September 8, 2009 - 6:25pm
Big Awesome Loaf! Greek Celebration Bread
I didn't get started with the BBA challenge when everyone else started; so I started my personal journey. Mostly because I tend to bake the same bread over and over again. Adopting the agenda to bake the many different loaves will give me impetus to diversify. Here is the "Greek Celebration Bread", which is the second formula in the BBA. I added raisins, dried apricots, dried figs, lemon zest, almond extract, and used the honey glaze mentioned in the formula. What a big magnificent loaf! With the different spices and extracts, the whole house is perfumed.
Share
Hi Rainwater,
you made very nice bread. How much dry apricots,dry figs and rasin you put in??? Lets say this is 2 pound bread.
Saintdennis
I put 1/2 cup each of the dried fruits chopped coarsely.
Actually, this bread weighs very closely to 3 pounds! I'm not big on spices, but I purchased the spices (cinammon, allspice, nutmeg, ground cloves, almond extract) that the recipe called for. I'm happy I did. The house is fragrant with the spice, yeast, and extracts. I'm not usually partial to a semi-sweet bread like this. I will probably give most of it away.
If I ever make this bread again, I will use butter instead of olive oil. I know the olive oil makes it more authentic "Greek" style, but I prefer the subtlety of butter for a semi-sweet dough. I will also probably use a powdered sugar (white) glaze similar to cinnamon roll glaze instead of a syrup/honey glaze. The honey glaze is sticky.
I think this would make a great holiday bread for any holiday!
Beautiful loaf, Rainwater! How about a crumb shot? Taking a challenge to make a lot of different breads is a nice idea. But I think you will benefit much more making the same bread over again and again as you plan on doing.
Sylvia
Lusting after 'hidden and secret' places of a perfectly formed loaf.....it's almost prurient in it's desire to see and expose.....here is my crumb shot.
I must say that I never add bulk ingredients (dried fruits, nuts, cheeses, etc) when the recipes call for, which is usually the last few minutes of kneading or whatever. I mix everything in from the initial mixing. This hydrates dried fruit with the bread, and makes additional ingredients more connected with the final product. I hardly ever have gaping air pockets around my bulk additions, they are more a inclusive part of the dough. Also, the flavors of the bulk ingredients tend to smear their flavor presence/essence more evenly through the dough. I like this, and it's probably personal. I'm not a big fan of chunks of cheese or dried fruit in my bread with air pockets surrounding them.
I made this bread twice, and the second time I left out the fruits and nuts and made some really wonderful french toast with it! I'm not sure how well it would work for french toast with the ingredients in it, but always worth a try.
Wow! French Toast like this.....hardly needs any powdered sugar or syrup added!
Yeah, I just had it completely plain. No powdered sugar or syrup, was delicious.