The holidays are perfect to devote to making a different recipe, and there is nothing like the smell of homemade bread. Do not hesitate to prepare a sweet bread with this step by step to encourage breakfasts or Christmas snacks and thus give a more special touch to the parties.
With this basic dough, we can vary many variations to our liking, for example changing the raisins for dates or nuts, giving it a braid shape or dividing it into portions to prepare rolls. I like to bake it like sliced bread since the slices freeze very well and are delicious simply passed through the toaster.
Ingredients: For 12 people
- Force flour 400 g
- Sugar 50 g
- Dry baker’s yeast 12 g
- Salt 4 g
- Orange zest 5 ml
- Eggs at room temperature 3
- Butter without melted salt 30 g
- Warm milk 125 ml
- Tempered water 80 ml
- Ground cinnamon 3 g
- Ground ginger 3 g
- Ground nutmeg 2 g
- Sultana raisins to taste
How to make sweet bread
Difficulty: Medium
- Total time 3 h 20 m
- Production 30 m
- Cooking 50 m
- Rest 2 h
Beat two eggs in one bowl, reserving the other. Pour the zest over the sugar and mix with your hands. Mix the flour with sugar, dry yeast, salt and spices in a bowl. Form a hole and add butter, beaten eggs and milk. Mix lightly and add water little by little, perhaps needing a little more than indicated.
You may also like to read: How to make bread at home, processing and ingredients
Work the ingredients well until you have a homogeneous and sticky mixture. Cover with a cloth and let stand 10 minutes. Dump on a floured work surface and knead, or do so with the kneading hook of a food processor. Work the dough for about 10-15 minutes, adding more water or a little flour if necessary.
When we have a soft, elastic, homogeneous and smooth mass, moist but not sticky, add the raisins and knead a little more to distribute them well. Form a ball and place in a slightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic film and a cloth and let it rise in a place without drafts until it doubles its size, between 2 and 3 hours.
Deflate the dough and knead lightly for 1 minute. Grease a rectangular mold with oil or butter. Form an elongated roll with the dough and place in the mold. Beat the remaining egg and paint the bread with it. Cover with film and let it rest for 60 to 90 minutes, until it has almost doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Paint the bread again with the beaten egg and place in the oven on a rack. Bake for 10 minutes, lower the temperature to 180ºC and continue baking for about 30-40 more minutes. Turn halfway through the baking. If you roast too much on top, cover with aluminum foil.
Wait a few minutes outside the oven before unmolding and let it cool completely on a rack before slicing.
What to accompany the sweet bread?
Although this sweet Christmas bread is very good still tempered, it cuts much well if we can wait for it to cool completely, as this will not spoil the internal crumb. Hold well for a couple of days, then lose texture but is still very good if it is toasted or passed through the plate. We can cut it into slices, wrap each one in plastic film and freeze them individually. It is delicious with both sweet ingredients such as jams and chocolate cream and savory ones, for example the classic ham and cheese.