Braided Saffron Bread
Inspired by the Great British Baking Show.
Braided Saffron Bread
Bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment or baking paper.
Ingredients
- 3/4 teaspoon saffron ground in a mortar
- 2/3 cup water piping hot
- 1 1/2 pounds white bread flour
- 2 1/2 tablespoons butter cut into quarter inch cubes
- 2 1/4 teaspoons fast acting yeast 1 package
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons hunny
- 1 egg
- 1 1/4 cup milk room temperature, divided
Instructions
- Grind the saffron in mortar.
- Using an oven proof bowl, mix the hot water with the saffron and let it sit for a couple of hours.
- Using a large mixing bowl, add the flour and then mix int the butter until the cubes of butter are covered with flour and start to disappear into the flour.
- Mix in the yeast and salt
- Add the saffron liquid, honey, egg and one cup of milk. Mix using your hand (Paul Hollywood style) or use a mixer at very low speed. Add more of the milk if the dough seems too be too dry.
- Coat your hands and work surface with flour. Turn the dough on to the work surface and kneed for 10 minutes (about 5 with a dough hook on a mixer). The dough should be smooth and elastic. It should also keep its shape so you can braid it later.
- Put the dough back into the mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for an 90 to 120 minutes - until it doubles in size.
- Coat your hands and work surface with flour. Punch the dough down and then turn it out onto the work surface. Cut the dough into 4 equal portions.
- Roll each piece of dough into a long rope, about 18 inches long. You will need to look up how to make a braid with 4 pieces of rope somewhere on the internet.
- Place the 4 ropes parallel to each other on your lined baking sheet and pinch the ends together. Then braid them loosely. Pinch the ends together and tuck them underneath the loaf. I usually need to look up a couple of internet sources to get it right.
- Leave the braided loaf on the lined baking sheet for about an hour, until it is doubled in size. It helps to put the sheet into a big plastic bag like a kitchen waste bag and inflate the bag so it does not touch the loaf.
- Preheat your oven to 450 ºF.
- Take the loaf out of the inflated bag and brush it with beaten egg.
- Bake at 450 ºF for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400 ºF and bake for another 20 minutes. The bread should be a deep golden brown color and sound hollow when you thump it.
- Cool the loaf on a wire rack. Serve with butter. mmm mmm mmm.
