This party bread recipe is a lovely table decoration that can be eaten with soup, paté or any meal.
Makes 1 loaf (recipe can be halved to fit a 20cm tin, making 8 x 50g rounds, having one surrounded by 7)
Ingredients:
– 500g strong flour
– 10g salt
– 60g soft butter
– 15g caster sugar
– 120g water
– 100g milk
– 50g egg
– 20g yeast, dried yeast (but not fast-acting yeast) may be used at half the quantity of fresh yeast
Method:
1. Bring the water and milk to the correct temperature (see Baker’s Tip, p149).
2. Disperse the yeast and the caster sugar in the water and milk mixture.
3. Add the flour, salt, butter and the egg to the liquid and mix to a well-developed dough. Dough temperature: 26ºC. Fermentation time: 60 minutes. Knock back after 45 minutes. Scaling weight: 19 pieces at 45g.
4. Form into a ball shape. Keep covered.
5. Final mould round, egg wash and dip in alternate seeds, poppy, linseed, sunflower, sesame, to top as desired.
6. Place in a papered or greased 25cm loose-bottomed tin.
7. Start with one in the centre, surrounded by six in the middle ring and an outer ring of twelve.
All in the Food is published by O’Brien’s Press and is available to buy here.