Three King's Cake #BreadBakers

Monday was Epiphany. The Feast of the Three Kings.  The 12th Day of Christmas.

We Three Kings of Orient are bearing gifts we travel afar.

To celebrate I made a King's Day Cake.  This is more of a bread than a cake actually but it has icing.  Traditionally you bake a heat proof baby Jesus or gold coin inside and whoever is lucky enough to get that slice has good luck throughout the coming year.

Join me and the rest of the Bread Bakers group as we share "Good Luck Breads" with you today......

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

This month's Bread Bakers is being hosted by Felice of All That's Left Are The Crumbs.  This is one of my favorite blogs.  I love that the final picture of each post is a plate with crumbs on it. Genius!!

This recipe came from Peter Reinhart and was published in the Washington Post.  It is a version of Babka, the Polish bread recipe often enjoyed as a coffee cake.  In this version the bread is stuffed with toasted slivered almonds and then frosted with an almond glaze.

I topped mine with some gorgeous "jeweled" sprinkles from Sprinkle Pop that I had received for another event.  I thought they were perfect to depict the "treasures" brought to our Lord by the Three Kings.

This is an easy but time consuming recipe as it requires two rises.  My time was cut in half while making this bread because I got a new Breville smart oven for Christmas and it has a proofing setting that circulates 85* air around your dough for an hour.  So instead of taking 2 - 2 1/2 hrs for each rise it only took an hour per rise.

While the dough was proofing, I toasted up some almond slivers by putting them in a skillet over medium heat and stirring constantly until golden and fragrant.  I set them aside to cool while the dough finished it's first rise.

After the first rise, you roll out the bread and sprinkle it with the toasted almonds.  You can use sliced almonds if you want.  I used slivers because that was what I had on hand.

Roll it up jelly roll style and then continue to roll it into a log.  Cut the log in half leaving about a half inch intact at the top of the log.

Braid or twist the halves and then form the dough into a ring.  Place onto a greased baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  It is ready for the second rise.  I did this in the smart oven as well.

After the second rise, I brushed the dough with an egg wash and then placed it back into the smart oven to bake.  The baking time was reduced from 30 minutes to 20 minutes.  Allow the bread to cool on the baking pan for 20 or 30 minutes before removing it to a cooling rack to cool completely.

You can make the glaze during this interval.  When the bread is completely cooled, spread the glaze in thick swaths across it and add sprinkles if desired.

Let's take a look at the other Good Luck Breads being shared today......

• Buttermilk Cornbread from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Cloverleaf Rolls from Sneha's Recipe
• Coriander Garlic Four Leaf Clover Bread from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Four Leaf Clover Good Luck Rolls from Cook With Renu
• Golden Pineapple Buns from Food Lust People Love
• Grosse Neujahrs-Breze from All that's Left Are The Crumbs
• Honey Butter Cloverleaf Rolls from Ambrosia
• Irish Barmbrack from Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Jewish Challah from Veena's Veg Nation
• Three King's Cake from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Lucky Horseshoe Shaped Stuffed Bread from The Mad Scientist's Kitchen
• Steamed Piglet Buns from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Vasilopita from Anybodycanbake

#holidaybaking, #coffeecake, #Polishfood,

Holidays, Breads, Baking, Brunch, Coffee Cake

Polish

Yield: 1 round loafAuthor: Wendy KlikPin it

King's Day Cake

prep time: 5 hour and 30 minscook time: 35 minstotal time: 5 hours and 65 mins

This is more of a bread than a cake actually but it has icing. Traditionally you bake a heat proof baby Jesus or gold coin inside and whoever is lucky enough to get that slice has good luck throughout the coming year.

ingredients:

2 T. instant dry yeast

3/4 c. milk warmed to 105-110*

6 T. butter, room temperature

2 T. canola oil

6 T. sugar

4 egg yolks

1 t. vanilla 

3 1/2 c. flour

1 t. salt

1 c. slivered almonds, toasted

1 egg white

2 T. water

1 c. powdered sugar

1 t. almond extract

1 T. corn syrup

1-2 T. water

instructions:

Whisk together the yeast and warmed milk.  Set aside for 5 minutes, until frothy.

Place the butter, sugar and oil into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat until smooth.  Add the vanilla and continue to beat until light and fluffy.  Add the yolks, one at a time, beating well between each until fully incorporated.

Add all the flour, the salt and the milk and yeast mixture.  Turn the beater to low and mix for a few minutes until a soft dough forms.  Transfer the dough to a counter that has been liberally sprinkled with additional flour and knead by hand until the dough is no longer sticky but still soft.  Form into a ball and place back into the bowl that has been treated with baking spray.  Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for 2 hrs or longer or until almost double in size.

Place the dough back onto a floured work surface and roll into a thickness of about 1/4".  Sprinkle with the toasted almonds and then roll the dough, jelly roll fashion, pinching the seams and stretching and rolling to form a log about 24" long.

Starting about 1" from the end of the log, cut the dough lengthwise along the middle.  Twist the two halves over each other and then join the ends together, pinching the seams to form a circle.

Place onto a baking sheet that has been treated with cooking spray, cover loosely with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft free area, until it is 1 1/2 times it's original size.  Whisk together the egg white and water. Brush onto the loaf.

Place into a preheated 350* oven for 25-35 minutes.  Until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped.  Cool on the baking sheet for 20 minutes or so, then  run a spatula around the bottom to loosen from the pan.  Place onto a wire rack until cooled completely.

Whisk together the powdered sugar, almond extract, corn syrup and enough water to form a smooth, thick glaze.  Spread over the cooled cake and decorate with colored sugar or sprinkles if desired.

NOTES:

Original recipe published in the Washington Post by Chef Peter Reinhart.

https://adayinthelifeonthefarm.blogspot.com/2019/01/three-kings-cake-breadbakers.html

Property of A Day in the Life on the Farm

Created using The Recipes Generator