total price: $3.50-i had everything except for the butter in my pantry..and i got a great deal on butter at costco (at least half as much as any grocery store).
oh.my.goodness. there are hardly words to describe how scrumptious this is. it’s a braided bread thing, i think maybe of jewish origins. i took some of my last batch to my mimi and she loved it. she told my whole family about this amazing tequila bread i made (because she got confused, thinking i said it was “vodka” bread)…it took a while for us to get that straightened out, but i think she might have finally gotten it. 🙂
anyway, on to what you are actually interested in: a picture and the recipe. this recipe makes 3 loaves, which might be a little more than you bargained for. it freezes well, before or after it’s cooked…so then you can have some now and some later..only having to go through all the trouble once!
also, be warned, like all breads with yeast, it takes some time to rise..so count on that!
Ingredients:
for dough:
4-1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1-1/2 c warm vanilla soymilk (or you could use regular milk, this just adds a good flavor)
1 pinch sugar
3/4 c sugar
2 large eggs, at room temp.
2 large egg yolks, at room temp.
6 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 c unsalted butter (+ a little for buttering pans)
for egg wash:
1 T heavy whipping cream
1 egg
for filling:
36 oz semisweet chocolate chips, finely chopped (or not if you have a wee one who demands too much attention for this time-consuming process)
1 c sugar
2-1/2 T ground cinnamon
1 c unsalted butter
for streusel topping:
1-2/3 c powdered sugar
1-1/3 c all-purpose flour
12 T unsalted butter, at room temp.
Directions:
1. dough: proof yeast in soymilk with pinch of sugar for 5-10 minutes, until foamy. whisk sugar, eggs and yolks together. add to yeast and whisk.
2. combing flour and salt. stir into egg mixture, mixing well. cut butter in and mix well, until dough is smooth and sticky and butter is completely incorporated.
3. scrape dough onto floured counter and knead until smooth and elastic (10 minutes-ish). place in butter bowl and cover with plastic. allow to rise in warm place until doubled in size (1 hour or so)
4. filling: stir chocolate, sugar and cinnamon together. cut butter in. set aside.
5. egg wash: whisk together egg and cream. set aside.
6. streusel topping: stir sugar and flour together. cut butter in until clumps range from crumbles to 1″. set aside.
7. butter three pans (because i couldn’t locate that many pans, i did two loaves free form-like the one pictured above. in some ways, they turn out more beautiful this way..on the outside anyway. the inside of the one done in a loaf pan looks much more layer, though. whichever way you prefer-butter those pans!) and line with parchment paper.
8. punch dough down and let rest 5 minutes or so. divide into 3 parts, keeping 2 covered while you work with the third. on floured surface, roll out dough into large square, about 1/8″ thick. brush edges with egg wash. crumble 1/3 of filling (reserving 2 T) evenly over dough, leaving 1/4″ border.
9. refresh wash if needed. roll dough tightly in jelly roll fashion; pinch ends together to seal. twist dough evenly throughout 5-6 full turns. brush top of roll with egg wash. sprinkly the reserved 2 T filling over the egg washed top, pressing in gently. fold right half over the coated left half, pinching ends to seal. twist two times and fit into prepared pan (loaves can be frozen at this point up to one month).
10. repeat with remaining dough and filling. preheat over to 350 degrees. brush tops of loaves with egg wash and crumble 1/3 of streusel topping over each. loosely cover and let rise 30 minutes.
11. bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. rotate and bake another 25 minutes, until golden. lower heat to 325 degrees and bake another 15-20 minutes until deep golden. cool in pans on wire rack.
12. baked loaves may be frozen up to one month. if frozen unbaked, let stand at room temperature for 5 hours before baking.
adapted from recipezaar.com
the organic section, in a little box)
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