Braided Danish Ring

This is such a beautiful and wonderful tasting bread, I just had to share it with you, even though I did nothing to create/enhance/ tweak/ or otherwise add value to the recipe. (Which is also why I decided not to actually publish the recipe, but I’ll give you the link.) OK, I did change the name. The original recipe calls it Cinnamon Roll Twist. But it really doesn’t taste like a cinnamon roll so I changed it. I think it tastes more like a danish.You can find a link to the recipe at the bottom of the post. (I really want you to look at these pictures so you can be as miserable as I am, wishing for just a bite!)

It makes a beautiful gift.

Not that I’d really know from experience because we ate ours.

Both of them.

Yes, it makes two.

Yes, you can totally freeze one (or both) right before the baking step.

Yes, it comes out exactly like the one you baked on the first day.

I thought it was the responsible thing to keep them both so I could report back about how they do after being frozen.

Maybe next year I’ll make a few and actually give one some away!

Here are some of the steps in Step One. Don’t worry, your bread won’t be lumpy! And no one will suspect there’s potato in it.

If you’ve ever made bread, you know the warm glow of sweet triumph that comes into your heart the minute you remove that cloth and you see this! Soft, beautifully risen dough.  Oh the bliss! I could just stop right here and feel successful.

Oh, but then we’d miss out on that almost heavenly smell of freshly baking bread. I think there would be a lot less stress in the world if we could all smell fresh baked bread at least once a week.

I had dried cranberries so that’s what I used. I think I missed the part about the pecans. That or I just didn’t want them. Really. Nuts in your bread?

The cranberries added just a nice, slightly sweet flavor. They sort of played a supporting role; simple beauty and balanced flavor. I’m sure the other fruits, or a mix of them, would be wonderful as well.

It’s not as complicated as it may look. The dough behaves very well and the “braid” is easier to make than I thought it would be. Be careful to make your rectangle pretty close the the measurements in the recipe, so your finished braid will fit nicely into your pan. (I was totally lucky because I didn’t really do that, I just made 2 rectangles and viola! It worked.)

I baked mine with this little custard cup, about half full of water. In the second one I used balled up tin foil to see if that would work, just incase you don’t have custard cups. I’m happy to report, it worked just fine. Spray the foil a little with cooking spray so the bread doesn’t stick to it. When it’s done, just use any kind of small cup for the glaze. (Which, incidentally, you do not want to skip!)

See what I mean? Total yumminess. And you can even call it breakfast.
This is completely unfair because now I want a piece!

If you want to make it ahead and freeze it, here’s how:

Get it to the point of having the braid done. Then you can either go ahead and put it in the pan and freeze it that way, or, what I did was just wrap the braid (still in a log shape) and freeze it like that. I don’t remember why. Maybe I didn’t have another pan at the moment. Maybe I was going to bake it in that shape. hard to say at this point. Don’t forget to label it with some thawing/baking directions.

Anyway, I wanted it for breakfast so I thawed it overnight. I took off the tin foil and plastic  wrap I had it wrapped  in and covered it with a tea towel so it would have room to rise but not dry out. In the morning it was ready to pop in the oven.

Here’s the link to the recipe I used. Cinnamon Roll Twists

You could probably use any home made roll recipe, just be sure that it will yield about the same amount of dough so your braids will still be the right size for the pan.

And as usual, you must come back and let me know if you made this, send me a pic on facebook!

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