Hello from the other end of All Hallow’s Eve! Hope you guys spent some fun spooky hours last night :–) Over here in my little hometown it was rather quiet. Not as many trick-or-treaters around as we expected, which didn’t bother my husband in the slightest, as it resulted in more sweets for him… boys… ;–) I guess the neighbouring kids are probably still aware of the potato-scandal from two years back ;–P (see last post for full story).
Today, All Saints’ Day, has much deeper roots around here than the present version of Halloween. You might not find too many people roaming the streets on candy-hunt during the scary night, but they will all be at the grave of their loved ones today or tomorrow on All Souls’ Day. It is all about taking the time to remember those special moments, that we shared with the loved people who already left us, and hoping, wishing that they are happy, wherever they may be now.
It used to be different though. Way back in time, people used to believe that All Soul’s day is this one day of the year, when those poor souls, that are condemned to stay in purgatory for all eternity, get a rest. They would rise up to their graves and have piece for a little while. It was custom to bake braided yeast buns and place them on the graves for the souls to feast on.
Of course, superstition has long since been replaced by common sense, but the braided bun stayed. Which is great! Our common sense obviously tells us to hang on to yummy food ;–) These days, you will find it in pretty much all bakeries here and it is tradition in some families to bake one for your godchildren or it is simply shared within the family with some warming tee and coffee, after the visit to the graveyard.
Naturally, I could not resist to bake one myself ;–) And it worked out beautifully! Usually the braided bun is basically made of white wheat flour, butter, white sugar, cow’s milk, egg, yeast and raisins. Well, if you have read my About, you will know that I am no fan of empty calories. So I used my go-to recipe for sweet yeast bread, added a nice mix of dried fruits, plaited the dough into a lovely shape, topped it with some almond slivers and there you go: perfect, fluffy, lightly sweetened All Saints’ braided bun :–)
Next time you feel like having a slice (or more) of sweet yeast bread for a snack along with your coffee or tea on a cold Autumn-afternoon – that recipe is it! It doesn’t require a lot of effort (even the braiding if you wanna make it fancy ;–)). Just bear in mind that yeast dough needs it’s time to prove – approx. 1 1/2 hour in total. I like to make the dough in the evening, put it in a plastic bowl that comes with a lid and let it do it’s magic over night in the fridge. Next day, around one hour before I intend to eat it, I knead it again, shape it, give it another few minutes to prove a bit more and off it goes to the oven. That way it feels like no work at all ;–)
My recipe for sweet yeast bread replaces wheat with spelt. I reduce the amount of sweetener and use honey or maple syrup instead of white sugar. Sometimes I like adding a mix of dried fruits, which give you some colourful, sweet highlights and some thrown in nuts or seeds lend a nice crunchy feel to every other bite. The dough behaves very well and lets itself be shaped into pretty much anything bread could be shaped into ;–) I already tried cinnamon buns, all kind of braids and some other typical Austrian sweet yeast breads. All lovely :–)
Of course, it does taste different compared to white wheat yeast buns. Don’t bake that expecting the same taste, please. But DO give it a try, because it is also really, really, REALLY good! Then enjoy it just by itself with a nice cup of tea or coffee or even better: softly spiced hot almond milk :–) Or topped with your favourite jam, a bit of butter or a dollop of nut butter… delish!
Ingredients
for basic sweet bread:
- 250 g whole meal spelt flour
- 250 g white spelt flour
- 270 g (approx. 285 ml) almond milk
- 50 g rapeseed oil (or other neutral tasting oil)
- 7 g dry yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp rum (no worries, alcohol will disappear in the oven!)
- 1 tbsp (approx. 25 g) honey or maple syrup
- zest of 1 organic lemon
additionally for this specific All Saints’ bun:
- 60 g mixed dried fruits (I used cranberries, goji berries, raisins)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/8 tsp ground cardamon
- 1/4 tsp ground curcuma
- 1/2 tsp honey/maple syrup + 2 tbsp almond milk + a handfull almond slivers for garnish
Directions:
- In a big mixing bowl (that ideally comes with a lid) add all dry ingredients except the fruits and almond slivers. Stir well with a wooden spoon.
- Add all liquid ingredients (except 1/2 tsp honey/maple syrup, 2 tbsp almond milk) and stir until well combined – doesn’t have to be perfect, because now it’s kneading time.
- Pour the dough out on your working surface and give it a good massage. The dough might seem a bit too moist/sticky at first, but if you keep kneading, it will get a beautiful, smooth consistency. Once you achieved that, shape to a ball and place back into your bowl. Cover with a lid or a moist kitchen towel and let prove at room temperature until it has doubled in size (around 1 hour), or pop it into the fridge overnight and finish next day.
- Take your dough out of the bowl, knead in your dried fruits and divide the dough first in half, then in quarters….
…Get the first quarter and cover the rest with a kitchen towel (so that dough doesn’t dry out)…
…and press down flat into a somewhat rectangular shape.
- Then fold the top half down to the middle and press down the end with your fingers.
- Next, with pressure, use both hands to roll down the dough, giving it a sausagey shape.
- Again, with light pressure roll out the “sausage” using both flat hands until you end up with a dough strand of around 2 cm (3/4 inch) in diameter (if it seems to shrink back a lot, give it a few minutes rest under the towel for the dough to relax – then rolling will be easy). Repeat with a second piece of dough.
- Cross one strand over the other.
- Starting with the strand that lies under the second, carefully grab one end and fold it over to the opposite side, then take the other end of the same strand and also fold it to the opposite side.
- Now do the same with the other dough strand.
- And again with the first, repeating until the strands are all plaited…
…Firmly press together the four ends and transfer to your baking tray…
…Repeat with the two remaining dough pieces and give those pretty buns a few minutes rest under the towel so they can prove a bit more. Somewhere between 10 and 20 minutes should do it, depending on the room temperature. They should grow around 1/3 of their original size. - Preheat oven on 180°C top-bottom-heat.
- In a small cup mix 1/2 tsp honey/maple syrup with two tbsp almond milk. Using a kitchen basting brush coat the buns with the mix and sprinkle on almond slivers (the honey/maple syrup helps the almond slivers to stay put).
- Bake for approx. 28 minutes, until golden-brown. Enjoy!