Braided sweet bread with coffee cream filling

It was hard starting this week. The emotions of the Foodbuzz Festival had to be put aside pretty abruptly. Monday started by waking up earlier than usual, having a lot of work and subs to do at the school, and fighting with Wally. I hate fighting but even more I hate fighting on a Monday! It’s not a great way to start the week and we are so busy during weekdays that we don’t even have time to talk and straighten things up.

Fortunately, we did. Wally and I are two weirdos (truly and I love that!) but we are so meant for each other J I know, I know…now I sound cheesy but we are! We did straighten things up…and this sweet bread probably helped. Maybe with the whole Foodbuzz weekend we simply hadn’t had enough homemade sweets.  This bread compensated for that!

I found the recipe here. I have to admit that the dough is fool-proof. If you are scared of yeast, this recipe will do for you. Maybe because of weird weather my dough didn’t seem to rise well enough at the beginning but it did eventually. It raised even more once in the oven. So, don’t be scared by this sweet bread recipe.

For once, I followed the recipe word by word. The filling did not convince me when I read the recipe. And I was right….even if it is called coffee cream, it was way to little and way too dry once the bread was baked. I will totally have to try this bread again but with a different filling, probably something with cream cheese so that it stays creamy once baked too. Let me know if you guys try it!

Braided sweet bread

Ingredients

For the sweet bread

200 gr (7 oz or 1 ½ cup) bread flour

2 gr (1/2 tsp) salt

20 gr (0.7 oz or 1 ½ tbsp) sugar

4 gr (1 tsp) instant dry yeast

100 ml (3.4 fl oz or 0.4 cup) warm water

20 gr egg*

20 gr (0.7 oz) butter

*to get 20 gr of eggs just beat one egg and use about half of it

For the coffee cream

50 ml (1.7 fl oz or 0.2 cup) water

5 gr (1 tsp) instant coffee

5 gr (1 tsp) all purpose flour

For the topping

almond slices

sugar

milk

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and stir to dissolve it. Let it rest for 15 minutes. [If you are using instant dry yeast you can simply mix the yeast with the dry ingredients and then pour the water]

Put the flour, the salt, the sugar, and the butter in a large bowl. Pour the foamed yeast and the egg and mix until you obtain a sticky mass.

Transfer the dough onto a floured surface. Throw the dough and then turn it. [On the link I provided for the recipes there are great step  by step pictures and short video. You should check it out]

Knead for about 10 minutes and then shape the dough into a smooth ball.

Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let it rise for 50-60 minutes, or until 2.5-3 times in size. [To check whether the dough has completely raised, press a finger into the dough. If the indentation remains, the dough has properly risen]

Knock back the dough by punching it gently. Shape the dough into a ball lightly. Leave for 15 minutes.

During this second, short rise, make the coffee cream by sifting the flour into a bowl, adding the sugar and the instant coffee and pouring the water into a bowl. You just need to whisk until smooth, cook in a microwave oven until thick [a couple of minutes, stopping from time to time to stir] and finally let cool completely.

Roll the dough out into a 30 cm (8”) square. Spread the coffee cream leaving a 1 cm (0.4” border) and roll the dough up. Close the dough roll by pinching along the border.

Cut the dough in half and twist it. Let it rise again for 40-50 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Brush the surface with beaten egg. [as many of you know, I don’t always like the egg wash and I often just do a “milk wash”]

Sprinkle with the almond slices and granulated sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until golden.

Have a sweet day (and don’t fight!)

Source: Home Baking