Yeasted Peach and Berry Coffee Cake for the Bread Baking Babes

Usually I try to post the BBB recipe on the 16th of the month along with the other Babes, but this month my back didn't cooperate (probably because of too much work on fixing up the back deck) so it took me until today to bake this delicious, impressive coffee cake. Our Kitchen of the Month is Judy of Judy's Gross Eats. She chose a delightful treat with yeast bread and jam.

I had eight egg yolks in the fridge from prior cooking, so I decided to use the Challah recipe from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day book. It needed exactly the number of yolks I had, plus it doesn't use milk, and it used oil instead of butter...all items that work for me. I've never made the traditional Challah braid, but half of the dough is now in the freezer so I can try that at a later date. The recipe from Judy is very similar but it uses melted butter and whole eggs.

This is a rich, smooth, tight crumb bread with a tinge of yellow from the yolks. It is easy to work with so I decided to use a tube pan as Tanna did, hoping to avoid the fallen center. Well, it rose to the top of the pan, making an impressively high coffee cake at the sides,

 but when it cooled, the center still fell. I think that all that home made jam was a destabilizing influence.

For the jam I had three peaches, a bag of frozen raspberries in the freezer, and some blackberries picked down the driveway on Sunday. None of them yielded 5-6 cups required for the jam, so I made two batches of jam; one peach and one berry using both the raspberries and the blackberries. It was a little more work and more pans were used, but I think having the two colors was pretty and the two flavors went together really well. On top half the cake had peach and half had berry. The raspberries in particular made the house smell wonderful both when I made the jam and when the cake baked.

Sweetie really liked this cake. I served it barely warm and one slice was enough, so we still have about 8 servings left! I suspect that a neighbor, the librarians or firemen will get a treat soon.

Check out what the other Bread Baking Babes have done with this recipe.

If you'd like to be a Bread Baking Babes Buddy, just email Judy by Aug. 29th with a photo and a brief description of your baking experience. The original recipe can be found on her blog, and so can her email.

Challah (to be used for the Yeasted Fruit Jam Coffee Cake)
from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day

(Note: I used the grams weights and did weigh my ingredients on a scale with a tare...highly recommended.)

2 /14 cups (18 oz. / 510g) lukewarm water (about 95 degrees F or 35 degrees C)
1 1/2 tablespoons (0.5 oz. / 14g) instant yeast
8 - 10 egg yolks (6 oz / 170g), depending on weight
5 tablespoons (2.5 oz / 71g) vegetable oil
6 tablespoons (3 oz / 85g) sugar or 4 1/2 tablespoons honey or agave nectar
1 tablespoon (.075 oz / 21g) vanilla extract- optional (I used 1 teaspoon almond extract, measured, not weighed)
7 1/2 cups (34 oz / 964g) unbleached bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons (0.66 / 19g) salt or 4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

Combine the water and yeast in a mixing bowl and stir with a whisk to dissolve. Add the egg yolks, oil, sugar, almond extract (if using) and whisk lightly to break up the egg yolks, then add the flour and salt. If using a mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes. If mixing by hand, us a large spoon and stir for about 2 minutes. The dough should be coarse and shaggy. Let dough rest for 5 minutes.

Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium-low speed, or continue to mix by hand using a large, wet spoon, for 4 minutes.

Use a bowl scraper to transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, then dust the top of the dough with flour. Lightly knead for 1 - 2 minutes, adding more flour as needed to prevent sticking. The dough should be soft, supple and tacky but not sticky. Form the dough into a ball, place it in a clean, lightly oiled large bowl, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or a clean shower cap). Immediately  refrigerate the dough overnight or for up to 4 days. It will double in size as it cools.

On baking day remove the dough from the refrigerator about 2 hours and 10 minutes before you plan to bake. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and divide in half. If possible, use a scale to make sure the weights are very close to the same. Set one half aside for another use and use the other half to follow the recipe for the Yeasted Fruit Jam Coffee Cake on Judy's blog.