It will be fine there for up to four days. Mix the dough ahead and tuck it in the fridge. So, by holding off on adding these ingredients and letting the gluten develop optimally, the final bread will be much lighter and higher rising. Sugar, butter, and salt interfere with gluten network formation. Gluten is the bubble-trapping protein found in wheat doughs that allows leavened bread to rise kneading bread dough helps the gluten bond and form a strong elastic network. Knead the dough almost to completion before adding the salt, sugar, and butter. If you don’t have a food processor with at least a seven-cup capacity and a strong motor, you can knead the dough completely by hand it just requires a few more minutes. You’ll get a better-developed dough and a loftier finished result, with less work. I like to do it this way so the dough can go for a good run in the food processor and then cool off with a brief hand-kneading spell on the counter. You’ll repeat this two-step kneading a couple of times. Knead both with the food processor and by hand, processing the dough for thirty seconds to a minute and then kneading it on the countertop for half a minute. If you’ve never run across this Old World touch-which I learned from my grandmother-in-law-it might seem strange, but in addition to giving a moister texture and helping the dough stay fresh longer, it heightens flavor. You’ll add it to the dough during the initial mix. Bread flour, whose protein content is around 12% (4 grams of protein per 30 grams of flour), absorbs more liquid and produces a sweet bread that’s tougher, with more volume and less flavor.Īdd moisture with a mashed potato.

Use all-purpose flour with a protein content of around 10% (the nutritional information will declare 3 grams of protein per 29 to 30 grams of flour).

You can even decide at the last minute which of these sweet breads to make: the dough can sit in the fridge for up to four days before shaping and baking.Īll-purpose flour gives a light, tender crumbįor a flavorful, tender result, these breads need a light, silky dough. German Butter Cake, Russian Chocolate Braid, and Cinnamon Chrysanthemums all use the same dough, but because each is shaped and finished differently (the sheet cake with butter, sour cream, and sugar the braid with pastry cream and chocolate chips the mums with cinnamon sugar), I get three unique results, all just rich and sweet enough for morning coffee, afternoon tea, or weekend brunch. From one basic recipe, I make three delicious and totally different sweet breads. Call it the pastry equivalent of the Little Black Dress: a faithful classic that you can dress up all sorts of ways and is appropriate for any occasion. All bakers have at least one dough that’s a versatile, indispensable element of their repertoire.

Sweet bread