Posts may contain affiliate links that help enable me to continue to provide you with free recipes. Please see my Privacy Policy for further details.
So when King Arthur Flour sent out their one flyer it had a recipe for Braided Lemon Bread. It didn’t look hard really and it looked amazingly delicious! I finally had a day where I wasn’t running around like a mad woman I decided to give it a whirl. While I didn’t follow their recipe for their sweet dough (sorry KAF but nothing beats my sweet roll dough), I did follow their recipe for the cheese filling. I did make my own Lemon curd, Raspberry Curd, Blueberry Curd and Strawberry Curd.
I figured since I was going to visit the in-laws tomorrow, I would make them these (thus the 4 types of sweet breads), 2 ginormous loaves of Sourdough Bread, a dozen of English Muffins and I am also taking them a dozen of frozen sour dough pretzels that they can make anytime they want.
From King Arthur Flour’s site
PrintBraided Fruit & Cream Sweet Bread
Find more fantabulous recipes, tips and tricks at www.thekitchenwhisperer.net. Also, join our TKW Family on Facebook
Ingredients
Sponge
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
Dough
- all of the sponge
- 3/4 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor OR vanilla
- 5 cups All-Purpose Flour
- egg wash for brushing braid
- pearl sugar or sparkling white sugar for sprinkling on braid
Cream Cheese Filling
- 2/3 cup cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 cup prepared lemon curd
Instructions
- Directions
- In a small bowl, combine the sponge ingredients.
- Stir well to combine, loosely cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to proof for 10 to 15 minutes.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer combine the sponge, yogurt, butter, eggs, sugar, salt, and flavoring.
- Add 4 1/2 cups of flour and mix with the paddle attachment until the dough is a rough, shaggy mass.
- Switch to the dough hook and knead on speed 2 until a soft, smooth dough forms, about 5 to 6 minutes, adding more flour if needed to achieve the correct consistency.
- Place the kneaded dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until quite puffy and nearly doubled.
- While the dough is rising, prepare the filling.
- Combine all the filling ingredients (except the lemon curd) in a small bowl, mixing until smooth and lump-free.
- Reserve the filling and lemon curd until ready to fill the braids.
- Gently deflate the dough and divide it in half.
- Cover half with plastic wrap and set it aside as you roll out the first piece into a 10″ x 15″ rectangle.
- Rolling on parchment paper makes moving the bread to the baking sheet much, much easier.
- Lightly press two lines down the dough lengthwise, to divide it into 3 equal sections.
- Spread half the cream cheese filling down the center section, and top with half the lemon curd, leaving 1″ free on all sides of the filling.
- To form the mock braid, cut 1″ crosswise strips down the length of the outside sections, making sure you have the same number of strips down each side.
- Beginning on the left, lift the top dough strip and gently bring it across the filling diagonally.
- Repeat on the other side with the top dough strip, so that the two strips crisscross each other.
- Continue down the entire braid, alternating strips to form the loaf.
- Repeat the rolling, filling, and braiding steps for the second piece of dough, using the remaining cream cheese filling and lemon curd.
- Set both loaves aside, lightly covered, to rise for 45 to 50 minutes, or until quite puffy.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Brush the loaves with egg wash (one lightly beaten egg, 2 teaspoons water and a pinch of salt), and sprinkle with coarse sparkling sugar, if desired.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the loaves are golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and cool for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.
I made it, with variations. First, I used my sourdough starter instead of the “sponge,” and made a blueberry curd instead of the lemon. Otherwise, followed the recipe. It is simply fantastic!
★★★★★
Oh I love the twist on the sourdough starter! Great idea!
Best Kitchen Wishes!