cibo

Swedish Coffee Loaf

Posted by delectablediction on

Today was all about baking ~ I have croissant dough in the fridge ready to work (again), this time with chocolate, I made up a batch of sugar cookie dough with fresh ground nutmeg (smells like a doughnut shop when baking!), sandwich rolls (see prior post), and the lovely thing cooling on the counter and calling my name:  Swedish Coffee Loaf ~ with the exotic and hypnotizing aroma of cardamom ~ I can’t wait to cut into this!  Enjoy ~ V

Just finished baking ~

Swedish Loaf in the front ~ seeded sandwich rolls in the back

 

•  1 7-gram packet active dry yeast
•  1-1/4 cups lukewarm milk
•  1/2 cup melted butter, plus additional for greasing bowl
•  Unmelted butter for serving
•  4 cups flour
•  3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tbsp. for topping
•  1 tsp. salt
•  1 tsp. ground cardamom
•  1 egg, lightly beaten
DIRECTIONS

Mix yeast with 1/2 cup warm milk in a large bowl; set aside until yeast dissolves and little bubbles begin to appear on the surface, about 10 minutes. Stir in butter and remaining 3/4 cup milk.
Sift together flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt, and cardamom in another bowl, then gradually add to yeast mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon. When dough becomes too stiff to stir, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead just until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
Form dough into a ball, then place in a well-greased bowl and cover with a clean dish towel. Set aside in a warm place to rise until increased in bulk by one-third, about 3 hours. (This is a dense dough, so don’t worry if it doesn’t rise as much as expected at this stage. Press a finger into the middle and if the depression remains, it has risen sufficiently. It will continue to rise in the oven.)

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 3 parts and roll into 3 ropes, each about 16″ long. Line up ropes on a cookie sheet and braid tightly, then cover with a clean dish towel and set aside in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°. Brush loaf with egg and sprinkle with remaining 2 T sugar. Bake until golden brown, 30 – 40 minutes. Allow to cool completely. (The bread is great fresh, but even better toasted and served with butter.)