegan brioche recipe to make now.!
End of final proof
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Out of the oven and dusted with icing sugar to make them look festive.
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Wow! Great job. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the aroma. I hope you like the flavor too.
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The flavour is quite lovely. The citrus and Chinese five spice notes are all very subtle as is the sweetness. I should have baked them for a bit longer to get the crust just a bit more caramelized for that additional flavour as well. The crumb is very much like a brioche. I only had extra virgin olive oil and I’m thinking that the crumb colour was affected by the greenness of the olive oil, using a lighter olive oil might have achieved a better crumb colour. Regardless it is a very tasty bread and one that I would definitely try again with some changes.
Thanks for doing the research and posting your always excellent recipes Melissa.
I think you got great browning for sourdough leavening. That’s my personal challenge with my starter. Pushing the fermentation even farther might get you more fluff. They look really good though!
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You’re right, perhaps I cut bulk a bit short short having only allowed 7 hours but the dough looked about double. I could also have extended final proof a bit as well. I was thinking about your comments about a really long proof and pale dough so didn’t want it to go too long allowing the microbes to use up too much of the sugars and then have little browning.
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When I saw first saw this fascinating recipe I thought “yes yes, I must do this”.
I baked the sourdough version last night using pretty intense olive oil. You (Melissa) might be on to something about high-polyphenols in extra virgin/extra-strength olive oil putting a drag on fermentation. My dough did not rise much and it’s not because of my starter which is strong as an ox and never lets me down.
While my pompe à l’huile ended up insufficiently puffy, it is not too dense to eat and is perfectly good with a cup of tea. Next time I’ll take your suggestion and use olive oil-lite.
I might also use either orange blossom water or anise seed, but not both. I think my taste buds we’re not that into both of these flavors at the same time.
Thank you for a very intriguing and well-written recipe.
Matt
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I saw your comment about when you might refrigerate these overnight to bake later (for the yeast version). I’m wondering if it makes sense to refrigerate these during the first rise, so that the approx. 3.5 hours for the first rise takes place in the fridge, plus another 4-5 hours. I’m imagining the coldness is balanced out by the longer time? I can always experiment of course, but wanted to get a pro’s take on this. Thanks!
You’re welcome! I’m glad you can enjoy the bread with some tea. I’ve got three data points now (another baker had a similar experience to yours) indicating that intense olive oil really slows down fermentation. Good luck with your next batch!
Unfortunately, I don’t work with yeast often enough to give you a good take on how much fermentation would occur if you refrigerated the dough immediately. I know when I make Breadtopia’s bagel recipe with instant yeast, I refrigerate the shaped bagels overnight and not a whole lot happens (flavorwise yes, expansion minimal). Certainly there is more activity overnight in the cold with yeast than when I use sourdough, but not doubling.
I think I’d let the dough rise 2 to 3 hours before refrigerating it overnight. I have an unheated foyer that tends to be about 50F in the winter – I could also see putting the dough there all night.
HELP - any ideas why my dough didn’t rise? I made (or attempted to make…) the sourdough version of this bread for Christmas morning and had problems with the proofing/rises, and the final baked product was not good. My strong levain turned out fine and had tripled by the time I mixed it into the dough. I put it into a bowl for the first rise/proof and took a picture of it so I could monitor it’s growth, however after 9 hours it hadn’t doubled - or grown - at all! My house is ~70°F (according to the thermostat), so it should have been warm enough, right? I left the dough out overnight in the hopes that it would double, yet it still hadn’t changed when I got up the next day. I probably should have thrown it away at this point, but decided to continue on in case it could be salvaged. I divided and rolled it out, and waited for it to rise to “almost twice as tall”, but after 3 hours it had barely changed. Unfortunately, I couldn’t wait the 4 hours the recipe said it would take to rise and had to bake it because I had to leave the house in an hour. I baked it until it was 201°F and lightly brushed it with olive oil, but it had a texture that was similar to being partly raw (and looked somewhat raw on the inside), so we threw it away.
Do you have any ideas as to what went wrong, or what I should try differently the next time I attempt this recipe?
Oh, I’m so sorry. Christmas morning too 
I think the issue is temperature. I fermented both the yeast and sourdough versions of this recipe in the low-mid 80s, like panettone. I will research why lower temps may not work here, when they’re fine for so many other doughs, even slightly enriched ones. Extra virgin olive oil can be part of the problem too, as I mentioned in the recipe intro.
In the meantime, I’ll edit more cautionary temperature info into the recipe. Again I’m so sorry for your messed up Christmas breakfast plans.
This is about the 5th batch of O O Brioche I 've baked over the holidays. They are a big hit with the neighbors. So far, these are the best. I extended ferment and proofing time several minutes to get a better rise (yeast dough). Even at a mile high elevation the results have been good and reasonably consistent. Alas, these are going out the door later today, too.
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Brian, those look really great, better than mine. I’d love to see the crumb if you have a photo of ones you didn’t gift. Happy New Year.
Benny
Thanks Benny. I will try to remember the crumb picture. Keep in mind this is the version with instant yeast, so that’s a lot more responsive then SD. Plus my ferment / proofing was at higher temperatures than many people use… about 90-100 degrees in a proofing cabinet or drawer. Happy new year to you too!
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Wow, those look WONDERFUL!
That’s a happy new year right there! Enjoy.
This recipe looks so intriguing! I’m allergic to orange. Do you think this would work well if I subbed in apple juice, or do you need the acidity from the orange as part of the formula for this bread to come together well? Thanks!!
I think apple juice would be tasty and I don’t think the OJ’s acidity is important. (Good question though.) There are a lot of aromatics with the orange zest and orange flower water, but I think the bread would still be delicious and interesting without those ingredients.
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