dinsdag 16 oktober 2007

Saffron Braid with Raisins
















UIB: 'Staple food for some, luxury or modern dietary food for others - bread in itself means so much that it deserves a World Day in its honour!'

I totally agree with that and love to participate to World Bread Day 2007.

Thank you Zorra for launching this event!

Below I describe the procedure (adapted from 'A blessing of Bread' from Maggie Glezer) for making a high two-stranded braid.

Dough:
500 gram bread flour
1.1/2 ts. yeast
60 gram caster sugar
200 gram milk
0,2 gram ground saffron
2 eggs M beaten
50 gram unsalted butter softened
1.1/2 ts. bread salt
100 gram raisins

Egg wash:
1 egg
1 tbs. milk

pearl sugar (optional)

Heat the milk (microwave: 1 minute/600 watt) and dissolve the ground saffron into the milk. Place the flour, yeast and sugar into the mixing bowl and mix together well. Add the saffron milk and beaten eggs and mix with the flat beater (KitchenAid/speed 1) until the liquids has been absorbed. Remove the flat beater and cover the bowl: let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Add the salt and butter. Place the dough hook and knead further (KitchenAid/speed 2) - about 10 minutes – until smooth and elastic and the dough only stick a little bit to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too soft and sticky, mix in more flour and if too stiff or dry, mix in more water. Add the raisins when the dough is almost ready. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let the dough rise on a warm and draft free place, about 90 minutes, until it has doubled in size. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and deflate the dough. Divide the dough into two pieces, shape them into rounds and allow them to rest, covered, for about 10 minutes. Make two strands of equal thickness and length, about 23 inch (60 cm).

Cross the two pieces over their center, placing the 'vertical' strand on top. Bring all four ends down toward you, making a large M shape (1).




Move the far-right strand over the strand to the left of it (2).







Move the second-to-the-left strand over the two strands to the right, making it the far-right strand (3).





Move the far-left strand over the strand to the right of it (4).







Move the second-to-the-right strand over the two strands over the two strands to the left, making it the far-left strand (5).





Repeat these steps until the dough is braided (6).







Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the braid on the parchment paper and cover it with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let it rise for 45-60 minutes on a warm and draft free place until it has almost doubled in size. Beat the remaining egg with the milk and brush on the braid. Sprinkle with pearl sugar. Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) and bake the braid for 50 minutes or until golden brown and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Remove to a wire rack and cool.

8 opmerkingen:

Karen Baking Soda zei

Wat een prachtige vlecht Gea! Goede foto's met de uitleg, ziet er erg lekker uit.

Lien zei

Ik sluit mij geheel aan bij Baking Soda. Ik ben zelf erg slecht met dat gevlecht, maar het resultaat kan (zoals hier) wel erg mooi zijn...toch nog maar eens proberen.
(moest deze post eigenlijk niet op 16 okotber geplaatst worden?)

Gea zei

@ Baking Soda: Dank!

@ Lien: Je hebt helemaal gelijk! Deze posting had inderdaad op de 16de geplaatst moeten worden.
Ik heb de instructies, denk ik, te snel gelezen en aangenomen dat het 'before' de 16de moest zijn i.p.v. 'on'.

Maar misschien zet mijn posting anderen aan om mee te doen:

Posten op de 16de dus!

Gea zei

Deze posting had ik eerst geplaatst op 3 oktober j.l.
Daarna heb ik het weer tijdelijk opgeslagen, omdat ik het te vroeg had geplaatst (zie bovenstaande reactie).

Anoniem zei

Yummie, yummie. Thank you for the instruction. Until now I was not able to braid I was always cheating. But with this instruction I think I will get it. ;-)

Thank you for joining World Bread Day.

Anoniem zei

Haha, dacht al: Hoe kan dat nou dat ik de vlecht niet eerder gezien heb?
Je durft wel met een 4 strengenvlecht nog wel. Raak bij 3 de weg al kwijt. Ga dit brood zeker eens proberen. Bedankt voor het recept!

ThreeTastes zei

Braided breads have always escaped my short attention span, but your directions make it seem possible! Mahalo for the directions and photos.
Aloha,
Manju

Sarah R zei

Hey, I'm Sarah from Canada, just wanted to let you know I made your bread and my whole family loved it! I passed it onto Zorra for the after hours party and wanted to let you know too! Love your blog, btw. Here's the link: http://yummysmells.blogspot.com/2008/04/when-staff-of-life-wins-lotto.html