Searching a bit in my mom's cookbook I found a recipe that immediately caught my attention. Love at first sight! I immediately got to work and the result was nothing short of phenomenal. I would therefore like to involve you by preparing with you a very soft sweet braid, which has all the potential to make an unbridled competition to pastry brioches. Let's see the ingredients
Video of the Recipe
Problems with playing the video? Reload the video from youtube.
Identity Card of the Recipe
- 305 KCal Calories per serving
-
Ingrediants
For the dough
- 750 g of Manitoba flour
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 cube (25 g) of brewer's yeast
- grated rind of untreated lemon
- half a glass of rum
- 100 g of butter
- 100 g of sugar
- 370 ml + 30 ml of milk
To cover
- q.s. of pistachios
- q.s. of water
- q.s. of almonds
To stuff
- 70 g of pistachios
- 70 g of almonds
- 70 g of chocolate cream
- 100 g of sultanas
Materials Needed
- 1 small bowl for the leavening
- 1 wooden spoon
- 1 rolling pin
- 2 large bowls
- 1 mixer to chop the almonds and pistachios
- 1 knife for cutting chocolate
- 1 cutting board for food
- 1 brush for brushing
- Baking paper
- 1 very large baking sheet (dripping pan)
- 1 non-stick pan for toasting almonds
Preparation
The preparation of the sweet braid is not immediate but it is worth trying this recipe for its extraordinary softness and the taste very similar to that of brioches.
- First, prepare the leavening: in a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in 30 ml of warm milk. Mix by adding a teaspoon of sugar and a handful of flour. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes to make it easier to rise.
- After the necessary time, proceed with the preparation of the mixture. First, melt the butter in a saucepan containing part of the milk. When the butter is melted, pour in the remaining milk to warm the mixture.
- Pour the flour into a large bowl and pour the leaven in the center. Then add all the milk with the melted butter, sugar and a pinch of salt. Finally, grate the peel of a lemon to flavor everything. Knead vigorously until the mixture is smooth and homogeneous. Transfer the sweet bread dough to the work surface and continue to work everything, beating the dough from time to time to favor the formation of gluten and make the final product soft.
- Transfer the ball of dough to a large bowl and let it rise for at least one hour, in a warm and humid place, until the dough has doubled in size.
What is the ideal place to let the sweet braid dough rise?
The advice is to place the bowl containing the dough near a heat source, such as the radiator. Even the oven turned off (previously heated by putting a saucepan of boiling water inside the oven) is an ideal place to facilitate the leavening of the bread. .- Meanwhile, prepare the braid filling. In a very hot non-stick pan, transfer the almonds and toast them for a few minutes to make them more aromatic. Next, pour the almonds into a food processor, along with the pistachios and coarsely chop.
- Soak the raisins for 10-15 minutes by adding boiling water to which half a glass of rum has been added. After the necessary time, squeeze the raisins well in order to eliminate all the water.
- Cut the chocolate into squares (alternatively you can use chocolate chips)
- After 1 hour of rising, the sweet bread ball is ready to be transformed into a braid. Then divide the dough into three approximately equal parts.
- With a rolling pin, roll out the three pieces of dough until you get 3 rectangles of the same size.
- Spread a different filling on each rectangle, leaving a small margin to prevent the filling from coming out: in the first, add the mix of almonds and pistachios; in the second the chocolate and in the third the squeezed raisins.
- At this point, with a small brush, brush the edges of each rectangle with water: roll each rectangle on itself, as if to form a small roll. Water is important to close the edges of each roll well.
- After having wrapped them on themselves, arrange each roll next to each other, in a parallel way, leaving a space of a few centimeters. Wrap the cylinders forming a braid that is not too tight.
- Transfer the braid to a baking tray previously lined with baking paper and let it rest for at least an hour, until the dough has doubled in size.
- After an hour of leavening, the result will already be surprising. Before baking, delicately brush the braid with water and sprinkle as desired with chopped almonds and pistachios or with slices of almonds.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes at 160-170 ° C, checking from time to time that the surface of the braid does not become too browned.
Alice's comment - PersonalCooker
The scenographic aspect of the braid will leave everyone speechless: this very soft dessert has all the potential to compete ruthlessly with brioches and all other exquisite baked goods.Nutritional values and Health Comment on the recipe
The sweet braid is an ideal dish for the breakfast meal. It mainly provides carbohydrates and fats, and its energy intake is higher than that of bread but lower than the more common tarts and "various donuts". The fats of the sweet braid, although present in good quantities, are not all of bad quality; while showing a fair portion of saturated and hydrogenated fatty acids deriving from butter and cocoa cream, there is no lack of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated lipids from dried fruit (almonds and pine nuts). A 40-60g slice of soft sweet braid can be a valid alternative to common breakfast foods.
