Lemon and bread

mis en place for lemon-filled bread

Today was a rainy cold damp day, but inside everything was much nicer, especially since I made lemon-filled bread today.  Every bread is special but for those who like filled breads, this is especially nice.

First, a bread sponge is made using yeast, sugar, salt, water and a small amount of flour.  After this is mixed and covered, it sits for a short bit and becomes all bubbly and creamy, and considerably greater in volume.  Then it is combined with eggs, butter, vanilla, more sugar and more flour, and mixed until it is a shaggy mound of dough.  After kneading for a handful of minutes, we have a slightly moist dough that is smoother and is ready for a rise of at least 90 minutes.

After rising, the dough has just about doubled in volume and is quite poofy.  It is then deflated a bit and divided in half since this makes two 15-inch loaves.  Each half needs to be rolled out into a rectangle which is easy to do since the dough is quite amenable to being tugged into shape to create rough corners.  After rolling to a size of about 10 inches by 15 inches, the filling is added.  In this case, there are two fillings.  One is a cream cheese-based filling and on top of that is a layer of lemon curd.  They are both spread down the center of the entire 15-inch length, leaving a bit of uncovered dough at each end.  Plenty of dough is left uncovered on either side of the filling as well since this has to be cut into strips that are then folded over the middle portion of dough containing the filling.  Then this all sits for another 45 or 50 minutes.

After the second rise, each loaf is brushed with an egg wash and sprinkled with Swedish pearl sugar before going into the oven.  Then, just 25 minutes later, the loaves are ready to come out.

15-inch lemon-filled bread loaf

You don't have to wait long to dig in.  Only 20 minutes is needed for cooling and then you can start slicing.

slice of lemon-filled bread

And there you have it.  A beautiful soft bread with a filling that is a little tart, a little sweet, and a little creamy.  With this sitting on the kitchen counter all day, there is very little that can be done to persuade people not to grab a slice every time they pass it.

Bread can make any day a great day!