Another week of dough and yeast, I’m gong to embrace it and hope for the best. The aim, to create a loaf that is fruity, free formed, unburnt (panettone) and cooked in the middle, all while using a recipe I’ve never made before!

This weekends baking has a bit of less relaxed affair. My best friend and I decided to go away for a long planned (15yr) trip to Rome, which was amazing but left little time to bake. Instead of trying to cram it all in by doing it in the evenings, I took Monday off to relax the tired legs (so much walking in Rome!) and do a spot of baking.

Mistaken identity
Having previously thought that this weeks signature bake was going to be doughnuts, the first thing I had to do was find a recipe that I could use for this sweet fruit loaf. I was inspired first of all by Richards Chelsea bun style tea ring and thought of looking for something similar. This lead me to the apricot couronne that featured on the last series of bake off, but as I had already made this I couldn’t do it again. After spending some time flicking through my books and the internet, I finally decided to go with a bread dough recipe for challah, but adding similar fruit and spices that featured in the couronne. There are so many designs for how to braid and mould challah that I was feeling confident about the free form aspect of the challenge, but first things first.

This bread dough seems pretty heavy on the yeast, 10g in fact, but I’m sure this will give it a good rise, hopefully. The elements that make this dough more advanced is the addition of eggs, warm milk and butter. All of these need to be added at the same time, and mixed together in the bowl first before it can be kneaded on a floured work surface. This all sounds simple enough now, but it wasn’t until I was 4 minutes into the kneading that I realised I had forgotten to add the butter! I had been watching a youtube video about making challah and the chef kept saying that the dough needed to be light and my thought the dough seemed a little stiff. Panicking I quickly grabbed the butter and folded it into the dough and continued kneading. I was just about to through it in the bin, when all of a sudden it started to blend together, the dough became softer and silky (when it wasn’t sliding on the butter smeared on the surface). Eventually after another 6/8 minutes kneading I had a lovely smooth dough that was ready to be left for the first prove, which could take up to 3 hours!

Rising Corner
It looks as though I have finally found the best place in my flat to get yeasted dough to rise. It is in a corner resting on benches around the dinner table. I don’t know what it is, but ever since I made the ciabatta in the same place, this seems to the best area. Maybe its a thermal spot, maybe there is a baking elf dancing around the corner, but what ever it is it works!

While the dough was left to its thing, the fruit and nuts needed my attention. As I am going at this recipe a litte blind, I have used the Hollywood recipe for the challah, and the same measurements for the fruit and Nuts from his apricot couronne recipe.

Juicy fruit
You may have thought that the apricots in the ingredients picture looked a little dark, this was because they were organic ones I had left over in my cupboard. After reading a little bit more from the jewish site, the most important thing about adding fruit to this kind of bread is that it is moist. If you add dried fruit will absorb the moisture in the baking process, preventing the rise. This this in mind I soaked the apricots and cranberries in some boiling water, until they were needed and while I chopped up the pecans.

When the 3 hours were up I had a great rise (thank you baking elf), and it was time to add the fruit and shape the dough. I think I may have been a little ambitious and over generous with my quantities.

All tied up
As I tried to knead it in as mush as possible I think I lost the same amount on the surface! I been watching the braiding videos for the challah and I was keen to try the 4 strand braid, but after adding the fruit it was clear that this was not going to happen! As an alternative, I found that the more traditional crown was the only option for this loaf. The addition of the fruit the dough had become slightly less pliable which meant shaping the dough out into long a roll was a little tricky. The roll needed to taper off at one end, so that it could wrap around the fatter end with created the centre of the crown. The smaller end was then tucked underneath, and the crown transferred (carefully) to the baking sheet for an egg wash and the second prove.

This second prove did not take long at all. After about 30 minutes it had almost doubled in size, so I had to work quickly to make sure it didn’t over prove. I had planned on baking the Povitivca bread first but this plan was soon aborted and the oven temperature turned up for the challah.

Once the bread was in the oven it was important to keep an eye on the colour. The bread had the the fruit and the egg was which meant that it would be prone to colouring quicker, plus I have decided to decorate it with some pearl sugar nibs too! I only had a guide for the timing on the bake so I had to rely a lot on instinct. After 30 minutes it was a good colour, but not done in enough in the middle. I covered it with tin foil and put It in for another 15 minutes, but checked on it every 5 minutes. Once I was happy with the hollow on the base, I took it out to cool

A holla, lotta, challah!
Wow is the only thing I can say. This bad boy, was all about the rising, it just kept on doing it! As you can see from the pictures, it was a bit of a giant. This would definitely feed a large family at dinner, or the more appropriately named shabbat. The flavours were good, although because it is quite a yeasty bread I think the cinnamon is lost. The apricots and pecans worked well but I don’t think I put the cranberries in next time, I think they’d work better with orange zest instead.

The bread itself was light and soft, with a nice crest. I will definitely be making this one again, but maybe a plain one so I can practice the braiding too!