buttery veneziana
I'm more and more convinced that flour was born to be used as butter carrier!
The formula for this bread is very simple:
100% bread flour (13% proteins) (300 gr)
83% whole eggs (250 gr)
40% sugar (120 gr, something more wouldn't hurt)
28% firm starter (80 gr)
83% butter (250 gr)
3% milk powder (9 gr)
2% salt (6 gr)
flavors (I used 10 gr of Marsala liquor). Orange zest and vanilla are very good candidates. Flavors are essential.
As usual: mix everything together with the paddle at high speed until the dough comes together, mix in butter in 6 portions waiting until each block is embedded, develop gluten than replace the paddle with the hook and perfect gluten development (still at high speed) until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl. It took me almost 1 hour.
The dough should rest at room temperature for 3 hours with few folds every 60 minutes, then retarded at 10°C. After 4 days fold once more and insert the dough (seams down) in the mold until the sides reach the rim. Bake at 170°C in static mode starting from cold oven until a skeeter inserted in the middle comes out clean and dry, then hang head down until the bread is completely cold, just like for panettone. Don't bake too long of teh crumb will be too dry.
The glaze requires 20 gr of hazelnuts and 20 gr of almonds ground with 80 gr of sugar and mixed with enough egg whites to get a smooth paste.
Before baking
baked and cooled
crumb
Rather than oven spring I should speak of oven burst:). The dough weighted 980 gr, supposedly perfect for a 1 kg mold, but evidently it was too much.
The crumb is ethereal, weightless, the taste is rich, very buttery (guess why?). It's dangerously good!