Baking Friday - Bread # 3

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you ok with Thursday coming a day early?

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you going to come try a piece of my Orange Easter Braid?

And thus announced that Thursday had come on Wednesday for my work taste testers this week!

There were comments from people who were now concerned about having their week all mixed up, but Orange Easter Braid helped them cope with the trauma.

This was a late inspiration.  I had debated about what bread to make.  I love Easter, not so much for the food but more for the extra special celebrations of Jesus' Resurrection.  So I kept asking myself, "What sounds like an Easter bread.  Challah?  French Toast?  Praline French Toast?"

And then R&E and the boys shared some orange sweet rolls with us last weekend, and I had my inspiration!  Use Challah to make a braid and flavor it with orange!  Yes!!!  This sounded like spring and Easter!  I was excited!

This was pretty yummy folks!  Responses included such things as...

PHEEEEEENOMINAL!!!!!!!!!!

Ambrosia.  Absolutely ambrosia.

This was fantastic!  It was the perfect amount of orange flavor without being overloaded.  The glaze was the perfect complement.  I have nothing negative to say. :)

Oh Joy...Oh Rapture...Oh Happy Day!!!  (This extreme exuberance may have been prompted by a case of extended carb deprivation in my friend's life right now.)

Oh my.  I thought Butter Braids the kids sell in school were good, but WOW.  This takes the concept to a whole different level.  The sauce with the orange zest was a fantastic complement to the bread.  I know what I am going to make for Easter morning!

Are you sold?  One lady even said that she thought this was her favorite of the Baking Friday treats I've brought in so far.

Wanna see how to make it?  This isn't hard. It's a yeast bread, so it takes a bit of time, but it can be shaped the night before and then refrigerated.  Allow a bit longer rising time if you do that, and then it's warm for family and friends on your Easter breakfast buffet.

I began with this Classic Challah recipe from KAF, with only three minor changes.  (Is it ok to serve a Jewish Challah for Easter?  I love Challah, so I sure hope so!)

1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 T. softened butter
4 T. vegetable oil
3 T. honey
1 T. corn syrup
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 t. salt
1 T. yeast

I chose to use butter to boost the flavor just a bit.  But then I measured the oil in the glass first so that the honey and corn syrup would slide right out!

Pretty slick thinkin', huh?  (Don't you just love a good pun?!)

I put everything in my handy-dandy, please-don't-make-me-do-life-without-this Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook and let it work its magic!

I took a look at the dough after it had kneaded for a few minutes and decided we needed a couple extra tablespoons of flour.

Yea, I liked this better...

Since I needed to use the mixer to make a couple loaves of pumpkin bread, too, I moved the dough to a greased bowl to rise.  (Oftentimes I will just toss a towel over the mixer bowl and let a batch of dough rise right there.  Yep.  I'm bad like that.)

Holla, Challah!  Happy rising!

In the meantime, I put this filling together.

1 vanilla bean
4 oz. softened cream cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 drops of Orange Oil (optional but boosts the flavor quotient!)
Zest and Juice from 1 orange
Dash of salt

First I split open the vanilla bean.

Then I scraped out the luscious caviar on the inside using the back of the knife.

I added the vanilla yummy goodness to the cream cheese, butter and sugars.  See all those specks of caviar in there just waiting to work their magic?

Next came 4 drops of this marvelous elixir...

...and then the gorgeous zest of a beautiful orange.  I do love my microplane!

Squeeze in the juice from that orange...

...and then mix together until creamy.  (If you lick the beaters, I won't tell.  Oh!  And this made more than I needed, so if a spoon manages to find its way from the bowl to your mouth, no one will miss it, I assure you!  Well...provided the spoon doesn't do this too many times!)

I set this aside until the dough has risen and is puffy and ready to shape.  This took about 2 hours for me due to the honey and eggs.

Holla back Challah!  Lookin' good!

Deflate the dough and then separate into either 3 equal parts or 4.  I chose 4, because I enjoy the challenge of braiding 4 strands together!

On a lightly floured surface, I rolled the first piece into a thin rectangle about 8" x 14".

I spread some of the cream cheese mixture over the dough...

...and then rolled it in on itself from the long side like making cinnamon rolls.

"Lather, rinse, repeat" until I had 4 strands.

In order to braid these together, I laid them crosswise, because I wasn't sure I could count right if they stayed vertical.  (Yes, I'm challenged that way.)  I pinched the ends of all 4 strands together on my left.

Then I crossed the bottom strand over the next two...

...and then the top one over the two down from it.

I kept counting and crossing...

...until the braid was fully formed.  I laid it on a parchment covered cookie sheet and settled it in the fridge for a good night's sleep.  (The little pan are the ends from the strands that I baked up for G's breakfast Wednesday morning...)

I took the braid back out of the fridge around 4am and let it rise until about 6:45 before baking at 375 for about 45 minutes.  A bit of the filling oozed out.  Crying shame, but it happened.

Then I glazed it with this easy orange glaze.

1 T. softened butter
3 cups of powdered sugar
Zest and juice of 1 orange
8 drops of orange oil (again, optional, but kick starts the flavor!)
1 splash of vanilla
Dash of salt
2 - 4 T. of milk

I put the butter, zest and vanilla into a bowl...

...and then added the orange oil, juice, salt, milk and powdered sugar.

I mixed that until I had a lovely, drizzable glaze.

I drizzled.  I drizzled a bit more.  I tossed in a bit of sparkling sugar and drizzled again.

And it.  Was done.

I took the rest of the glaze into work for anyone who "needed" more.  And we served.  While it was still a bit warm.  And love and joy and happiness abounded.

This may very well find itself on our Easter breakfast table.  It would be over the top made with a batch of croissant dough....hmmm....I'll have to think on that one...

As always, thank you for stopping by!  Happy Spring and early Easter!