It has been a little cooler here lately, which always seems to give me the Baking Itch. Do you know what that is? It is this strange virus that overtakes people and sends them scurrying for every known recipe. They spend hours in the kitchen until they have made far more food than anyone could possibly eat. They are then temporarily cured. It is never fully out of your system, though. It will continue to resurface at the most inopportune times -- like when you have deadlines looming...
My most recent bout with the Baking Itch resulted in this bread. It is an Apple Butter Ring and is super easy to do. Maybe it will be enough to send your Baking Itch into remission.
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Here's how to make your own:
Start with enough bread dough for one regular loaf. I used this recipe. It makes 2 loaves, so I just shaped a regular loaf with the other half of dough. If making bread intimidates you, but you still want to impress your friends, head over to your local grocery store and pick up some frozen bread dough. Thaw it out, hide the packaging in the bottom of the trash can and hope no one asks for the recipe.
Just kidding -- you would never hide the package, would you?
Grab your handy dandy rolling pin and roll the dough out into a flat rectangle. It doesn't have to be perfect. This is very forgiving. The thinner you roll it, the more layers of flavoring there will be. Don't roll it too thin, though, or it will be difficult to work with. I usually try to get mine somewhere between 1/8-1/4 inch, give or take.
Next, decide what flavoring you will use. I used the Apple Butter I posted about here. The extra spice was perfect for this bread. You could use just about anything, though.
Some ideas:
Apple Butter, Pumpkin Butter, or just about any jelly or jam. You could also spread the dough with butter, then brown sugar and cinnamon for a cinnamon bread. Mmmmm!!
Don't be chintzy with your spread. You want a lot of good flavor in there. Don't put so much on that it is oozing all over the place, though.
Now just start rolling the long end.
When you get to the end, just sort of pinch the edge together so it doesn't come apart.
Now curl it into an overstuffed doughnut shape and pinch the ends together. Very gently stretch the doughnut so that it becomes more of a large ring. Don't get over zealous. You want to work with the dough. It isn't your enemy - you don't have to fight with it. If it doesn't want to stretch, no problem. It will still look cool and impress your friends.
Oh look. We have a gaping hole. Throw out the dough and start all over. No, I'm kidding. I told you this was very forgiving. I promise this hole will not be an issue. I just tried to pull it a little bit closed and went on with my life.
Move the dough to your prepared cookie sheet (I dust the sheet with corn meal, but you can use cooking spray). I used a baking stone, which is nice if you have one. Dust your dough ring with flour or powdered sugar so the kitchen shears won't stick.
Now use kitchen shears to make diagonal snips in the dough. Pull the "triangles" out to make a sort of pinwheel shape. This looks complicated, but it is really so easy.
Bake according to your dough recipe. Brew a pot of tea or coffee and call your friends and family. They will thank you!
(Just for the record, I am still living sugar free.. My family, however, is not. They love it when I bake them treats, so I do it often.)
