Today I had the pleasure of spending most of my day with my sister Charissa who is currently on her break from college. We had so much fun catching up....and then decided to try to make bread. Now neither of us had really tried to make bread before. I had made bread that didn't require rising like pumpkin bread, but never had been brave enough to try all the kneading and watch it rise type of thing. So we decided it would be fun to try it together. It was an adventure.
After a few minor mistakes we thought we were pretty good to go, but at first it seemed the dough wouldn't rise. We continued to pray for it and within an hour it began to rise, yay! So we braided it and topped it with egg wash, sugar, and crushed almonds and popped it in the oven not knowing what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised and the bread turned out so yummy! So we decided to post the recipe:
Finnish Yeast-Raised Sweet Bread (Braided Bread)
2 1/2 cups milk
2 envelopes dry yeast
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 stick butter
3 1/2 pounds (14 cups) sifted all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
almonds sliced (or crushed)
Stir yeast into lukewarm milk until thoroughly dissolved. Add 3 eggs, sugar, salt, and softened butter. Blend well using whisk beater. Add flour little by little and cardamom blending well. When dough is firm enough to handle knead until blended and elastic. Place in warm place and cover with towel. Let rise until double in bulk. Turn onto light floured board. Punch dough down. Pinch off 3 medium size balls of dough. Roll into rectangular shape and braid into flat loaf about 12" x 4 " continue until all dough is braided (6 loaves). Place on greased baking sheet, cover with tea towel and let rise for 30 minutes. Brush tops with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar and almonds. Bake in 400 degree oven until done and golden (about 20 minutes)
We broke the recipe down to only make 2 loaves by dividing all of the ingredients by 3. I also used my kitchen aid mixer to prepare the dough instead of doing all the work of whisking and kneading....seemed to work out well ;)
2 comments:
Looks like you are fitting just right into the role of wife and home-maker!! That bread looks so yummy... it should be on the front cover of Cooking Light! Nice job L and C!
Laura... Charissa brought us some of this bread and it was so good! I'm glad you posted the recipe because Jeremy has specially requested that I make him some! :o)
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