Estonian Kringel - Fresh From The Oven

Time for another Fresh From The Oven challenge which was picked by Jo over at Jo's Kitchen. Jo spotted the recipe when it appeared on the Hairy Bikers TV Show ' Mum's Know Best'. I think I'm about the only baker int he group to have missed that episode but I'm so glad that Jo picked this recipe to try for our March challenge. Yum does not even begin to describe it.

In usual me type style I left it till today to get the bread made. That said there isn't much of it left, Hubby and I have pretty much eaten the lot. That sounds bad, especially when you take a peek at the ingredients list but its the only thing we've had to eat today - promise! Got a nice dinner in the oven though so never fear, Hubby isn't on starvation rations just yet!

I found the dough quite dry to work with, I was worried that the cooked bread would be the same but I guess that 100g of butter smeared over the top did the trick. I couldn't lay my hands on fresh yeast and used 12g of instant in its place, not sure if that caused the initial dry texture. Hubby has asked for this to be made again soon and as everyone knows by now this is my barometer of success or not! Two thumbs up from this camp. There was a bit of discussion when the recipe was posted about some ingredients being omitted etc so I have used the recipe as the Hairy Bikers have included on the web site for the TV show.

Sweet Estonian Kringle
40 g fresh yeast
1 tbsp sugar
220 ml milk
1 tsp Salt
2 egg yolks
50 g melted unsalted butter
600-700 ml flour
Filling
100 g soft butter
10 tsp sugar
3 handfuls of raisins
Topping
150 g dark chocolate (min 50%)

75 g butter

Mix yeast and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add lukewarm milk, egg yolks.

Mix in flour and melted butter and knead well.

Shape the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and leave to rise in a warm
place for 30 min.

Knock the dough back and roll it out on a slightly dusted work surface to about 1 cm thickness.

Spread soft butter evenly over the rolled sheet of pastry. Then sprinkle raisins and finally sugar.

Roll the dough up like a Swiss roll then cut in half with a sharp knife leaving one end uncut.

Starting from the uncut end, lift each half over the other in turn revealing the separate layers.

Shape the plaited bread into a B-shape and transfer onto a buttered baking tray. Bake in a
preheated oven at 200 C for about 25 min or until golden.

In the meantime prepare the chocolate topping by melting chocolate and butter in a bowl over
some boiling water.

Once out of the oven, let the bread cool down a bit, transfer to a serving plate and drizzle the
chocolate sauce all over.

Serves 15 to 20 (lol!)

Hairy Bikers 'Mum Knows Best'

In an attempt to try and reduce the amount of calories we were to consume with this recipe I have omitted the chocolate sauce for drizzling. A savoury version can also be made by omitting the sugar and replacing the filling with cheese.