Paul Hollywood's Sicilian lemon and orange sweet bread recipe
This is based on the flavours of a classic Italian celebration cake called Colomba di Pasqua, which is similar to a panettone but shaped like a dove and sold all over Italy to celebrate Easter. Flavoured with almonds and full of citrus flavour, it’s distinctive and delicious with a glass of Vin Santo or a cup of tea or coffee.
As with many enriched doughs, this mixture is quite soft and slack and therefore easier to make in a food mixer. Buy unwaxed citrus fruit if possible, as you are using the zest.
Ingredients
- 400 g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
- 7 g salt
- 40 g caster sugar
- 10 g fast-action dried yeast
- 120 ml tepid full-fat milk
- 4 medium eggs, at room temperature, lightly whisked
- 100 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
- 2 lemons and 1 orange, finely grated zest only
- 0.5 lemon, juice only
- 100 g flaked almonds
- 100 g mixed candied peel
- 100 g dried cranberries
- 14.1 oz strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
- 0.2 oz salt
- 1.4 oz caster sugar
- 0.4 oz fast-action dried yeast
- 4.2 fl oz tepid full-fat milk
- 4 medium eggs, at room temperature, lightly whisked
- 3.5 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
- 2 lemons and 1 orange, finely grated zest only
- 0.5 lemon, juice only
- 3.5 oz flaked almonds
- 3.5 oz mixed candied peel
- 3.5 oz dried cranberries
- 14.1 oz strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
- 0.2 oz salt
- 1.4 oz caster sugar
- 0.4 oz fast-action dried yeast
- 0.5 cup tepid full-fat milk
- 4 medium eggs, at room temperature, lightly whisked
- 3.5 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
- 2 lemons and 1 orange, finely grated zest only
- 0.5 lemon, juice only
- 3.5 oz flaked almonds
- 3.5 oz mixed candied peel
- 3.5 oz dried cranberries
- 2 medium egg whites
- 25 g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
- 25 g ground almonds
- 50 g flaked almonds
- 2 medium egg whites
- 0.9 oz caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
- 0.9 oz ground almonds
- 1.8 oz flaked almonds
- 2 medium egg whites
- 0.9 oz caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
- 0.9 oz ground almonds
- 1.8 oz flaked almonds
Details
- Cuisine: Italian
- Recipe Type: Bread
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 40 mins
- Cooking Time: 40 mins
- Serves: 8
Step-by-step
- Put the flour in a food mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the salt and sugar to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add the milk, eggs and butter, in small pieces. Mix on a slow speed for 3 minutes, then on a medium speed for 4 minutes, kneading to a soft, elastic dough.
- Tip the dough into a bowl, cover and leave to rise for 1 hour.
- Grease a 23cm round, deep springform cake tin. Mix the lemon and orange zest with the lemon juice, almonds, candied peel and cranberries. Add to the risen dough and use your hands to incorporate it well.
- On a lightly floured surface, shape the dough into a ball. Put into the prepared tin and place inside a large, roomy plastic bag. Leave to prove for 3 hours, until the dough has reached the top of the tin.
- Heat your oven to 200°C. Bake the sweet bread on the middle shelf of the oven for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, for the topping, in a bowl, stir the egg whites, sugar and ground almonds together to make a paste.
- Take out the bread, spread the almond paste on top (some will run to the sides) and sprinkle with the flaked almonds and a little sugar. Lower the oven setting to 180°C and bake for a further 20 minutes, covering loosely with foil towards the end of cooking if it appears to be over-browning.
- Leave the sweet bread to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then release the sides of the tin. Place the bread on a wire rack to cool completely.
Extract taken from Paul Hollywood’s Pies & Puds, published by Bloomsbury, £20.00 Hardback. Photography by Peter Cassidy. Paul Hollywood’s Pies & Puds will air on BBC 1 in November.
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