I am going home in 4 days. Home, where the trees are already turning color, where there are juicy and ripe peaches (canned with vanilla bean by my mom and sister to preserve summer just a bit longer), hot days and hopefully lots of culinary experiences with Em.
My sister, Em, was the one who got me interested in bread making. I love her idea of haven everything homemade, and really working to achieve it. Yes, I admit, I had yeast phobia, too. Even after making bread and sticky buns with my sister. That is, until mom and grandma bought me the KitchenAid for my graduation. As King Arthur Flour bloggers put it, the stand mixer takes 90% of the work out of bread making and leaves you with the fun part!
The original name of this blog was going to be "The bread (etc.) project," because for a while I was making a different type of bread each week. Due to being very busy at school and also a cinnamon rolls binge attack which didn't make me feel too great, I haven't been making bread so often.
Here I share with you a wonderful recipe from King Arthur Flour for a sweet cheese- filled braid, the last bread I made. Away with the yeast phobia.
Cheese- filled sweet braid
Ingredients
Dough
2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast
¼ cup lukewarm water
½ cup lukewarm milk
¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
Filling
8 oz cream cheese
½ cup sugar
3 TBSP unbleached all-purpose flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla
Dough: Combine all of the dough ingredients, and mix (with paddle attachment first) and knead (when mixed, switch to the dough hook) them together until you've made a soft, smooth dough.
Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until it's puffy (it won't necessarily be doubled in size).
Filling: While the dough is rising, prepare the filling by mixing all of the ingredients together till smooth. Chill until ready to use.
Assembly: Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface or a piece of parchment (my preference), and divide it in half. Roll each half into a 12 x 8-inch rectangle. Mark 3 even sections with the edge of your hands down the long side of the dough. Spread half of the filling lengthwise down the center third of each rectangle. Cut 1-inch-wide strips from each side of the filling out to the edges of the dough (a bench knife/ scraper helps a lot here). Remove the 4 corner strips. Fold the end flaps over the filling to contain it, then fold the strips, at an angle, across the filling, alternating from side to side.
Baking: Allow the braids to rise, covered, for 1 to 1 ½ hours, until almost doubled in size. Brush with a glaze made from 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water, and sprinkle with sparkling white sugar, if desired; then bake the braids in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and cool on a wire rack. Makes 2 braids.
Note- I forgot to brush the loaves with the egg wash. Also, my oven went crazy and tried to bake them at 425 degrees. I had to take them out after 20 minutes and the bottom crust wasn't burnt, but it was a bit darker than I liked and didn't taste great. However, the bread itself is delicious and I hope the same thing doesn't happen to you!
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