Spelt Christmas Bread

Sweet Christmas Spelled

Christmas without a traditional Christmas bread is hard for many of us to imagine, so how about preparing it with a new twist this year? Food blogger Lžička cukru has created a special recipe for a Christmas bread using our spelt flour. With us, the holiday season begins full of flavors!

Ingredients

For the dough:

7 g of dry yeast
170 g of milk
250 g of NOMINAL fine spelt flour
80 g of granulated sugar
180 g of NOMINAL finely ground wholemeal spelt flour
100 g of melted butter
2 egg yolks
1 egg
1 tablespoon of rum
a pinch of salt
1/3 teaspoon of ground vanilla
zest from half an orange
50 g of raisins
To finish:
beaten egg for brushing
20 g of almond slices
25 g of melted butter

For this recipe you need the following products:

First, weigh all the ingredients. In a large bowl, mix the yeast, about 1/3 of the lukewarm milk, a tablespoon of fine spelt flour, and sugar. Stir everything together and let the yeast rise for 15 minutes. When the yeast is active and nicely bubbly, add the remaining fine flour and wholemeal flour, sugar, milk, butter, egg yolks, orange zest, rum, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Let it rest for 5 minutes.
Knead the dough until it is smooth and soft, kneading for at least 8 minutes with a mixer, or longer if kneading by hand. Properly kneaded dough will not stick to the bowl or hook, and it will be beautifully elastic and shiny; if not, add a tablespoon of flour. At this point, add all the raisins and work them well into the dough.
Form the dough into a ball, lightly dust with flour, cover the bowl with a cloth, and let it rise in a warm place for at least 60 minutes. When the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few more times. Weigh the dough and divide it into six equal pieces. Roll these into ropes and braid them into a Christmas loaf. Transfer the braided loaf onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cover with a cloth, and let it rise for another 60 minutes.
Once the loaf has risen, preheat the oven to 200°C with a fan. Brush the loaf with egg and sprinkle with almond slices. To ensure the loaf doesn't spread sideways, I recommend piercing it with skewers.
Place in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 150°C and bake for another 35 minutes, until it is nicely golden on the surface. Before removing from the oven, check if it is fully baked using a skewer; it should come out completely dry.