Butter Pie Dough I: Saveur

Different pies call for different crusts.  Does the pie require a top crust?  Do you want to make decorations?  Are you prebaking the crust and using an unbaked filling?  Are you baking a very wet filling, such as a custard or fruit pie?  The answers to these questions determine what recipe you'll want to use.  If you'll need a top crust, you really should be making two separate recipes.

The gold standard of pie is a flaky crust -- it's what we all aspire to.  But the reality is that it's not always the appropriate choice.  Flaky crusts are very fragile, and will absorb moisture easily.  They are not suitable for pie fillings that are very liquid and/or need long baking times, such as a pumpkin pie or the bottom of a fruit pie.  They work very well as a top crust, or as a bottom crust that is pre-baked and then filled with a chilled, unbaked filling, such as a chocolate cream pie. For those custard and fruit pies, you will want to use a mealy crust, which better resists moisture and therefore is less likely to become soggy.  And if you're a true perfectionist making a fruit pie with a top crust, you'll want to make two separate crusts:  a flaky crust for the top and a mealy crust for the bottom. It's all about technique.

When making a flaky dough, you want to cut the shortening into the flour until it's about pea-sized bits.  When making a mealy dough, the fat should be in much smaller pieces, so the mixture looks more like bread crumbs.  This video gives a demonstration of the two types (though I don't agree with his recipe -- not nearly enough flour.)

The other thing to consider is how much dough you want.  Many recipes, such as the one here, give quantities for a double crust.  Presumably, it is also suitable for two bottom-only crusts, or halve it if you are making a single bottom-only crust.  But if you plan on that, you'll likely run out of pastry.  A bottom crust requires more dough than a top crust, so dough that is enough for a top and bottom crust will be a little lacking if you try to stretch it to make two bottom crusts.  There is also the question of how deep your pan is -- pie pans range generally from 1-2" deep, which can make a big difference in how much dough you'll need.  And nowadays, pies have gotten so fancy with all manner of decorations around the edge -- you might want extra dough for that.

Therefore, I am amassing a collection of recipes to suit the various applications, so I'll have them at the ready when I need them.  This page entry is based entirely on a basic recipe from Saveur magazine for a flaky butter dough.  The proportions in this recipe result in a basic crust that is fairly short (high in fat), with no noticeable sweetness to it.

Here is the original recipe, which they state makes enough for 2 crusts.  The quantity should be sufficient for one top-and-bottom crust pie, or two 1"-high, 9" bottom-crust-only pies, without elaborate decorations.  Notice also that the direction for "pea-sized crumbles" will result in a flaky crust.

2¼ cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar 

1 teaspoon salt 

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and chilled 

6 tablespoons ice-cold water

Whisk flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Using a dough blender, two forks, or your fingers, cut butter into flour mixture, forming pea-size crumbles. Add water; work dough until smooth but with visible flecks of butter. (Alternatively, pulse ingredients in a food processor.) Divide dough in half* and flatten into disks. Wrap disks in plastic wrap; chill 1 hour before using.

*If using the recipe for a top and bottom crust, divide the dough into two unequal portions.  You'll have to eyeball this, keeping in mind that a top crust needs to be rolled out only a little farther than the diameter of the tin, whereas the bottom crust has to be rolled out far enough to cover the bottom, up the sides, the width of the edge, plus about 3/4" overhang.  Generally that means approximately a 10-11" circle for the top versus a 11-13" circle for the bottom, depending on the height of your tin.


For a bottom crust only in a 9" deep-dish pan, I cut the recipe in half, then increased it by a factor of 1.2.  Here are those quantities:

1 1/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2/3 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
3 1/2 tablespoons ice-cold water


For a slightly larger quantity, such as for a single-crust 10" pie, or if you want extra dough for decorations on a 9" pie,  I cut the recipe in half, then increased it by a factor of 1.5.  Here are those quantities:

2 2/3 cups flour
3/4 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
4 1/2 tablespoons ice-cold water


Original recipe:  Flaky Butter Pie Dough via Saveur

Chocolate Sourdough Cake for Guy Fawkes Day

Remember, remember the fifth of November --
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot.
I know of no reason the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot!

I'm not a big Guy Fawkes proponent (although I loved V for Vendetta), but the timing was right.  I bought this 3-D skull pan last year and had hoped to use it to make a sugar skull cake, but didn't get my act together soon enough, so it became a Guy Fawkes mask cake.

Some time ago, I made a "sourdough" starter from the wild yeast off my own organic grapes.  It's a very mild starter, not sour at all.  I don't bake bread often enough to use it all, so when I came across this sourdough cake recipe I was eager to try it out.  The recipe calls for King Arthur Flour's own sourdough starter, but by referring to the photos in their blog I was able to make adjustments so it would work with my own starter.

The planned baking day was very cool, and after 3 hours my flour/milk/starter mix hadn't budged.  After six hours it looked good, but by then it was late, so I put it in the refrigerator until the next evening and hoped for the best.  I forgot that wet flour, when left alone for a long period of time, will develop gluten all by itself.

Chocolate mixture.

Sourdough mixture, cocoa dusted.

When I went to use the mixture, it was as tough and stretchy as rubber!  Mixing it with the chocolate mixture was impossible, so I added a little milk to loosen things up.

In the end, I didn't get everything completely mixed together and there were small swirls of white in the final cake that baked up very tough.  I also made a mistake in not reducing the oven temperature to account for the longer baking time.  The pan comes with a recipe that calls for 65-75 minutes in a 325F oven. I had made note of the baking time, but not the temperature.  So I set the oven for 350F as called for in the KAF recipe and after 65 minutes it tested done.  Well, yeah.  Over done.  The best parts were the parts I cut off to get the two halves to fit together smoothly.  (It rose quite a lot in the middle, partially, I imagine, due to the overly hot oven.)  Next time I'll pay better attention... I hope.

Here's what I used:

1 cup "fed" sourdough starter
1 cup whole milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa (not Dutch process)
1 teaspoon espresso powder
2 large eggs

Combine the "fed" starter, milk, and flour in a large mixing bowl. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours. It won't necessarily bubble, but it may have expanded a bit.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (325°F if using a 3-D pan). Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan.  (If using a 3-D pan, lightly grease and then dust with flour or cocoa.)  In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar, oil, vanilla, salt, baking soda, cocoa. and espresso powder. The mixture might be grainy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Gently combine the chocolate mixture with the starter-flour-milk mixture, stirring until smooth. Be sure to thoroughly incorporate the two.  This will be a gloppy process at first, but the batter will smooth out as you continue to beat gently.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and rap a few time on the counter to release any large air bubbles.  (If using a decorative pan, this is especially important in order to settle the batter into the grooves.  For the skull pan, I poured in just enough batter to fill in the face and then rapped it hard several times to make sure the batter was fully filling the form.)  Bake the cake for 30 to 40 minutes, until it springs back when lightly pressed in the center, and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.  Remove the cake from the oven; allow the 3-D pan to cool for 15 minutes before removing cake and cooling completely on a rack.

Constructing the cake was a little tricky, but went smoothly.  I sandwiched the halves with purchased dulce de leche, then went about constructing a nose out of cake scraps, also attached with dulce de leche.  (That stuff is sticky!)  I should note that both halves of the cake have a portion that rests on the plate, so your filling doesn't have to be firm enough to support the face.  (I hadn't been able to tell prior to making it.)  I also had to construct a lower lip.

 

I had yet another new thing to try in the frosting.  I find most frosting too sweet, so when I heard about cooked flour frosting that was less sweet, I had to try it.  You start with a loose roux, and that helps give body to the frosting.  I used half the full recipe and had just barely enough to cover the outside of the cake.

While very tasty, this frosting is not especially good for intricate decorating, as it has a whipped consistency that's difficult to smooth.  To get it truly smooth (and I did not do this), you should chill the completed cake to firm up the frosting, then use CLEAN fingers to smooth out the surface, just like cold butter.

Conclusion:  This cake was delicious!  Where I didn't over bake it, the cake was soft and moist.  It is not a very sweet cake, so your taste might require you to add another half cup of sugar or so, but with a sweet frosting it balanced out nicely as is.  I feel sure the issues with texture were due to over-developing the gluten in the flour and/or over baking.  I definitely will make this again, including adapting it to other flavors.

Recipe:  Sourdough Chocolate Cake via King Arthur Flour

Heritage (Cooked Flour) Frosting

I'm not a fan of super sweet frosting unless it's on something that's not very sweet (like Lofthouse-style cookies.)  There has to be balance.  So when I heard about cooked flour frosting, reported to be less sweet, I wanted to try it.  It was used during the depression and war years to extend expensive and hard-to-find butter and sugar, but is also the traditional frosting for Red Velvet Cake.

Here's what I used:

4 tablespoons flour*
1 cup whole milk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1-1 1/4 cup sugar (granulated or powdered)
2 teaspoons vanilla or other flavoring

Put the flour in a small pan and slowly add the milk**, whisking all the while.  Cook over medium heat until the mixture reaches a boil. After about 30 seconds of full boil, the mixture is as thick as it’s going to get. Allow it to cool about ten minutes, then apply plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the mixture. Let it cool another fifteen minutes or so, then put the saucepan in the refrigerator for about an hour.  At the end of that time, it should be a thick, pudding-like consistency and retain its shape when scooped.

In the bowl of a mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat about 4 minutes until very light and fluffy.  With the mixer running, beat in the milk mixture.  Beat for about another minute until you have a sweet and silky faux buttercream.  If it looks curdled or broken, follow the golden rule of buttercream and just keep beating until it’s where you want it.  Beat in the vanilla.

*Another recipe calls for 6 tablespoons of flour.  Presumably this would make the frosting less sweet and more stiff.
**Alternatively, you can cook the sugar with the milk and flour in order to fully dissolve the granules.  In this case, your roux will be more soupy and could result in a softer frosting.

Conclusion:  This frosting was delicious!  It has a very light and whipped consistency, and the pronounced flavor is butter.  (The whole point to a buttercream, right?)  I was surprised at my desire to add sugar, but the cake I was making that time was not very sweet either.  The only downside is that it does not hold up well in heat -- best to keep chilled.  This will become my go-to frosting from now on.

Recipe:  Heritage Frosting via Joe Pastry

November ABC Challenge: Pumpkin Cranberry Pan de Muerto... sort of

Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

I think it was purely coincidental that these spicy, flavorful rolls were assigned during a time when many around the world are enjoying the festive pan de muertos, but I decided to take advantage of the happy coincidence.  Truth be told, I had already made the rolls once, but on realizing the synchronicity, I decided to make them again.

For the first batch, I reduced the recipe by one-quarter, producing 4 rolls, and doubled all the dry spices.  I was making them during the week, so in order to accommodate the rise times I mixed up the dough during my lunch break and let the dough rise in the refrigerator while I went back to the office.  So imagine my dismay when suddenly around 3:30 in the afternoon, for no particular reason, I remembered the butter I'd left sitting on the windowsill to soften!  Crap.  My impression from the directions was that the dough shouldn't be disturbed too much after the first rise -- perhaps that was only to keep from mashing the soft fruit too much.  But it couldn't be helped; I wasn't going to leave out the butter.  Fortunately, I had used homemade dried cranberries, which have no added sugar and therefore dry quite hard, so they didn't mind the manhandling.  Nonetheless, I didn't want to overwork the dough, so I didn't get the butter mixed homogeneously into the dough and the results were rather lumpy.  Let's face it:  they were ugly.

A different sort of "ugly but good".

I didn't like my baking pan options.  I could have used a muffin tin, but I wanted the soft sides created by having them sit together.  (I also wasn't anxious to have to wash a whole muffin tin for four cavities!)  In the end, I simply baked them in the same steel bowl I had mixed and risen them in!

For the pan de muertos, I made a few more minor tweaks to the recipe.  Again, I did a small batch of 4 rolls and doubled the spices.  I didn't feel like fooling with halving an egg, so I used this tiny chicken egg I got from a friend.  How cute is this?

It's much cuter in real life.

This time, I increased the quantity of cranberries, and macerated the fruit in a little rum to try to soften the cranberries, as they had stayed rather compact and chewy the first time.  In the absence of orange zest, I added some orange extract to the dough.  I forgot to add water, but with the additional liquid from the egg, rum, and extract, it didn't need it.  I had intended to use half whole wheat flour but, um, ... I forgot.  (Hey, it was 12:30 at night -- but at least this time I remembered the butter!)

Here's what I used; deviations from the exact 1/4 reduction of the original recipe are in italics:

1 cup + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/16 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/16 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon dark molasses
3/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon instant yeast
3 tablespoons canned pumpkin or squash
1/2 large egg (or one adorably tiny egg -- um, see note)
3 tablespoons water (if necessary)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
3 4 tablespoons dried cranberries
1 tablespoon diced crystallized ginger
2 tablespoons dark rum (or orange juice)
1/4 teaspoon orange extract

Mix the cranberries, crystallized ginger, and rum in a small container with a lid and keep in a warm place for several hours until the fruit softens and the rum is absorbed, shaking occasionally.  Mix and knead all of the dough ingredients except the fruit and crystallized ginger (adding water only if  the dough is dry or feels tough) until you've made a soft, fairly smooth dough. Pumpkin varies in water content, so add extra water or flour if needed. Right at the end, knead in the fruit and crystallized ginger. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise for 1 1/2 hours at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator, until it's almost double in bulk.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased surface, gently deflate it, and divide it into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Place rolls in the lightly greased cups of a standard muffin pan (which will help them maintain their round shape), or onto a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Set aside, covered lightly, to rise for 1 hour, or until the rolls look puffy.

Bake the rolls in a preheated 350°F oven for 25 to 30 minutes (I baked the first batch 23 minutes, and the second 26), until they're lightly browned and the center of one reads 190⁰F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove the pans from the oven and turn the rolls out onto a rack to cool.

Just before baking.

Note:  As I've mentioned before, when doing small-batch baking, it's imperative that you measure exactly.  Small variations can have big effects.  I tend to be careless with measuring, and this time it caused a failure.  The tiny egg I used in the second batch was really quite a bit more than 1/2 an egg -- something I didn't realize until I actually looked at them side-by-side.  The dough was somewhat greasy and lacked cohesiveness.  The rolls didn't rise properly and the design melted.  They tasted great, but they were a poor texture, being too dense and heavy.  The first batch was much better.



Conclusion:  I liked these very much!  They
have a strong pumpkin flavor, and with the doubled spices they can definitely stand on their own.  (In fact, they might actually be a bit too flavorful to be a good dinner roll.)  These aren't truly a "sweet roll", but you could increase the sugar and perhaps add a glaze to make them one.  I liked them better served with cream cheese than with butter.  I've been looking for a rich, dense, mildly sweet dinner roll recipe, and this is perfect.  I'll probably be adding walnuts instead of the cranberries and candied ginger most often in the future, and will also try these as plain whole wheat walnut rolls.  This is a keeper!


Original recipe:  Cranberry Pumpkin Rolls via King Arthur Flour

Soft Beer Pretzels

The office celebrated Diversity Day yesterday by having an international lunch.  My group was assigned Europe, so I decided it was a good time to try these soft pretzels I had bookmarked.  (Why do I always take on the most challenging tasks when they're for the public?)  This was my second attempt at soft pretzels.  The first one, a King Arthur Flour recipe, is posted here.

I have three pretzel recipes bookmarked, and the basic recipe for all three is exactly the same, except for the salt quantity.  (This one had the least amount.) The dough was nice, but I added a bit of extra water and it ended up sticky, which caused problems with handling.  The pretzels stuck to my fingers, ruining their shape.  Allowing them to dry a bit helped, but perhaps better to use oiled hands.

They did not rise much prior to boiling, nor was there much oven spring.  The bulk of the rise happened during the boiling, where they became VERY delicate (often breaking during turning), developed a rough texture, and sometimes cracked, but never achieved that lacquered finish one expects.  They baked 12 minutes, and that was perhaps a little long, although they didn't become very brown.  I used a greased baking sheet rather than parchment, and there was trouble with them sticking – the longer they sat on the sheet after boiling, the more they stuck.  (I've heard from others that parchment does not eliminate the sticking problem.)  The key is to boil them just prior to baking so they don't have a chance to slurry themselves to the baking sheet, which means finessing the timing. Another thought is that boiling isn't even necessary -- the King Arthur Flour recipe requires only soaking in the baking soda solution.

Here's what I used:

For the dough:
2 1/4 teaspoons (7g) yeast
1/4 teaspoon (2g) salt
2 teaspoons (9g) sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) warm water
3/4 cup (180ml) beer
3 2 cups (500 330g) flour
1 cup (170g) bread flour
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons (32g) butter, softened

For the bath:
1/4 cup (50 grams) baking soda
Flaky salt, for sprinkling

Combine the yeast, salt, sugar in a small bowl or liquid measuring cup. Add the warm water and let sit for 5 minutes or until foamy.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and cayenne pepper. Cut the softened butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the beer to the yeast mixture (it will foam) and stir briefly to combine. Add the liquid to the flour and mix until the dough comes together. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, or until no longer sticky. Leave on the counter covered with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes.

Line a baking sheet with parchment and lightly oil the paper. Divide the dough into 32 pieces, keeping the unrolled pieces covered with plastic while you work. Roll one ball into a 12-inch-long rope. Form a U shape and twist the ends together twice. Fold the twisted part backward onto the center of U shape to form a circle. Gently press the ends of the rope onto the dough to seal.  Transfer to the prepared baking sheet, and repeat with the remaining dough. Let rise for 20 minutes. While you wait, preheat the oven to 475 and fill your largest pot with at least 5 inches of water. Bring the water to a boil. (Ideally, this will take about 20 minutes as well.)

When the pretzels have risen and the water is boiling, add the baking soda and gently transfer as many pretzels that will fit comfortably to the bath. Cook for a minute on each side, drain well, and return to the baking sheet.

               

Boiled on the left.  Unboiled on the right.

Ready for the oven.

     
Sprinkle with salt and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm with mustard.  Makes 32 3-4" pretzels.

Conclusion:  I'm going to need a lot of practice.  These were good, but did not turn out as expected.  This recipe has promise, but something in the technique went wrong.  The beer gave a slightly bitter taste that wasn't especially beer-like (I used Fosters) and the chili was undetectable. To make 32, I used 20 oz of dough for each; I think 25-30 oz would be better, as the thick spots in the pretzels were nicer.  (Compared to the photos of the originals, my ropes might have been too long as well.)  They did not keep well, becoming stale and tough within a day.  But in the end, they got eaten and even complimented, so they weren't a complete failure.

Recipe:  Pretz-ales via butter me up, Brooklyn!

Espresso Spice Pumpkin Muffins

I really want this pumpkin cakelet pan that I've been eyeing for months, but my better sense tells me it's too much of a uni-tasker to warrant the storage space needed in my tiny kitchen.  I compromised with two mini-Bundt cakelet pans, which are more versatile, and were on sale.  (You really need two cakelet pans of any sort to bake a standard recipe, and they're EXPENSIVE!!)  I thought I could use this pan to make pumpkin muffins shaped like, well, pumpkins. That was the vision, anyway.  (See my little cream cheese frosting stems?   Ehem.)  Okay, so they don't look like pumpkins.  They're still charming.

This recipe caught my attention because of the espresso powder.  I thought it might add a deeper flavor, somewhat roasty.  They sounded very sweet, though, so I cut the sugar.  I didn't use the topping since the cakelets would be turned upside down.

Here's what I used:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp instant espresso powder
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1 ¼ 2/3 cup brown granulated sugar
1-2 tablespoons dark molasses
2 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbsp butter, melted or very soft
1/4 cup milk (any kind)

Preheat oven to 375F.  Lightly grease and flour two cakelet pans, about 18 depressions, (or a 12-cup muffin tin.)  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, espresso powder, and spices.  In a large bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, and molasses together until well blended. Stir in pumpkin puree and vanilla extract, followed by butter and the spice mixture.  Stir in half of the flour mixture, followed by the milk. Stir in remaining flour mixture, mixing just until everything is combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.  Divide batter evenly into prepared cakelet or muffin cups, filling cakelet depressions only about 2/3 full. Top generously with sugar topping mixture, if using.  Bake for 12-14 minutes for cakelets (18-20 minutes for muffins), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then turn muffins out onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Top cakelets decoratively (but generously -- use more than I did) with cream cheese frosting.  Yield:  about 17 cakelets.

Cinnamon Espresso Sugar Mixture
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp instant coffee or espresso
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Sprinkle generously over muffin batter before baking.

Don't be stingy with the cream cheese -- use more than this.

Conclusion:  These were a nice, modest pumpkin muffin.  The coffee was not a noticeable flavor but I think was a good add, and the spices were just right.  The reduced sugar quantity made them less decadent -- suitable for breakfast -- but if you want something more rich use more sugar.  I baked the cakelets 15-16 minutes, but they were a bit dry, so 12-14 minutes would probably have been adequate.  They also domed a lot, so maybe not the best recipe for the cakelet pan anyway.  (Maybe reduce the temperature??)  I want to try them again as standard muffins with the espresso topping to see if it adds any distinction to the overall flavor.  This is a good, easy, go-to pumpkin muffin recipe.

Recipe:  Espresso Spice Pumpkin Muffins via Baking Bites

October ABC Challenge: Cinnamon Apple & Cheddar Twist Bread

I'm always a little confused when someone says a baked item tastes "just like store bought!"  I realize it's supposed to be a compliment, but when did that shift happen?  When did commercial products, with all their additives and imitation flavorings, surpass homemade?  And yet, my first response to this loaf was, "It tastes like store bought."  

To me, this is not a good thing.  In this case, though, the pure apple flavor was noticeably real and not out of a bottle, which set this loaf above any store product.  The two things that did it in were 1) the princess cake flavor, and 2) the texture.  It still was a hit at work.  One coworker's response was, 

"I just had an epiphany. I think when someone says 'store bought' in terms of baked goods, what they really mean to say is 'professional'. Huge difference. That bread was amazing. It had a professional texture and crumb and I totally tasted the cheese, just the right amount. That was great!"

I bought something called "princess cake flavoring" a while ago, not knowing what it was.  I was curious.  Now I realize it's what gives store-bought pastries their distinctive store-bought taste -- something I could never before identify.  It's not necessarily a bad taste -- sort of a mild lemony-vanilla -- but I associate it with Entenmann's and other doughy, overly sweet products, so I'm not a fan.  

Which brings me to the texture... I would call it "spongy".  Had I not baked it myself, I would have thought it had artificial texturizers in it.  Many people like that soft, squishy texture, but to me it's unnatural.  But with all that being said, I nonetheless harfed down half the loaf in one sitting!  I have to admit there is something addictive about that spongy softness!

I halved the recipe to make a single loaf, so those are the quantities shown here.  Then I made a few personal changes, shown in italics and strikeout.  I changed out the glaze completely and used a lot less of it because I don't generally like pouring what amounts to liquid sugar all over my hard work. Those quantities are approximate, as I was just winging it and tasting along the way.

Here's what I used:

Dough
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
5/8 cup bread flour
1/4 cup (1½ ounces) potato flour OR 1/4 cup dried potato flakes
1 heaping tablespoon (1/2 ounce) granular lecithin (optional)
1½ tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon instant yeast
5/8 teaspoon salt
1½ tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla Princess Cake Flavor
1/2 large egg
1/2 cup (4 ounces) milk

Filling
1/4 cup sugar
1½ tablespoons cornstarch unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/16 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peeled, grated apple
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Glaze
1/2 cup 2+ tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1+ tablespoon heavy cream

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the butter, flavoring, egg, and milk, then mix until a shaggy dough forms. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes; this resting period allows the flour to absorb the liquid fully, making it easier to knead.

Knead the dough for about 10 minutes; it should feel slightly sticky and soft. Add a couple of tablespoons of water if the dough feels firm or dry. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat. Cover the bowl, and let the dough rise until it's almost doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Whisk together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Before assembling the bread, toss the grated apples with the sugar mixture and mix well.  Gently deflate the risen dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured or greased work surface. Fold it over once or twice to remove the excess gas. Roll the dough into a 10 x 12-inch rectangle. Spread the filling over the rolled-out dough, leaving a 1/2-inch margin clear of filling along all sides.  Sprinkle with cheese.

Looks like a pizza.  Ha!

Starting with a long side, roll the dough into a log, sealing the edge. Transfer the log to a sheet of parchment paper or a well-greased baking sheet.  Cut the log in half lengthwise. Keeping the filling side up, twist the two halves together, working from the center to each end. Pinch the ends together. Cover the twist lightly and set aside to rise for 1 to 2 hours.

Just before baking.

Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Check the loaves after 20 minutes and tent with aluminum foil if it's browning too quickly around the edges. (I rotated after 12 minutes and baked for a total of 25.)  Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool for about 1 hour before glazing and serving.  Mix together all of the glaze ingredients and drizzle it over the loaf once it's cool.


Conclusion:  I'm not sure I'd make this again.  It was good, but fussy to make and not sure it's worth all that trouble.  The apple mixture is too wet for this style of bread and so you can't use much of it, while I think the loaf could have used more filling.  It's not terribly sweet, which is fine because you could serve it with some of the richer breakfast items.  I would have liked a much applier-cheesier filling, something more streusely.  The bread recipe is a good one to remember, though, for when you want a very soft white loaf.  (Maybe for monkey bread!)

Recipe:  Cinnamon Apple Twist Bread via King Arthur Flour