FRAGRANT YEAST BREAD RISING

Fragrant Yeast Bread Rising.

          The falling first snow of the season is likely to send many cooks to their kitchens to catch up with their holiday baking. The sweet smells of cookies have likely wafted through the house already for at least a week. These are the treats for grandchildren, neighbors, the local cookie exchange, impromptu part deserts and gifts to friends and family. I’m often tempted to experiment with exciting new shapes and flavors, only to curb my enthusiasm by recalling that no matter what – our modern grandchildren still vote “old fashioned” for my mother’s butter cookies and my chocolate chip cookies.

          The other holiday baking tends to be more time consuming, since it involves yeast dough and one normally has to reserve at least 4 hours for each project.  There are many ethnic recipes that have evolved in different cultures but now are adapted and enjoyed regardless of origin. Challah, the braided Jewish egg bread for Hanukkah has a barely detectable sweetness, but many of the European Christmas breads can be made with sweet roll dough and have a lightly sweet flavor. Candied fruits and nuts are found in many such recipes as the German Stollen. Pannetone, the flamboyant Italian version of fruitcake, comes originally from Milan, but now graces many gourmet shop shelves in this country. Greeks, trying to insure luck for the next year, even wrap coins and hide it in their Vasilopitta bread for Christmas.

          My sister in law Joyce, has for many years enthusiastically baked a large assortment of ethnic breads as holiday gifts for her friends. For those of us of less patience or time, here are a couple of holiday yeast breads, both of which can be made with sweet roll dough.

                             Sweet Roll Dough

          Stir 1 tsp. sugar in ¼ cup lukewarm water and stir in 2 packets dry yeast, allow 10 min. to soften and become foamy. Scald ¾ cups milk, stir in ½ cup sugar and 1 tsp. salt to dissolve. When liquid is lukewarm, place in a 4 qt. bowl, stir in yeast and 2 beaten eggs. Beat in 2 ½ cups flour and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in ½ cup melted butter, 2 tblsp. sour cream, 1 tsp. fresh grated lemon rind and ½ -1 tsp. ground cardamom to taste. (Note: add raisins, citron, candied cherries and pecans at this point for Jule Kake) Then stir in 2 cups additional flour until well mixed. Cover and let stand for 10 min, for the flour to swell. Turn out on a board sprinkled with ½ cup flour and kneed dough with flour for about 5 min. Place dough in a greased bowl, turn once, cover with a damp towel and place in a warm spot to rise 1- 1 ½ hr. Punch down and allow to rise for another 30 minutes. Turn out on a floured board or pastry cloth, cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes, before you proceed with either of the two recipes below. If baking just rolls, shape in rolls of desired size and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

                             Jule Kake (Norwegian Christmas bread)

          Prepare sweet roll dough as above with added: ½ cup raisins, 2 tblsp. Fine cut citron and candied cherries each and ½ cup chopped pecans. After the second rising, turn out on floured board, cut dough in half and round each half. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes covered, then flatten each half of dough to fit into a greased 9 inch cake pan. Cover, let rise until doubled (~1 hr.), then bake at 350 degrees for 40 min. Remove from oven at once and brush with glaze: ¼ cup white corn syrup and 2 tblsp. Water boiled for 2 min. Remove from pan to cake rack to cool.

                             Poppy Seed Bread

          My mother used to make her own filling from poppy seeds, honey and butter. These days poppy seed filling can be found in 11 oz. cans. To prepare the 2 loaves, turn out the sweet roll dough from above on a floured surface after the second rising and divide in two portions, cover and allow to rest for 10 min. Lightly rollout each half of the dough in an 8 inch rectangle. Lightly brush each rectangle with melted butter and spread half of the filling in the can on each piece. The filling may be heated slightly for ease of spreading. Roll up each filled rectangle as for a jelly roll and seal the ends. Set on a greased pan, cover and allow to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour. Brush with beaten egg and bake at 350 degrees 35-40 minutes, until nicely browned. Remove on a cake rack to cool. Wrapped tightly the loaves will keep fresh and moist for several days.

          The joys of holiday baking seem twice as pleasant when wrapped in the aroma of holiday yeast breads.

           

 (I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)