Bread Archives - Sweet Tooth Experiments

Snickers Babka

Posted on June 10, 2017 Posted in Bread .

Snickers Babka

This recipe has actually come from a snickers rice bubble slice and a peanut and bacon babka fail.

I was determine to make something with the snickers flavors but in a really untraditional way. After experimenting I actually realised that melted caramel, chocolate and peanuts work very well in the bread format.

The flavors really come though in this recipe and as the base of the recipe is bread and not cake the sweetness is not too overpowering. This recipe is a really moreish bread to eat!

Ingredients:

Bread

210g flour
25g sugar
4g yeast
1 egg
85g warm water
35g butter, at room temperature

Filling

40g butter
70g chocolate
30g icing sugar
50g chopped peanuts
70g caramel (soft caramel chews)

Method:

Place the flour, sugar and yeast in a bowl and mix until combine.
Whisk the egg and add to the mix with luke warm water.
Using a wooden spoon stir until the mix is combining and resembles a dough.
Flour the bench and place the dough on the flour. Kneed for 3 minutes of until the dough is elastic and smooth.
Place the mix in an oiled bowl and using your hands massage the butter into the dough until well combine and glossy.
Place plastic wrap over the bowl and leave in a warm place for 2 hours or until the dough triples in size.
Dice up the cranberries.
To make the filling place the butter in a bowl and heat until boiling in the microware.
Add the chocolate and allow to sit for 1 minute. Stir the chocolate until the mix is smooth.
Add the icing sugar to the chocolate mix as well as the peanuts.
Meanwhile, punch down the dough and knead until smooth.
Roll the dough out to 40cm x 20cm with a rolling pin.
Spread the filling over the dough evenly.
Place the caramel in the microwave and heat until the caramel is smooth. Drizzle over the filling.
On one of the short ends of the dough brush with water with a pastry brush.
Roll up the dough from the small end with no water and finish at the water end (the water will seal the roll).
Place the dough onto the baking tray, cut a slit down the middle almost to the top of the roll.
Plat the 2 halves by crossing them over each other, place the plastic wrap back on the bread and leave for 30 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 190c degrees and place the bread in the oven for 25 minutes or until the bread is golden brown.
Cut the slightly cooled bread into slices and enjoy!

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Dried Date Fig and Honey Bread

Posted on April 1, 2017 Posted in Bread .

Dried Date Fig and Honey Bread

After having some dried figs left over from my Fig and Grape Syrup cake and dates from my Date Spiced Syrup Doughnuts I decided to come up with a recipe that would utilize these two ingredients.

After doing quite a bit of baking with dried fruit in cakes, puddings and pies recently I wanted to step away and bake with dried fruit in a different way.

I have also been baking a lot with dough in the past few weeks and though not an expert I felt I had the confidence to take on bread making.

My favorite bread is raisin toast so I thought I would put my spin on fruit bread and make a gourmet fig and date version.

This bread warmed, with a spread of butter is pure magic tasting!

Ingredients:

400g white bread flour
½ tsn yeast
2 tbsn honey
100g dried figs
100g dried dates
1 tsn salt
½ tsn cinnamon
20g almonds
1 tbsn olive oil
Pinch of ground ginger

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200c degrees and line a baking tray with oiled baking paper.
Dice up the dates, figs and almonds.
Mix the flour, yeast, honey, salt, cinnamon, almonds, dried dates and figs in a bowl.
Place the olive oil and 280ml warm water in a separate bowl.
Mix the water in the dry ingredient bowl and once combine knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
Oil the bowl and place the dough back in the bowl, covering with cling wrap to prove for 1-2 hours or until the dough doubles in size.
Push-back the dough by kneading for 2 minutes, shape into a load shape and allow to prove again for 1 hour on the tray covered with cling wrap.
Once proved slash a cross on the top of the loaf and dust with a pinch of flour and ground ginger.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
Allow to cool then slice and spread with butter, enjoy!

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Monkey Bread

Posted on March 4, 2017 Posted in Bread .

Monkey Bread


This recipe actually has quite a few variations online. I too created my own version, utilizing aromas and flavors I know taste like magic together.
This bread is an alternative to a cinnamon scroll, but in my opinion much tastier, simpler and interesting.
The ball method means every mouthful has delicious spices and nuts. Think brioche bread, beautiful crunch of roasted nuts and swirls of tasty complementary spices.

Ingredients:

Dough:

100ml milk
45g butter
1 egg
1 + ½ tsn dried yeast
½ tsn salt
225g bread flour
25g sugar

Bread filling:

80g butter, melted
1 + ½ tsn ground cinnamon
1 tsn ground ginger
½ tsn ground nutmeg
110 brown sugar
150g roasted pecans, chopped

Icing:

25g butter, melted
½ tsn ground cinnamon
1 tsn vanilla essence
50g icing sugar

Method:

Place the milk and butter into a bowl and microwave until steaming, stir until combine and butter is melted. Leave aside to cool to room temperature.
Add the milk mix and an egg into your kitchen aid with a dough hook, kneed until combine.
Sift the yeast, flour, salt and sugar into the milk mix and kneed for 10 minutes until silky and elastic.
Spray a bowl with oil spray and transfer the dough into the bowl. Top the bowl with plastic wrap and leave aside the bowl for 90 mins to prove.
Spray a bread load tin with oil spray.
In another bowl place the spices and sugar and then mix until combine.
Melt the 80g butter in a bowl and spoon 15ml into the base of the tin.
Sprinkle melted butter with 1/3^rd of the chopped nuts.
Pull pieces of the dough and roll into 2cm sized balls.
Place the remaining 65ml butter into a bowl and add a ball, completely cover ball with butter and remove with a spoon.
Place the sugar mix into a bowl and swish the bowl around until the ball is completely covered in sugar. Repeat with remaining dough.
Place the balls in the cake tin, evenly, covering the tin then add in 1/3^rd of the pecans.
Add the remaining balls into a second layer and top with remaining sugar and butter.
Push down careful with hands to ensure no gaps.
Leave the tin aside to prove for 90 minutes with plastic wrap on the top.
Pre-heat the oven to 180c degrees and place the bread in the oven to cook for 30 minutes or until the bread is golden brown. Leave in the tin to cool.
Once cooled hit the tin on the bench to allow for the bread to fall out inverted onto a plate.
To make the icing beat the ingredients together with a hand whisk until smooth and pour over the top of the bread.
Top with remaining nuts.
To serve you can cut into bread slices or you can pull the balls off.

Note: This bread is amazing with a swipe of butter.


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Lemon Cranberry and White Chocolate Babka

Posted on December 4, 2016 Posted in Bread .

Lemon Cranberry and White Chocolate Babka

Apart from a little inclusion in my Quinoa Berry Christmas cake recipe I haven’t experimented with cranberries. After my eye catching them in the shop the other day I decided to purchase some and come up with a recipe. For something different I decided I wanted to make a bread with the cranberries.

As cranberries are so sweet I paired this flavour with the zesty taste of lemon and added in white chocolate to produce a marbled flavour effect throughout the bread.

Making the ‘Babka’ bread came about as a fourth attempted in this baking session as the original recipe experiment of a sponge roll log cake was not a success at all. The experiment aim was to make a sweet treat that allowed me to produce a spiral effect and a babka dough would allow for exactly this. Babka is bread that a) is rolled up and b) involves platting the dough together to intensify flavour bursts.

I actually had quite a few versions of this where 2 were serious standouts, this Lemon Cranberry and White Chocolate Babka being one of these.

Ingredients:

Dough

210g flour
25g sugar
4g yeast
1 egg
85g warm water
35g butter, at room temperature

Filling

80g cranberries
100g white chocolate
40g butter
30g icing sugar
3 tsn lemon zest

Method:

Place the flour, sugar and yeast in a bowl and mix until combine.
Whisk the egg and add to the mix with luke warm water.
Using a wooden spoon stir until the mix is combining and resembles a dough.
Flour the bench and place the dough on the flour. Kneed for 5 minutes of until the dough is elastic and smooth.
Place the mix in an oiled bowl and using hands massage the butter into the dough until it is combine and glossy.
Place a towel or plastic wrap over the bowl and leave in a warm place for 2 hours or until the dough triples in size.
Dice up the cranberries.
To make the filling place the butter in a bowl and heat until boiling in the microware.
Add the white chocolate and allow to sit for 1 minute. Stir the white chocolate until the mix is smooth.
Punch down the dough and knead until smooth.
Add the icing sugar to the chocolate mix, lemon zest and the cranberries.
Roll the dough out to 40cm x 20cm shape with a rolling pin.
Spread the filling over the dough evenly.
On one of the short ends brush water with a pastry brush.
Roll up the dough from the small end with no water and finish at the water end (the water will seal the roll).
Place the dough onto the baking tray, cut a slit down the middle longways, almost to the top of the roll.
Plat the 2 halves by crossing them over each other, place the towel or plastic wrap back on top of the bread and leave for 45 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 190c degrees and place the bread in the oven for 25 minutes or until the bread is golden brown.
Cut into slices and serve with a spread of butter, delish!

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Spiced Ginger and Chocolate Bread

Posted on August 28, 2016 Posted in Bread .

Spiced Ginger and Chocolate Bread

I do occasionally dabble with dough and on this occasion I thought I would pair sweet (but tart) and spicy flavours to take savory bread to the next level.

So what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think sweet…chocolate, that’s right.

We eat sweet Banana Bread for breakfast so why not Chocolate Bread? Chocolate alone was a bit mundane (bakeries do this nowadays) so I decided to add in some spices to give a few kicks to enhance the chocolates taste and the breads flavour. Thus my Spiced Ginger and Chocolate Bread was born.

Ingredients:

400g white bread flour
1 tbsn sugar
3 tsn ground ginger
½ tsn cinnamon
½ tsn ground cloves
Pinch chili Powder
1 tsn salt
½ tsn dried yeast
1 tbsn oil
160g dark (70% cocoa) chocolate chips

Method:

Mix together the flour, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, chili powder and salt in a bowl.
Place the yeast and 280ml of warm water in a bowl for 5 minutes or until it bubbles.
Stir the oil with the warm water then pour into the flour mix, stir.
Lightly flour a bench and knead the dough for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
Place the dough in a bowl and cover with cling wrap or a tea towel for 1-2 hours to prove (or until it doubled in size).
Add the chocolate chips and combine with the dough.
Lightly flour the bench again and knead the chocolate through the dough for 2 minutes.
Line a baking tray with baking paper and shape the dough into a bread shape and place on the tray.
Cover the bread again and leave to prove for another hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 220c degrees and place a small bowl of water in the bottom of the oven to stop the bread drying out.
Once proved cut slits in the top of the bread and place in the oven for 25 minutes or until the load sounds hollow.

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Pumpkin Vanilla and Cinnamon Scrolls

Posted on April 18, 2016 Posted in Bread .

Pumpkin Vanilla and Cinnamon Scrolls

Yes pumpkin and vanilla are not common scroll flavors or textures to be included in a recipe, but this recipe is full of surprises.

All I can say is OMG, after eating these I never thought I was a scroll lover but im now converted!

Though you can’t taste the pumpkin, what it does is adds a fluffiness to the scrolls, making them so light.

The vanilla (especially in the icing) along with the cinnamon work brilliantly together.

The best thing about this recipe is the filling. Yes the icing and scroll dough is super tasty the filling is to die for.

I don’t even like walnuts but could eat the mix straight!

Ingredients:

Dough:

60ml warm milk
7g yeast
45g sugar
2 eggs
160g pumpkin puree
475g plain bread flour
¼ tsn salt
100g butter

Filling:

100g butter
45g brown sugar
1 tbsn cinnamon
½ tsn ground ginger
½ tsn ground cloves
40g honey
1 tbsn corn starch
145g pecans

Icing:

2 cups icing sugar
40g corn syrup
1 tbsn vanilla essence
1 + 1/2 tsn ground cinnamon
40g butter
40ml milk

Extra:

20g butter

Method:

Place the milk, yeast and 1 tbsn on the sugar into a bowl, whisk with a hand whisk to combine and leave for 10 mins to froth.
Cut and de-skin the pumpkin into small pieces. Steam in the microwave until a knife inserted into the pumpkin comes out with ease.
Place the pumpkin in a food processor and blitz until pureed.
Add the eggs and puree to the milk mix and whisk with a hand whisk until combine.
Place the flour, salt and remaining sugar into a kitchen aid (or equivalent) and beat on a low speed until combine. Add the puree and beat on medium until well combined.
Dice the butter into pieces and soften slightly in the microwave. With the processor going add the butter 2 pieces at a time and leave beating for 2 minutes.
Once dough is done flour a surface and knead the dough for 3 minutes.
Oil a bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Meanwhile to make the filling place the pecans into a food processor and blitz until they resemble bread crumbs.
Soften the butter slightly and place all ingredients into a bowl and whisk with a hand whisk until well combined.
Pre-heat the oven to 180c degrees and line a large slice tin with baking paper.
Once dough is ready flour the surface again and place the dough on the surface.
Using a rolling pin roll the dough out to 30cm x 40cm.
Spoon the nut mix over the dough evenly until almost reaching the edges.
Roll up the dough from the longer sides to resemble a long log.
Cut off the 2 ends of the log to make the ends straight.
Cut the log into 12 equal rolls and place cut side up onto the tray.
Cover the tray with plastic wrap and leave aside for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Once proved melt the extra butter and brush onto the top of each roll.
Place the tray into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the scrolls sound hollow when tapped.
Remove from the oven and leave aside to cool slightly (around 10 mins).
Meanwhile make the icing by melting the butter slightly and placing in a bowl with the remaining icing ingredients.
Using a hand whisk beat until well combined.
Drizzle icing over the scrolls and serve.

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Potato Boston Bun

Posted on June 14, 2015 Posted in Bread .

Potato Boston Bun



An interesting little bun this one is. If you’re not familiar with a Boston Bun it is a large spiced bun with a thick layer of coconut icing, that surprisingly is not from Boston at all and is best known to derive from Australia and New Zealand. This recipe, I have slightly tweaked the traditional bun that utilised mashed potato. The new age Boston Bun uses flour and yeast as well as raisins, however utilising the Potato to me provides the best texture and interesting inclusion.
This bun is not super sweet but will hit that sugar craving and is satisfying.

Ingredients:

Dough:

355g self raising flour
180g mashed potato
100g sugar
120ml milk
1/4 tsn ground all spice
½ tsn ground cinnamon
¼ tsn ground ginger

Icings:

120g icing sugar
20g butter
1 tbsn hot water
1 + ½ tbsn desiccated coconut

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180c degrees and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Place all the dough ingredients into a bowl and stir with a knife until the mix is combine.
Lightly flour the benchtop and then place the dough in the flour.
Knead until the dough is well combine and elastic.
Mold into a loaf shape with your hands and place onto the tray.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Place the loaf on a cooling rack to cool.
Mix the icing ingredients together until well combine and silky.
Spread the icing on the top of the bun with the back of a spoon then sprinkle the top with the coconut.

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Pumpkin Date Maple Bread

Posted on May 19, 2015 Posted in Bread .

Pumpkin Date Maple Bread

This next recipe was an idea that came from combining banana bread and pumpkin cake to make a pumpkin bread, however I put an interesting twist on this.

Instead of using pureed pumpkin I have opted for something a little different by using pumpkin soup.

Yes this does sound weird…most of my recipe do, however this bread sliced and toasted with butter is sooo moreish, it will have you saying banana bread what?

The soup makes the texture extra smooth and is cuts out the process or baking and blitzing up fresh pumpkin.

The maple syrup, nuts and dates works magic with the palate of pumpkin.

Ingredients:

260g cream of pumpkin soup
120g brown sugar
2 eggs
40g butter
120ml maple syrup
80g dates
130g walnuts
180g self raising flour
270g flour
1 tsn mixed spice
½ tsn group cinnamon
½ tsn ground nutmeg
½ tsn ground ginger
10g oats

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180c degrees and line a 21cm x 10cm loaf tin with baking paper.
Using electric beaters whisk the soup, sugar, eggs, melted butter and maple syrup in a bowl for 3 minutes until creamy and smooth.
Place the dates in a food processor and blitz until diced.
Place the walnuts in a food processor and blitz until diced.
Place the dates, 100g of the walnuts, the flours and spices in the mix and whisk until well combine.
Pour the mix into the tin and top with the remaining 30g of walnuts as well as the 10g of oats.
Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Rest in the tin for 5 minutes before placing on a cooking rack.
Once cooled sprinkle extra maple syrup over the top, cut unto slices and serve with butter.

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