A Bread Baking Babes Bread Revisited

Sometimes you get a chance to sort of go back and rewind. There are things that you would have done differently, or, in fact, done at all. Making Sukerbolle, a very sweet bread that was a Bread Baking Babes choice for September 2008, is a case in point. This was the eighth bread that the Babes had baked as a group. Since a number of the Babes had blogs which I read fairly regularly, I had seen the posts on this bread and it looked good. The truth is that this was also before I became totally immersed in sourdough starter making and then frequent bread baking, so I mostly admired the breads the Babes baked but didn't really think to become a Buddy.

Now Carola of Sweet and That's It has given us another opportunity to bake the bread as a group. I'm hoping that Monique, who originally was the Kitchen of the Month for this bread, approves of the choice and of my unorthodox approach to it. I know that Carola will find it interesting because she is a true breadhead...and that is one of the best compliment I can give.

The recipe calls for ginger syrup. You can use the syrup that candied ginger comes in or you can make your own. As it happens, I had some apple cider syrup in the fridge and there was just enough left for this bread. I also have loads of Gravenstein apples this year on the trees. I decided to tweak the recipe so that it is a Caramel Apple Bread version, using store bought caramels, cut into small pieces. There is still a lot of cinnamon and all the rest of the ingredients are pretty much the same, but I used the apple cider syrup instead of the ginger syrup and I added 1/2 cup grated, peeled tart apple, and traded the caramel pieces for the sugar nuggets. Going back to the original version, I decided to knead the apple and caramel into the dough instead of doing the jelly roll thing. I borrowed Carola's versions use of a mixture of melted butter and plain yogurt.

This is a delicious bread with a lovely crumb. It is pretty sweet, so I hope you enjoy sweet breads. When it is first baked and just barely warm, the caramel is still gooey, which I love. You can just taste the apple and there is lots of cinnamon flavor. It can be eaten just as it is, but do try one slice with just a bit of butter. Sublime. Great for breakfast with some fruit and coffee. A nice afternoon snack with a cup of tea, too.

Thank you Carola for creating the Back to the Future Buddies group and for choosing this great bread. Can't wait to see what other versions there will be.

If you would like to join the group and bake the bread, contact Carola for the deets.

Sending this to Susan at Wild Yeast for the Yeastspotting weekly event. Do go there and see the wonderful collections of a wide array of yeasted breads.

Sukerbolle

From Monique's blog:

500 grams all purpose flour
10 grams salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon-powder (a little more if you like it)
3 tablespoons of ginger-sirop (use the sirop that comes with those gingerballs you buy in a jar, see picture)
Make that gingersirop up to 2 dl with handwarm milk. (from your Frisian cow in your backyard, maybe ?)
25 grams fresh yeast
75 grams unsalted, melted butter (let it cool down before use)
2 eggs
150 grams sugar grains, see picture. Or use sugar lumps /cubes, and make small pieces of them.( by beating them with….whatever). Or…but I didn’t try : Spread the sugar and the cinnamon on your cutting board and sprinkle,drop by drop, with 2 tablespoons of water. Stir until it sticks in thicker lumps and let dry for a couple of hours.

Make a nice dough with all the ingredients , except the sugerlumps or sugergrains and the cinnamon, and let it rise for 45 minutes. After that, you can fold in the sugar, mixed with cinnamon, and work it through your dough.

Form a nice bread and put it in a small bread-tin. Make sure it is greased with lots of butter !!

On top, you can sprinkle granulated sugar, so it can form a caramel on your bread.

Cover and let it rise for 15 minutes .

Bake it in a warm oven in 30 minutes until brown and done.

Sorry, no temperatures…in those days living and cooking where very easy…
(For me, I use 200 C or 400 F).

From Carola's Blog:Ingredients for one loaf of about 1 kg (35 cm long)

For the dough:
25 g fresh yeast (1 package (7 g) instant active dry yeast)
3 tablespoons (45 ml) of ginger-syrup
155 ml of lukewarm milk (milk + gingersyrup = 200 ml) 
500 g all purpose flour (350 all purpose flour + 150 g whole wheat flour)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten at room temperature
75 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled down (40 g butter mixed with 40 g plain yogurt)
10 g salt (= 2 teaspoons) 

For the Filling:

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (1 1/2 teaspoons)
150 grams sugar grains 

For the top:
Milk for brushing the loaf (or eggwash) 
Granulated sugar (or sugar in grain)

Directions for the stand mixer (or you can knead it my hand, if you prefer):

Grease well a loaf tin with butter or line it with parchment paper.

In the bowl of your stand mixer dissolve the yeast with the milk and the ginger syrup and wait 5-10 minutes for the yeast to activate = it will foam.

Add the sifted flours and shortly knead with the dough hook . Then add the eggs, the butter-yoghurt mixture and the salt and knead for 8-10 minutes, until the dough is soft and no longer sticky.

Transfer the dough into a lightly oiled big bowl , cover with a plastic foil and let rise for 45-60 minutes, until it doubles in volume .

Pour the dough on a floured surface, fold it twice and cover it with plastic
foil.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar grains and gently press down with your hands the sugar into the dough. 

Roll tightly beginning from the short edge of the rectangle (or follow the original recipe: “fold in the sugar mixed with cinnamon , and work it through your dough”). 

Carefully transfer it into the loaf tin, seam side down.

Brush the top with some milk (or egg wash) and sprinkle with granulated sugar or sugar grains.

Cover with plastic foil and let it rise for the second time for about 30-40 minutes (to check if it’s ready, make the finger test:  when the dough springs back leaving a light indention, the dough is ready to go in the oven).
In the meantime preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) with a ramequin full of water (it will create steam and help the dough rising).

Bake the bread for about 30 minutes, until brown. Should it get brown too quickly, cover the bread with parchment paper (I do not like aluminum foil).

The first 10 minutes I've baked it at 400°F (200°C), then 10 minutes at 356°F (180°C). As it started getting too brown, I covered it with parchment paper and baked it for another 10 minutes; then I took the paper away and baked it for the last 3-4 minutes (total baking time: 34 minutes). PS: I always do the thermometer test: when the internal temperature reaches 200°F (93°C) the bread is ready. 

Remove from the loaf tin and place on a wire rack to cool.

 

Elle's versions:

500 grams all purpose flour
10 grams salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons apple cider syrup (45 ml)

155 ml with handwarm milk.
1 package (7 g) instant active dry yeast
40 g melted and cooled butter mixed with 40 g plain yogurt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
150 grams caramels, cut into small pieces. I also dusted them very lightly with confectioners sugar to keep them from sticking together
1/2 cup grated tart peeled apple
cinnamon-sugar and a bit of milk for the top of the loaf

Make a nice dough with all the ingredients, except the caramel and the apple, and let it rise for 45 minutes. After that, you can fold in the caramel and apple, and work it through your dough.

Form a nice bread and put it in a small bread-tin. Make sure it is greased with lots of butter !!

On top, sprinkle cinnamon-sugar, so it can form a nice topping on your bread. Some of the caramel pieces may poke through the dough. That's OK. They might drip a little over the crust, but will look great.

Cover and let it rise for 15 minutes.

Bake it in a warm oven in 30 minutes until brown and done. You may want to put some foil on the rack under the oven rack the bread is baking on, just in case some of the filling drips.

Bake in a hot oven until baked through.
(For me, I used 200 C or 400 F for 10 minutes, at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes, then I covered it with foil and continued to bake it another 10 minutes at that temperature. Turned out just right.)

Cool on a wire rack 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides to loosen and turn the loaf out onto a rack to cool...if you can wait. It actually is wonderful just slightly warm, with the gooey caramel in little pockets here and there in each slice.