Easter Bread
Ingredients
|
Let's start!
Start with the starter dough. Choose a bowl that is big enough because your starter dough will double up in volume. Place the yeast in it. Warm the 100ml milk. Don't boil but warm it. Add it to the yeast and mix with your hands to dissolve the yeast. Add the 100g flour and mix well. The dough will be sticky. Cover with a plastic membrane and set in a warm place covered for 1/2hr to rise. I put it in the oven after I have warmed it up to 40 degrees Celsius, but you can put it in any other warm place.
While the starter dough is doing it's work let's prepare the rest. In a large container (large enough to hold the dough that will rise 3 times it's original size) add the flour, the spices, the orange juice and the zest. Boil the sugar and milk in a pot until the sugar has melted. When it starts boiling set aside to cool down a bit. You need the milk to be warm not hot because you will kill the yeast.
While the milk is cooling, beat the eggs in a small bowl and melt the butter in another bowl. You can melt the butter in a microwave. You will need to reheat the butter a little so it is also warm when you need to add it but better have it melted.
Now you have all your ingredients prepared and your starter dough should be ready. It should have raised to double its size now and it should have little bubbles on top as in the picture. Turn it into the container with the flour and cover it with flour.
Add the warm milk to the flour. Careful don't add it directly where the starter dough is. With your hands start mixing the dough until all the milk is absorbed and you have a hard dough. Keep knitting for 2-3 minutes.
Now with the eggs. You need to add the eggs slowly to the mixture while you knit with your hands every time. Do this until all the eggs are added and they are absorbed by the mixture. You should have a softer dough now. Keep knitting for 2-3 minutes after all the eggs are added.
Let's move with the butter. Add the warm butter slowly at a time to the mixture while knitting. Keep knitting for at least 5-7 minutes. At the end all the butter should be absorbed and the dough should be soft and elastic. Your dough is ready!
Cover it with a towel and place it in a warm place covered up to rise for 3 hrs. Don't move it until the 3 hrs have passed. In the meantime prepare your trays. Line them up with baking sheet and brush them with corn oil.
After your dough has tripled in size it is time to make the braids. Preheat the oven to 175 Celsius. When you first touch your dough it will deflate. Don't worry that's normal. It will rise again. If your dough is too sticky just wet your hands with a little corn oil and then knit the dough. Take 3 pieces of dough approximately 180g each. Knit into strings of around 40cm long. Connect the strings at the top so to make a braid. Braid the strings and now you have one braid. Place it in a tray. You can continue and do another braid or you can make a stuffed Easter bread with chocolate or anything else you desire. To make the stuffed Easter bread take around 400g of the mixture and with a rolling pin open it in a rectangle of 20x40cm. Place around 2tbs of chocolate spread in the middle. Make five slits on the sides of the rectangle. Start at the top. Take the one side and bring it to the other side. Continue alternating sides until you reach the bottom. Close at the bottom and place in the tray 5cm apart from the other bread.
You can also make a round braid and put an easter egg in the middle as shown in the pictures.
When you are done making all the braids brush all the breads with egg and leave them in the tray to rise. If you can bake all the trays at once then put them in the oven after half hour. If not, then put the first batch after 15 minutes. Bake for 45 minutes depending on the oven. When they come out they should be golden brown and soft. Once you take them out remove them from the tray and let them cool down on a towel. When completely cooled wrap them in plastic membrane.
Enjoy!
Start with the starter dough. Choose a bowl that is big enough because your starter dough will double up in volume. Place the yeast in it. Warm the 100ml milk. Don't boil but warm it. Add it to the yeast and mix with your hands to dissolve the yeast. Add the 100g flour and mix well. The dough will be sticky. Cover with a plastic membrane and set in a warm place covered for 1/2hr to rise. I put it in the oven after I have warmed it up to 40 degrees Celsius, but you can put it in any other warm place.
While the starter dough is doing it's work let's prepare the rest. In a large container (large enough to hold the dough that will rise 3 times it's original size) add the flour, the spices, the orange juice and the zest. Boil the sugar and milk in a pot until the sugar has melted. When it starts boiling set aside to cool down a bit. You need the milk to be warm not hot because you will kill the yeast.
While the milk is cooling, beat the eggs in a small bowl and melt the butter in another bowl. You can melt the butter in a microwave. You will need to reheat the butter a little so it is also warm when you need to add it but better have it melted.
Now you have all your ingredients prepared and your starter dough should be ready. It should have raised to double its size now and it should have little bubbles on top as in the picture. Turn it into the container with the flour and cover it with flour.
Add the warm milk to the flour. Careful don't add it directly where the starter dough is. With your hands start mixing the dough until all the milk is absorbed and you have a hard dough. Keep knitting for 2-3 minutes.
Now with the eggs. You need to add the eggs slowly to the mixture while you knit with your hands every time. Do this until all the eggs are added and they are absorbed by the mixture. You should have a softer dough now. Keep knitting for 2-3 minutes after all the eggs are added.
Let's move with the butter. Add the warm butter slowly at a time to the mixture while knitting. Keep knitting for at least 5-7 minutes. At the end all the butter should be absorbed and the dough should be soft and elastic. Your dough is ready!
Cover it with a towel and place it in a warm place covered up to rise for 3 hrs. Don't move it until the 3 hrs have passed. In the meantime prepare your trays. Line them up with baking sheet and brush them with corn oil.
After your dough has tripled in size it is time to make the braids. Preheat the oven to 175 Celsius. When you first touch your dough it will deflate. Don't worry that's normal. It will rise again. If your dough is too sticky just wet your hands with a little corn oil and then knit the dough. Take 3 pieces of dough approximately 180g each. Knit into strings of around 40cm long. Connect the strings at the top so to make a braid. Braid the strings and now you have one braid. Place it in a tray. You can continue and do another braid or you can make a stuffed Easter bread with chocolate or anything else you desire. To make the stuffed Easter bread take around 400g of the mixture and with a rolling pin open it in a rectangle of 20x40cm. Place around 2tbs of chocolate spread in the middle. Make five slits on the sides of the rectangle. Start at the top. Take the one side and bring it to the other side. Continue alternating sides until you reach the bottom. Close at the bottom and place in the tray 5cm apart from the other bread.
You can also make a round braid and put an easter egg in the middle as shown in the pictures.
When you are done making all the braids brush all the breads with egg and leave them in the tray to rise. If you can bake all the trays at once then put them in the oven after half hour. If not, then put the first batch after 15 minutes. Bake for 45 minutes depending on the oven. When they come out they should be golden brown and soft. Once you take them out remove them from the tray and let them cool down on a towel. When completely cooled wrap them in plastic membrane.
Enjoy!
|