SPIRAL APPLE BREAD WITH CARAMEL APPLE GLAZE
Bread
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup warm milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cinnamon, ground
3 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (I used Granny Smith.)
Topping
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
Glaze
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
Place flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and yeast in a stand mixer with the dough hook attached. Stir to combine.
In a small bowl add your melted butter into your warm milk. Then, with the mixer on low, add this mixture to the flour mixture until it forms a soft dough ball.
Knead with the mixer for about 4 minutes. Then transfer dough into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm area for 1.1/2 hours or until doubled in size.
Punch dough down then divide into 2 balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball into an approximately 8 x 11-inch rectangle. Cut into 9 strips.
Lightly grease an 8- or 9-inch round pan. Starting at the center of pan, coil apple slices with dough strips into a spiral, pinching ends securely as strips are added.
Repeat the same steps for the other half of the dough. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes. Toward the end of rising time, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
For the topping, mix cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl. Once the bread is removed from the oven, brush each loaf with melted butter and then sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
While the bread cools, melt butter in a 1-quart saucepan over medium heat. Stir in 1/4 cup brown sugar. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; reduce heat to low. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Stir in cider. Heat to boiling; remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm, about 30 minutes.
So, after peeling enough apples to fill our dehydrator once again, it was time to begin prepping for the Spiral Apple Bread. After mixing the bread dough and allowing it to go through its initial rising period, the dough was punched down, divided in 2, and rolled out using a rolling pi Each rolled out piece was then sliced into several strips. The spiral is started in the center of the cake pan with the end of a strip beginning to be turned onto itself, then apple slices are inserted between the dough strips. Here is a photo of my end product prior to letting it rise a 2nd time.
After letting it rise, I then baked it, although I added an additional 5 minutes to the bake time. Even with the additional time added, it still was not as golden brown as what I would have liked to see, but I feared baking it longer might have dried it out too much. Immediately after taking it out of the oven, instead of following the directions about melting the butter and pouring it over the bread, I used a pastry brush and "painted" the bread with soft butter. Of course, it melted almost immediately due to the hot bread. The bread was then sprinkled with a mixture of cinnamon sugar.
This all took place after dinner and the bread needed to cool completely before adding the glaze, which brings me to this morning. :) Having stored the cool bread in a pie carrier overnight, I made the glaze this morning and finished the last step of the recipe. :)
Although I am saving it for later today, I decided I should cut a slice "just for the photo" (and yes, I slid it back afterwards!). ;) It looks and smells delicious, but "that" test will be later today. ;)
