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Greek Celebration Bread – BBA Challenge #2

By Sean | May 16, 2009

Today I finished off the Greek Celebration Bread for the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge.  I was somewhat excited and somewhat nervous with this bread because the only other time I had made bread not in a loaf pan was some french bread.  Last couple times I made that it fell going into the oven.  This was also the first time I had used a pre-ferment.

The pre-ferment (I used a poolish) was quite easy to make.  I started to get bubbling after about two and a half hours.  I left it out at room temparature for almost four hours then had to get into bed so off it went to the fridge.  I let it sit in the fridge for a couple days until today.  When I pulled the poolish out of the fridge it looked exactly like it should have.  You could really see the gluten strands.

Well as I was mixing everything in (by hand) it took a little extra to get the poolish mixed in completely.

The smell already from the allspice, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg was amazing.  I was ready to eat it right then.

It is really humid here today and after I got all of the ingredients mixed in the dough was really sticky.  I ended up adding some more flour and it did not seem to get any less sticky.  I ended up giving up and doing the best that I could.

I let it rise for a full hour and a half before shaping.  I decided to do the Christopomos shape with the cross, but I did not want all the fruits and nuts.

The smell all through the preparing and baking of this bread made the mouth water.  After finally putting it in the oven I checked in on it after about seven minutes to see what kind of oven spring I got.  Wow, was I surprised.  It did not come close to comparing to previous attempts at baking bread.  It really poped.

It smelled so good we had to come up with a reason to get out of the house so that it could cool down properly so we took off for the library.  When we came back first thing I did was slice into it.

I was just barely able to get the picture snapped off before my wife took the two pieces that were sliced.

It had the perfect amount of sweetness for a bread like this.  The flavors mixing together were a good combination.  It left you wanting more.  The loaf probably won’t last the weekend.

Well, next up is bagels.  I hope to make these sometime the next week before the Memorial Day weekend.  My wife is looking forward to this as bagels are her favorite.  If I have the time I will make two batches (one cinnamon without the raisins and one plain).

Until next time happy baking.

Topics: BBA Challenge | 9 Comments »

9 Responses to “Greek Celebration Bread – BBA Challenge #2”

  1. Susie Says:
    May 16th, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    Sean,
    Thanks for fixing the login thingy so I could comment.
    You sound about like me in that I’ve only done a few loaves that weren’t in a bread tin and I did the poolish also.
    I know I will make this recipe again. It tasted great.
    I don’t know why the bagels are intimidating to me. :) I’m going to get at them this coming week and going to do the cinnamon with raisins.
    Great job Sean,
    Susie

  2. Natasha Says:
    May 16th, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    Looks great! I was shocked at the oven spring too, it was so impressive. Your glaze really brings out the colours. Did you steam the oven to get the colour on the crust?

  3. Sean Says:
    May 16th, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    Thanks for the comments. I had forgotten to do any steam. This bread baking has been fun.

  4. Jennifer @ Peteeatemall Says:
    May 16th, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    Looks fantastic! I wish I would have made the fancy design….maybe next time! Happy baking!

  5. Mags Says:
    May 17th, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    Sean, I think your bread looks great! I’m impressed with your shaping.

    Tomorrow’s my day to try this recipe… can’t wait!

  6. Sean Says:
    May 17th, 2009 at 4:08 pm

    Thanks, I wanted to do this and learn as much as I can so I wanted to try as much as I can.

  7. Madam Chow Says:
    May 24th, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    You are so funny – I did the same thing – got out of the house to give it a chance to cool down before I devoured it. So, I went to the gym, and the first thing I did when I walked in the door was cut off a slice. Then another. And another. Good thing I worked out!

  8. Sweetcharity Says:
    May 25th, 2009 at 10:23 am

    Beautiful loaf! Great job with the shaping!!

  9. Hilda Says:
    May 31st, 2009 at 6:07 pm

    Great looking bread. I am a fan of Pinch My Salt. I just read and look at all the wonderful things you people do. You must have lots of fun and stamina to do this. Again, great looking bread.

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