Sesame and Lemon? YES... Sesame and Lemon's love child is always beautiful, and this bread crown is no exception. Intimidated by enriched bread dough? Start with this recipe and you'll be fine. Trust me. The shaping looks much harder than it really is. The recipe still needs some skill, but this is the kind of bread that once you have the basic dough recipe down, you can switch up the flavors from sweet, to savory, to whatever you like! It's definitely a #breadwinner.
I think that when I die, I'll be telling my significant other to make sure there are bread crowns all over my funeral instead of flower crowns (too morbid for a food blog? Yeah... this is probably not your typical food blog #sorrynotsorry.) Anywhooo... GET READY. This recipe is so freaking tasty you'll want to bake it over and over again until you perfect it. As I said in the intro, you can switch out the flavors from sweet to savory once you master the basic dough recipe. It's honestly pretty forgiving and quite quick in it's proving and shaping times in comparison to other bread doughs.
This recipe uses Tahini! Tahini, yes, like what you use to make hummus. No. We are not making hummus.
Tahini is easy to find and you can use it for a bunch of other things later on so don't throw it out (you can always make bread crowns for days... I won't judge.) There is a little bit of a "tricky" part in this recipe, which is the Sesame Brittle. Just omit it if you don't feel like bothering. The recipe will still be good, it will just be missing some extra sesame-ness.
RECIPE LEVEL: Intermediate (or beginner but #pacienciababy)
HANDS-ON TIME: 30 - 45 minutes
WAITING TIME: 2 hours
BAKING TIME: 25 minutes at 420F
Kitchen equipment you will need:
for Sesame Brittle (optional ingredient... but so tasty)
Small Saucepan
Silicone Mat (or parchment paper would work as well)
Blender or Food Processor
for mixing the dough:
Your Hands OR
Stand Mixer fitted with a Dough Hook (if ya fancy)
for rolling the dough:
Rolling Pin OR
Wine Bottle (if ya broke #problemsolving... everybody probably has a wine bottle during quarantine right?)
for proving and baking the bread:
Cling Film
Parchment Paper
Large Plastic Bag (i typically use a brining bag, but if you don't have anything that big then you can try to carefully cover your dough with cling film when it's doing it's final prove. Just make sure you are not restricting the growth too much.)
Large Bowl
for other miscellaneous tasks:
Measuring Cups and Measuring Spoons or a Digital Scale
Small Bowl
Small Pot
Pastry Brush
Knife
Spoons
Ruler (or your eyeballs)
Ingredients:
For the Sesame Brittle (optional ingredient):
1/2 cup (100g) White Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup (70g) Sesame Seeds
For the dough:
Zest of 1 Lemon (you will use the zest for the dough and the juice for the Lemon Icing)
1 3/4 cups (250g) Bread Flour
1 teaspoon (5g) Salt (not iodized salt pleaaaaaase)
2 1/4 (8g) teaspoons Instant Yeast (you can use Activated Yeast but you will need to follow the instruction on how to rehydrate it)
3 1/2 tablespoons (50g) Softened Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup (135ml) Whole Milk
1 Large Egg
For the filling:
6 1/2 tablespoons (90g) Softened Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup Sesame Brittle
3-4 tablespoons Unsalted Tahini (oh my god...please don't get salted tahini and then start questioning my taste buds lol)
3 tablespoons Soft Brown Sugar
couple of pinches of salt
For the Glaze and Lemon Icing:
2 - 3 tablespoons of Apricot Jam
1 cup (100g) Confectioners' Sugar
Juice of half a Lemon
Ok. Let's GO.
Method:
Stage 1: Mixing the Dough
1. Place the flour in a bowl (if you have a Stand Mixer, then place it in the bowl of the mixer with a Dough Hook attachment). Place the yeast on one side of the bowl and the salt on the opposite side (placing the salt on top of the yeast can deactivate the yeast sometimes.)
2. Take your softened butter (which you probably softened in the microwave because #worksmartnothard) the egg, lemon zest, and your warmed milk (NOT HOT) and place it all in the bowl along with the flour, yeast, and salt.
3. Start mixing all the ingredients together with your hand (or the dough hook on slow speed) until you pick up all the flour from the bowl.
4. Tip the dough out of the bowl on a floured surface and knead by hand for about 6 minutes until the dough feels smooth and silky. (If you have been using a mixer, then continue mixing the dough with the dough hook attachment for about 3-4 minutes until the same stage - smooth and silky.)
5. Butter the inside of a large bowl and place the dough to prove. Cover with cling film or a damp kitchen rag and leave to prove for an hour. It's ok if you leave it to prove for 2 or even 3 hours (enriched dough likes a slow rise.)
Stage 2: Sesame Brittle
1. While the dough proves, start your Sesame Brittle (if you fancy and you wanna do it - I HIGHLY recommend it.)
2. Start by making what's called a "dry caramel." Scatter about a tablespoon of the sugar on the bottom of a dry sauce pan on medium high heat. Once the sugar starts to melt (you'll definitely see it melting away but not caramelizing yet) scatter about another tablespoon. Continue doing this until you are completely out of sugar.
3. Once the sugar starts taking on some color (like a light caramel color) start stirring around softly with a metal spoon until it reaches a more medium caramel color (think from yellow lab we went to full golden retriever...yeah? I like dogs...)
4. Immediately when it gets to this stage, throw in the sesame seeds and stir to coat completely. Quickly dump the hot brittle onto your silicon mat or parchment paper. Flatten as best you can while hot. DO NOT touch this mixture. It's very hot #toohottohandle.
5. Once that mixture is completely cool, break into pieces and throw in a blender or food processor and blend into a fine powder. You will not be using all of this. There will be some left over. (Which you should definitely scatter on top of ice cream some other day... Y.U.M.)
Stage 3: Rolling, Filling, and Shaping the Dough
1. Take your softened butter, the 1/2 cup of sesame brittle, and brown sugar and place in a bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon until the mixture is thoroughly combined and looks almost whippy. (If you have a stand mixer, now's you time to shine again. Throw a paddle attachment on that baby and whip whip whip.) Set aside.
2. After an hour's prove, your dough should have doubled in size. Tip it out on a lightly floured surface. Scatter some flour over the top of the dough and on your rolling pin. Start rolling the dough until it is about 9in x 12in approximately.
3. Take tahini and smother the dough all over in sesame goodness. Dollop on your butter, sesame brittle, and brown sugar mixture on the top as well. Scatter a couple of pinches of salt on top. Make sure everything is evenly distributed, but be gentle when scattering on top of the dough. You don't want to poke any holes through.
4. Now your dough is ready to roll. Start by creating a little fold (as depicted in the picture to the right) and just keep rolling the dough into a log.
5. Cut the log in half lengthwise all the way through.
6. Take the two ends and start twisting them both round and round until the two dough legs are completely twisted like a braid. Take the two opposite ends and attempt to unite with another little twist. You have made your crown!
7. Transfer crown to a parchment lined baking tray. Place the entire tray into your large proving bag (or cover completely in cling film without restricting the growth.)
8. Leave to prove for another hour.
9. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 420F.
10. Once proved, take out of the bag and place in the oven and bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Check it though as it may need more or less in your oven. You're looking for a deep golden brown color for an enriched dough.
11. Once baked, take out of the oven and place on a wire rack or on a heat resistant surface to cool.
12. While the crown is still warm, start your glaze and icing. Place apricot jam with a splash of water in the microwave to just warm through. Take a pastry brush and coat the entire loaf in jam.
13. In a separate bowl, place confectioners' sugar and the juice of half a lemon. Stir through with a fork until you get a runny icing. Drizzle all the icing on the warm crown.
14. You donezo! Coronate yourself. You deserve it.
The queen has spoken and she approves of your bread crown. Send me pics and tag me @masamamafood on instagram if you bake it!
Buen provecho!
Tag me @masamamafood!
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