- Prep Time: 1h 30m
- Cook Time: 30m
- Total Time: 1h 55m
- Serves: 8
- Yield: 1 Loaf
Ingredients
For Bread
- 200 milliliters milk (1 cup)
- 20 grams sugar (1 tbsp.)
- 7 grams active dry yeast (1 package)
- 50 grams butter, melted (3 tbsp.)
- 2 egg yolks
- 400 grams all purpose flour (2 1/3 cups)
- 8 grams salt (1/2 tbsp.)
For Filling
- 60 grams butter, very soft (4 tbsp.)
- 100 grams sugar (5 tbsp.)
- 30 grams cinnamon (3 tbsp.)
- 1 dash nutmeg
- 2 cups sliced strawberries, raspberries and blueberries or whatever berries preferred
Instructions
- Grab yourself a medium sized microwave safe bowl or a small sauce pan and warm the milk either on the stovetop or in the microwave to around 100˚F (38˚C). Gently stir sugar and yeast into the warm milk to make those little yeasty bastards come alive. Let the milk mixture proof for 10 minutes until it starts to look like a foamy latte.
- While your yeast is proofing, combine flour and salt together in a large bowl.
- Mix melted butter and egg yolks together then pour into your yeasty latte. Give them a good stir and then combine it with the flour using a spatula, folding it over until the dough takes shape and starts to pull away from the sides. The dough will be pretty sticky, but if you flour your hands you should be able to easily form the dough into a ball. Place the ball of dough into a new, slightly oiled, bowl and tightly cover with plastic wrap. Store the dough in a warm spot and let it rise for an hour. It should double in size.
- While the dough is rising you could take a walk, play a game with your kids, or prepare the filling, really the possibilities are endless. Wash and slice berries. Then combine the butter, cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg together with a fork. If your butter is not soft enough continue to mash it together with the spice and sugar until your hand starts to cramp then give in and make the butter slightly softer in the microwave. Continue to mix until the result is paste like.
- Once the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 400˚F (200˚C). Flour a work surface and roll out the dough into a large rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. With the back of a spoon, evenly spread out the cinnamon paste across the dough leaving a half inch border around the sides. Spend a good amount of time arranging the berries in a pretty design on top of the cinnamon paste (which won't matter at all because in the next step you'll roll the rectangle of dough and berries into a log).
- Start rolling the dough into a log. Flip over a small piece of the edge on one side of the rectangle, than with both hands carefully roll the dough until it reaches perfect log shape. Dampen the edge of the dough with water to seal the log. With a sharp knife make an incision in the middle of the dough about 1 inch down from the top of your log. Using both hands, grab each side of your dough and carefully make a tight braid. Bring one end of the braid to the other making a wreath. Slice the remaining top inch with the knife and interlace the ends together. Let the braided wreath rest for 10 more minutes to allow the dough to rise a second time.
- Carefully move the wreath into the oven, either on baking steel or a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake at 400˚F (200˚C) for the first 15 minutes while sipping your coffee and staring impatiently into the oven, then lower heat to 350˚F (175˚C) for the remaining 10-15 minutes or until top is golden brown. Remove from oven, sprinkle with almond slices and powdered sugar, then tell the kids they have to wait until it cools while you secretly steal a piece for yourself first.
- I like to tuck a couple of fresh berries in to the folds on top of the wreath before I sprinkle the powdered sugar to give it that nice presentation.