Apricot & Cranberry Flip Sweet Bread

I seldom bake freshly baked bread/bun at home .... hee... hee ... cos too time consuming for me as I don't own a bread making machine. I've bookmarked some bread/bun recipes but I just didn't have the time to try baking all. Glad that my big kids loved some of my 1st attempt like Christmas-star-shaped Breads, Honey Bread, Chicken Floss Buns and Ham & Cheese Buns :)

I remember the dough for making Honey Bread was very easy to handle and so I decided to try another recipe from Seasons and Suppers.

I anticipated that I will have trouble "transporting" the long twisted dough onto the baking sheet.  So I moved the dough onto the baking sheet with greased parchment paper before I made the cut and twist.

Recipe source and adapted from Seasons & Suppers

Below my slight modifications made as I've halved the recipe, added some dried cranberries and adjusted the amount for some ingredients

Apricot & Cranberry Flip Sweet Bread
Yield: 1 loaf (about 16 slices)
Ingredients
For bread dough
1.5 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast
60g warm water
45g caster sugar
50g butter, softened,
60g warm milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
350g all-purpose flour

For filling
2 tablespoons butter, softened
60g apricot jam
25g dried cranberries - soak in warm water and pat dry (my addition)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon mix with 20g sugar in a small bowl and set aside.

Sliced almonds, for top (optional)

Method :
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
In a stand mixer with kneading hook attachment. Combine these ingredients in the mixing bowl : caster sugar, butter, warm milk, salt, egg, yeast mixture and 200g of the flour. Beat the mixture with kneading hook until smooth. Stir in gradually the remaining flour to form a dough.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. At the stage, the dough is pretty easy to handle and no longer feel the stickiness.

Shape into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. I greased the bowl with canola oil. Turning once to grease surface. Cover with cling wrap or cloth and let rise in a warm place until double (about 1 to 1-1/2 hours).

1st proofing doubled in size after 1hr 30 minutes.

Punch dough down. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into approximate 20-inch x 11-inch rectangle.
Meanwhile, prepare baking sheet with greased parchment paper.

Spread 2 tablespoons of butter and apricot jam to within 1/2 inch of edges.

Scatter some dried cranberries and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over apricot jam.

With the longer side, carefully roll up like swiss roll. Pinch seam to seal. Place seam side down. Transfer the dough onto the baking sheet with greased parchment paper.

With a sharp knife, cut the roll in half lengthwise. Pinch one end together and twist the two strands together 3 or 4 times, keeping the cut edge facing upwards as much as possible. Pinch together the other end to seal. Cover with cloth for 2nd proofing, about 30 minutes. If using almonds, scatter a few on top before baking.

Not good in making the twist ...

Bake in a pre-heated 170°C oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Switch baking sheet halfway through baking time to ensure even baking. I tent with aluminium foil at the last 5 minutes into baking. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Lemon icing glaze (optional) :
200g icing (powdered) sugar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
Combine and stir until smooth with a spoon. Adjust the consistency to your preference by adding more lemon juice or icing sugar. Once the loaf is cooled, drizzle or spread the icing glaze.

My addition of some dried cranberries hope to give a Christmasy touch. We loved the soft bread texture, sandwiched between the sweet apricot jam and cranberry bits, filled with a hint of woody cinnamon fragrance. Yum!

Coffee break !

Enjoying some without the
icing glaze. Taste as good!

Enjoy !

This post is linked to Cook and Celebrate Christmas 2015

Organized by Yen from GoodyFoodies, Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids.