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txfarmer's picture
txfarmer

Sending this to Yeastspotting.

Click here for my blog index.

 

Using my favorite sourdough sweet dough, I recreated a bread that's often seen at Asian bakeries. The key to make bread rolls like this is the same as the key for cake rolls: baking time is super important. Bread sheet must be baked through, yet not over, otherwise the surface will crack being rolled up. Shredded dried pork can be found at Asian markets. Savory yet a bit sweet, I love to eat it with congee. Of course they are great in baked goods too.

Note: total flour is 198g, fit my 28.5X28.5CM square pan.

- levain
rye starter (100%), 4g
water, 18g
rye flour, 26g

1. Mix and let fermentation at room temp (73F) for 12 hours.

- Final Dough
bread flour, 140g
rye flour, 30g
egg, 50g
sugar, 14g
salt, 4g
heavy cream, 144g
levain, all

1. Mix everything until stage 3 of windowpane (-30sec), see this post for details.
2. Rise at room temp for 4 hours until double
3. Round, rest, roll out to fit into the square pan
4. Rise at room temp for about 4-6 hours.
5. Brush with egg, spread chopped green onions or leeks
6. Bake at 375F for 10-12min.
7. Cool, flip the sheet of bread (so that the golden top is now at the bottom), spread mayo, then spread shredded dried pork. Roll up tightly, wrap with plastic, and put aside for 30min to keep shape.
8. Cut into sections, spread more mayo at both ends, and press shredded dried pork into mayo so they stick.

I kneaded more dough to make some buns as well. After the buns were baked and cooled, I spreaded mayo on top and pressed shredded dired pork into mayo.

This dough using rye starter and heavy cream was so much more flavorful and fragrant than the store bought version.

PiPs's picture
PiPs

I am awake far earlier than I would like to be. As I start to write this it is still dark outside and the cool air carries the feint song of only the earliest of the early birds. I too am an early bird. Yesterday was my final day at work so I am still a mix of emotions. Feelings of relief, apprehension, sadness, excitement and plain old scared stiff flood over me with little notice and catch me completely unaware … but enough about this … from change comes opportunity. Everything will work out!

To take some time to recuperate Nat and I are about to enjoy a small break from the rat race and plan to spend it lazing by a pool and walking on beaches at sunset. It has been so long since we have had any kind of real holiday it may take us a day or two to remember how to relax.

Before we head away I like to make sure we have a few loaves stocked in the freezer to make the transition from holiday bliss back to reality a little easier—something wholesome to return home to. The whole-wheat 'desem' (100% whole-wheat sourdough) I baked this week was inspired from a few different sources and incorporates some new processes for me. 

Janet Cook and I often discuss our desem starter maintenance and one of the techniques that Janet uses with her whole-grain baking is retarding the dough during bulk fermentation. Now I have always been a bit of a 'retarding shaped loaves' kind of guy as I am normally a bit of a control freak during a dough's bulk ferment period, so it was going to be a big step for me to change this habit.

The push to try this new method came with some email correspondence I had with Dave Miller of Miller's Bakehouse regarding the schedule he uses with his whole-grain baking. Dave bakes with freshly milled flour and uses it when 'it's wriggling with life' so I was curious how he incorporated this into his schedule. The answer is by utilising a long cold bulk ferment. This way Dave can split the bake over two days. The first day is spent milling and mixing and the second is shaping and baking. A highly hydrated dough that is kept cool also makes shaping easier and the final proofing is less likely to run away from him on warmer days.

So I formulated my timelines and set about tempering some biodynamic wheat grains from Four Leaf Milling. Just a word of warning to those who want to temper their wheat in a plastic tub by shaking around the added water. HOLD THE LID ON TIGHT! … dear oh dear, I am still finding wheat grains in corners of our kitchen from a little tempering accident that may have occurred.

I milled the flour in one pass with a slightly coarser setting than I normally use, all the while stirring the new flour to cool it as quickly as possible. I then set about mixing. Since I was going to use a long cold bulk ferment I couldn't see any benefit using a extended autolyse so I kept that within an hour before I added the desem starter and mixed the dough thoroughly. I allowed the dough an hour on the bench before giving it a stretch-and-fold and placing it in the fridge overnight for 12 hours.

One part of this I have neglected to mention so far is the starter builds. I am using the same time and temperatures for the starter builds as in my previous miche bake. Namely two very short warm builds—the starter was doubling in three hours.

Two day whole-wheat desem (4 x 1000g)

Formula

Overview

Weight

%

Total dough weight

4000g

 

Total flour

2222g

100%

Total water

1778g

80%

Total salt

40g

1.8%

Prefermented flour

222g

10%

 

 

 

Final desem starter build – 3 hrs 25-26°C

 

 

Starter

85g

50%

Freshly milled organic wheat flour

170g

100%

Water

107g

63%

 

 

 

Final dough - 25°C

 

 

Desem starter

362g

18%

Freshly milled organic wheat flour

2000g

100%

Water

1638g

81%

Salt

40g

2%

 

Method

  1. Mix final desem starter and leave to ferment for 3 hours at 26°C
  2. Mill flour and allow to cool to room temperature before mixing with water (hold back 100 grams of water) and autolyse for a one hour.
  3. Add starter to autolyse then knead (French fold) 5 mins. Return the dough to a bowl and add salt and remaining 100 grams of water and squeeze through bread to incorporate (dough will separate then come back together smoothly) then knead a further 10 mins.
  4. Bulk ferment for one hour at room temperature. Stretch-and-fold after one hour and place in a fridge at 4°C for 12 hours.
  5. Remove from fridge and allow an hour at room temperature.
  6. Divide. Preshape. Bench rest 30 mins. Shape.
  7. Final proof was for 1.5 hours at 24°C
  8. Bake in a preheated oven at 250°C for 10 mins with steam then reduce temperature to 200°C and bake for a further 30 mins. 

 

 

I won't lie to you, I was a little apprehensive about what state I would find the dough in the following morning. But during the night the dough had developed nicely and had not skinned or over-proofed. The dough then spent some time on the kitchen bench while we enjoyed our breakfast. Shaping the cool dough was effortless and it wasn't to long before it was ready for baking.

The first thing I was surprised about was the sweetness to this bread. I had imagined that after an extended fermentation albeit at cool temperatures, that the bread would have had more unwanted tang than was present. This was a revelation to me. The second thing I noticed was the warm caramel flavours in the crust. The bread was packed with deep full flavours. The coarse flour inhibited the crumb a little but it was not gummy or heavy. Perfect for morning toast or a bed for scrambled eggs.


Fresh flour hybrid sandwich loaf = Fail

I have spent some time reading Owen Simmons 'Book of bread' and have enjoyed learning about the intricacies of the English and Scottish bread traditions. So much so that I have been experimenting with the idea of a hybrid sandwich loaf. I have a picture in my mind of a soft yeasted high top bread with the added complexity of some sourdough.  After some tasty success using white flour I tried a version using freshly milled flour sifted down to a creamy soft colour … and made some of the yuckiest, awful bread I have made in a long, long time :)

I didn't like the flavour, the texture, the crumb or the aroma. I am still trying to piece together how a yeasted straight dough with a small amount of added sourdough using a short process created such a foul beast of a loaf. The final loaf looks great, and the dough felt really nice but when it came time to slice I could tell the rubbery crumb was not going to be pleasant eating. Sour, chewy and rubbery. A completely different bread to a version I made earlier in the week using white flour. Perhaps I am just to accustomed to eating highly flavoured french style hearth breads using high extraction flours and was disappointed with this. I am still unsure, but at least it will be good enough for toast.

 

Anyhow, I have bags to fill, chores to finish and a car to pack. I'll see you all in a few days!

Cheers,
Phil

louie brown's picture
louie brown

Much as "Slow Food" is a contemporary rubric for "what was once normal," so too was all bread once made without commercial yeast, where nowadays, making something "sourdough" is presented as a kind of achievement. Ciabatta is a bread originally made by poor people, likely first in Liguria. I learned about it just south of there in northern Tuscany, where they pronounce it "shabbatta." It means slipper.

The Tuscans have a well earned reputation for being cheap. Their nickname is "mangia fagioli," bean eaters. Before the "discovery" of Tuscany by the British and then everyone else, the undisturbed culture was austere and magnificent at the same time. To save money and resources, Tuscans baked bread without salt (you get used to it) and used more water in order to use less flour. They needed something cheap they could fill up on, like beans. The concept of artisanal sourdough ciabatta with competition quality voids separated by filaments of gluten would be unrecognizable to an old school Tuscan, and preposterous if explained. Among many things, they would want to know how it would hold the oil. 

I don't bake to live, the way the Tuscans did. Baking for me is a leisure activity allowed to me by a wealthy society, a fun "project." When I do this, I try to remember people I've known who were connected to the old way. Somehow, this gives the outcome more meaning than just saying, "Hey, look at these holes." If there is a purpose to my baking beyond fun and food, it is this learning experience.

Being a right brain guy, all I can tell you is that this was about 85% hydration, with long cold hydration for the flour and fermentation for the bulk dough. No question, in all the time I've been reading this site, Pat's comment, "Get the fermentation right." is the most useful and important thing I've learned. Oh, and if you're using that new baking steel idea, try lowering the rack and putting the steam above, otherwise you'll have a pretty tough bottom crust.

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dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

We had two experiments going on at the same time and thought we would kill two birds with one stone by combining them sort of like a YW SD combo starter.

  

 

Our 1 gram SD 36 hour before retard levain build went well and we split it in two to make a white flour one and a whole grain one here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/30755/sd-starter-experiment-how-long-can-it-ferment-counter-goo-overtakes-it

  

 

We also had our 15% whole grain SD project that we wanted to increase up to 40% whole grains too.  So we used the whole grain levain(after a 24 hour retard in the fridge making it a 60 hour build) to make a 40% whole grain SD bread using spelt, rye and WW.  To make things interesting and even more tasty we included a bulgar and flax seed scald to round out the flavor

  

 

With the white flour 60 hour levain we made another 15% whole grain SD but also perked it up some with pumpkin, sunflower, chia and hemp seeds inside and out.

  

 

We decided to bake both in Chacon shapes and also in Dutch Ovens.  The white seeded Chacon was made with one central knotted roll surrounded by a non twist rope and covered with a huge bialy shaped main dough.  Hydration was 75,5%.

   

 

The flours and water were autolysed with the salt for 3 hours for both breads.  Each started out with 10 minutes of French Slap an Folds followed by a 30 minute rest in a plastic covered, oiled bowl.  Then 3 sets of stretch and folds we done every 30 minutes with the add ins being incorporated on the 2nd set.

 

 

Once the S& F’s were completed each dough was allowed to ferment for 1 hour before being shaped into Chacons in the rice floured baskets.  They were immediately placed into sealed trash can liners and placed in the fridge for a 12 hour retard.

 

 

The 40% whole grain Chacon was nearly fully proofed during the retard but the white one was only half way there.  So well pulled the white one out of the fridge, leaving it in the bag to warm up and proof an hour and half at room temp before we took out the 40% whole grain Chacon.

 

Both were baked at 450 F for 15 minutes to steam with the lid on starting the 40% whole grain Chacon 15 minutes before the white one went in.  After the lids were removed they were allowed to continue to bake in the DO for 5 minutes before being removed from the DO and allowed to finish baking on the stone.

 

Both were deemed done at the 25 minute mark when they read 209 F in the middle.  They were removed to the cooling rack immediately and allowed to cool for 1 ½ hours before slicing into quarters and slicing 1 quarter into ½”slices.

The seeded white Chacon browned a little more on the outside and also had a slightly more open crumb – but not much.  Both crusts went soft as they cooled and were chewy. The crumbs were soft, airy and moist with a little gloss.

For once my wife agreed.  The 40% whole grain variant tasted noticeably better to each of us and was our favorite even thought the seeded white Chacon was a fine and dandy SD bread.  Both were noticeably more sour tangy than our standard SD breads made with a normal 6 hour build and a 24 hour retard of the levain.

When ever we have 60 hours to kill and only 1 g of SD starter we now know what to do with it to make some nice SD bread.

40% Whole Grain SD with Scald Formula   

SD Starter

Build 1

Build 2

 Build 3

Total

%

SD Desem & Rye Sour

1

0

0

1

0.19%

Spelt

0

15

0

15

3.95%

Whole Wheat

0

29

0

29

7.63%

Dark Rye

0

44

0

44

11.58%

AP

50

0

0

50

13.16%

Water

37.5

45

10

92.5

24.34%

Total Starter

88.5

133

10

230.5

60.66%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starter

 

 

 

 

 

Hydration

67.15%

 

 

 

 

Levain % of Total

23.09%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dough Flour

 

%

 

 

 

Bread Flour

130

34.21%

 

 

 

Whole Spelt

40

10.53%

 

 

 

Dark Rye

40

10.53%

 

 

 

Whole Wheat

40

10.53%

 

 

 

AP

130

34.21%

 

 

 

Dough Flour

380

100.00%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salt

8

2.11%

 

 

 

Water

325

85.53%

 

 

 

Dough Hydration

85.53%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Flour

518.5

 

 

 

 

Total Water

418

 

 

 

 

T. Dough Hydration

80.62%

 

 

 

 

Whole Grain %

40.21%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hydration w/ Adds

80.62%

 

 

 

 

Total Weight

1,003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scald

 

%

 

 

 

Flax Seed

20

5.26%

 

 

 

Bulgar

38

10.00%

 

 

 

Total Scald

58

15.26%

 

 

 

 

15% Whole Grain Seeded SD Formula

Starter

Build 1

Build 2

 Build 3

Total

%

SD Desem & Rye Sour

1

0

0

1

0.26%

AP

50

88

0

138

36.22%

Water

37.5

45

10

92.5

24.28%

Total

88.5

133

10

231.5

60.76%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Starter

 

 

 

 

 

Hydration

67.15%

 

 

 

 

Levain % of Total

23.14%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dough Flour

 

%

 

 

 

Bread Flour

150

39.37%

 

 

 

Whole spelt

27

7.09%

 

 

 

Dark Rye

27

7.09%

 

 

 

Whole Wheat

27

7.09%

 

 

 

AP

150

39.37%

 

 

 

Dough Flour

381

100.00%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salt

8

2.10%

 

 

 

Water

300

78.74%

 

 

 

Dough Hydration

78.74%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Flour

519.5

 

 

 

 

Total Water

393

 

 

 

 

T. Dough Hydration

75.65%

 

 

 

 

Whole Grain %

15.69%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hydration w/ Adds

75.65%

 

 

 

 

Total Weight

1,001

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add - Ins

 

%

 

 

 

Chia  15, Hemp 15

30

7.87%

 

 

 

Pumpkin 25, Sunflower 25

50

13.12%

 

 

 

Total

80

21.00%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional 30 g of Sunflower and Pumpkin

 

 

 

Seeds Used as Topping Not Included

 

 

 

 

HokeyPokey's picture
HokeyPokey

I went a bit Pumpkin crazy this year - Pumpkin Pie with a twist - bourbon, maple syrup, pecans and fancy flour.

But I must say, the result is outstanding, I have managed to convert 2 pumpkin pie critics into pumpkin pie lovers

Recipe on my blog here

mwilson's picture
mwilson

To me, the pinnacle Panettone. Formula comes from Iginio Massari.

This is the most challenging formula for Panettone, hence why I have been so drawn to it. I rise to technical challenges. I followed the formula, timings and temperatures without compromise.

Iginio Massari’s formulas typically use only 25% natural yeast and cooler temps for the first dough. The result, more flavour… I can still recall that familiar aroma after the first rise. So aromatic!

Oven spring was huge. I didn’t know when it was going to stop… Lasting nearly 20mins.

The taste and texture was perfect. I made the choice to use super strong Canadian flour to get that fluffy character I was looking for. A clean taste, not a hint of acidity or sourness. Just sweet, light, fluffy goodness, natural and nutritious.

The volume increase from dough to finished product was about 6 fold. All that lift created by my natural yeast...
 
Here it floats in water fermenting away. Beloved lievito 2.0! 

-Michael

Isand66's picture
Isand66

The storm is upon us as I try to write this post before losing power.  Hurricane Sandy is set to touch down in a few hours but already the wind is howling and the water is starting to rise over the docks on Long Island.

I baked this rye bread yesterday in preparation for possibly not having any bread or water for a while. Fortunately it came out as good as I could hope with the addition of a corn slurry added which added some nice moisture to the overall bread.

I built up a yeast water starter using white rye and pumpernickel flour in two builds and also used some of my existing AP sourdough starter as well.

Directions for Yeast Water Levain

Yeast Water Starter Build 1

40 grams White Rye Flour (KAF)

40 grams Pumpernickel Flour (KAF)

80 grams Yeast Water Starter

Mix the flour and Yeast Water in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 4 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed to build 2.

Build 2

Add ingredients below to starter from above and mix until incorporated.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 4 hours.

100 grams Pumpernickel Flour

100 grams Yeast Water Starter

Main Dough Ingredients

345 grams Rye Starter from above

80 grams AP Sourdough Levain Refreshed (65% Hydration)

305 grams First Clear Flour (KAF)

75 grams Potato Flour (Bob's Red Mill)

100 grams Pumpernickel Flour (KAF)

85 grams Corn Flour (Bob's Red Mill)

50 grams Rye Chops

141 grams Corn Slurry (1 small can of corn put in food processor for about 30 seconds, water drained before processing)

22 grams Pistachio Oil (You can sub Olive Oil or Vegetable Oil or any nut oil)

18 grams Seas Salt or Table Salt

350 grams Water at Room Temperature

Procedure

Mix the starters (levains) with the water to break them up in your mixer or by hand.  Next mix the flours, and rye chops with the starters in your mixer or by hand for 1 minute. Let it rest covered in your bowl for 20-30  minutes.   Next  add the oil, salt, and the corn slurry mix for 4 minute to incorporate all the ingredients. I mixed on speed #1 for 3 minutes and speed #2 for 1 minutes.   The dough should have come together in a ball and will be pretty sticky from the high percentage of rye flour.

Next take the dough out of the bowl and place it an oiled bowl or container.  Do a stretch and fold and rest the dough for 30 minutes.  After the rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes.  Do one more stretch and fold and let it sit at room temperature covered for 2 hours.  After 2 hours you can put the dough into the refrigerator for 24 hours or up to 2 days before baking.  Feel free to do some additional S & F's if you feel it is necessary.  I baked the bread about 24 hours later.

The next day (or when ready to bake) let the dough sit out at room temperature for 2  hours.

Next, form the dough into your desired shape and put them in floured bannetons, bowls or on a baking sheet and let them rise covered for 2 hours or until they pass the poke test.  I used my baker's couche to let the batards rise.  Just make sure to not let them over-rise.  Note this dough is going to be very sticky so resist the urge to use too much flour just use enough to prevent sticking.

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

Set your oven for 500 degrees F. at least 30 minutes before ready to bake.  When ready to bake place the loaves into your on  your oven stone with steam and lower the temperature immediately to 450 degrees.    When both loaves are golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 degrees F. you can remove them from the oven.

Let the loaves cool down for at least an 3 hours or so before eating as desired.

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Double chocolate and sweet biscotti:

It ws time to bake another batch of DaveG's fabulous double chocolate, hazelnut, chipotle biscotti  and also try the seeet biscotti recipe he provided.  To the half batch of 2x choco, I added 1 tsp of expresso coffee powder, was out of hazelnuts, (aka filberts) and used alsonds instead.  The hazelnuts provide a better flavour balance to the cocolate and chipotle, but hey, almonds work too!

I have been working through Carol Field's, "The Italian Baker," and checked her biscotti recipe also, which looked much like Dave's.  In the end I used the TIB recipe because, horror of horrors, I had no lemon zest -- my only lemon had been previously zested!  Now the TIB recipe is forgiving in that you can use either lemon extract or zest and/or orange exract or zest. I used lemon extract and orange zest for half the batch and baked according to Daves's loaf style 2x bake instructions, rather than shape the TIB cookie rounds.   I have not been able to stay away from these biscotti, oh my do I love the subtle flavoring!

Today I added lemon zest and some chopped almonds to the last half of the sweet biscotti dough and baked it up.  The lemon zest kicks the flavour up a good notch or two.  I think next batch, I will do half with lemon zest and half with orange zest.  At the pace I am eating these things, I may have to do another batch in the morning, (oink, oink).  The TIB biscotti recipe is listed at the end of this post.

A little ciabatta and salami by the campfire:

The last camping days of the season are now but a distant memory that ski season.  The photo was taken at a campsite along The Icefields Parkway, in Banff, Alberta Canada.

Bake ON TFLoafers!  Brian

Biscotti, from The Italian Baker, by Carol Field

160 g unsalted butter

200 g sugar

1 Tbs honey

2 eggs room temperature

Cream sugar and butter and add eggs one at a time and cream.

1/3 C + 3 Tbs milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp orange extract or zest of 1/2 orange

1/2 tsp lemon extract or zest of 1 lemon

500 g flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

11/2 Tbs or so coarsly ground almonds to top

1 egg for glazing

I bake @ 300F 20 munites turning halfway, chill 15 munites or so then slice on the diagonal 3/4" thick, turn on sides and bake for 20 munites @ 300F turning halfway, then turn the slices over and bake for another 20.  Yumm

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Recently, I have been limiting myself to a weekly baking routine, as I nurse my back after the spinal Steroid injection. I have been on and off TFL, viewing other members’ posts, and drawing inspiration from their contributions.

Having baked a Volkornbrot from Hamelman last week, I wanted something lighter, and the oblack olives sitting in a corner of my fridge was I all the nudge I needed to choose Olive levain. I have baked this recipe last year, and did not care much for its flavor, but this time, I decided to give it another go.

The recipe is from Hamleman’s “Bread”, which calls for a liquid white levain, and 10% whole wheat. I used Waitrose strong white bread flour for 1/2 the flour quantity, and the rest was an ordinary all purpose flour. The whole wheat flour was freshly milled. I wanted to mix the dough very minimally, and significantly increased the hydration in hopes of achieving the random open cell structure depicted in the book. I mixed the dough with a wooden spoon, slowly, adding water gradually, until a shaggy dough was formed. The dough contained only the levain, flour and water, and was rested while pitting the olives. 15 minutes later, the salt was sprinkled on top , olives were mixed in, and the dough was folded gently in the bowl to incorporate all the ingredients, which was a clear deviation from Hamelman’s instructions which state that everything should be mixed, including salt, but the olives, and after slightly developing the dough, the olives would be added. Remaining steps were exactly as Hamleman’s. I don’t know how significant my deviations were to the outcome. Any ideas? 

 

The dough was shaped, rested for 1/2 hour, and then refrigerated for 8 hours. It sat warming up for an hour while the oven was heated.

The Bread came out crackling from the oven. The crust was very crispy, and the crumb was cool and and soft: the perfect sourdough.

Now i realized that i underestimated the subtle flavors that this bread carry. This bread's flavor shines exceptionally well when dipped in olive oil. Lovely bread! and an excellent way to make use of surplus olives.

Khalid

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Pulla, or Nisu as it is known by some Americans of Finnish extraction is my all time favourite sweet bread and has been all of my life.  The recipe I still have in my file was hand written by my mother, from my granny's original recipe.  I have loved this bread as long as I can remember --  back to my grandmother's lap!

I won't post the recipe here as a search of this site turned up identical, authentic recipes.   These loaves are great with coffee or tea for breakfast.  I particularly like a cafe con leche, or a spanish expresso shot with hot milk!  Both the finished loaves and proofed dough freeze well.  I'm afraid I can't comment on the keeping properties of this bread as it simply disappears before your eyes!

Traditional is an egg glaze and sprinkled, crushed sugar cubes.  The chopped almonds are not traditional, but once I tried it, almonds are now an in-dispensible part of the recipe! 

This recipe makes 3 loaves.  I proofed all 3, baked 2 and froze the third loaf, glaze, almonds and all, wrapped in heavy foil, then in plastic.  The night before baking, the frozen pulla goes onto the counter, resting on parchment and supported by a linen couche, covered with plastic and a towel.  In the morning, bake as usual.  Un-frozen dough, above, ready for the oven  Voila:

I could not tell the difference between the fresh baked and baked from frozen pulla!  This is an easy recipe and doable by novice bakers on the first try.  Braiding the loaves is not really difficult.  If you can braid hair or rope, you can braid dough . . .

Bake ON TFLoafers!  Brian

 

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