Portuguesen Easter Bread Dutch Boys Food

FOLAR DA PASCOA (PORTUGUESE EASTER SWEET BREAD)

Steps:

• 1. In a large mixing bowl combine 1 cup of your flour, salt, sugar and yeast together with fingers, set aside.
• 2. In a medium sauce pan heat milk along with the 3 tablespoons of butter. Heat to 110'F, no higher!
• 3. Slowly pour milk into flour mixture. Stir with fingers to completely combine. Let stand for 10 minutes.
• 4. Add remaining flour, eggs and egg yolks to mixing bowl. Combine with hands, mixing for 6-7 minutes until the dough is well mixed and elastic-like. Turn the dough into a tight ball. Side note: Add a tablespoon of flour at a time if needed to get the dough where it needs to be. Do not exceed an extra 1/2 cup however.
• 5. Turn dough out into a large mixing bowl, greased with extra virgin olive oil. Turn dough around in bowl until the dough ball is coated in oil. Cover with a dish cloth and let rise for 1 hour.
• 6. After dough rises, punch it down and turn out onto a floured board or counter-top. Divide dough into two even balls. Cover and let rise for 15 minutes.
• 7. Roll each dough ball into 24 inch ropes. Cut the last 4 inches of each rope off and set aside.
• 8. Twist the 20 inch dough ropes around each other into a simple braid.
• 9. Form the twisted braid into a ring and press to connect the ring at the seem.
• 10. Slip 6 of the brown eggs between the folds and put the 7th in the center of the dough ring.
• 11. Take the two 4 inch dough strips and form a cross over the center egg. I try and use the cross to conceal the seam in the ring.
• 12. Carefully move the dough ring over to a greased baking sheet and let rise a 3rd time covered for another hour.
• 13. Preheat an oven to 350'F Brush egg wash over dough ring and bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown.

PORTUGUESE CORNMEAL BREAD

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, stir togethercornmeal and boiling water. Placebowl in an ice-water bath and letstand, stirring mixture a few times,until cold to the touch, about 10minutes. In a large bowl, whisktogether flour, salt, sugar, andyeast. Make a well in dry mixtureand add cornmeal mixture andcold water. Stir until a wet doughforms and no dry flour remains.Cover bowl with plastic wrap andlet rise at room temperature untildough quadruples in volume andtop appears bubbly, at least 12 hoursand up to 18 hours.
• Brush the bottom and sides of a 4-to-5-quart Dutch oven (about 9 1/2 inches in diameter), preferably enameled cast iron, with oil. Sprinkle generously with cornmeal and flour to ensure an even coating. With lightly oiled hands, punch down dough, pour out onto a clean work surface, and shape into a ball. Transfer to Dutch oven; lightly sprinkle top with more cornmeal and flour. Cover Dutch oven with plastic wrap and letrise at room temperature until doubled in volume, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees with rack in lower third. Using the tip of a sharp knife, slash top of dough in a few places to a depth of 1 inch. Lightly sprinkle top of dough with water. Cover Dutch oven with lid, transfer to oven, and reduce temperature to 450 degrees. Bake until bread is puffed and brown, 45 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until a thermometer inserted into center of loaf registers 190 degrees to 200 degrees, about 15 minutes more. Let cool in Dutch oven on a wire rack 15 minutes, then turn bread out onto rack and let cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing and serving. (Or store, unsliced and wrapped in parchment-lined foil at room temperature up to 3 days, or sliced and frozen up to 3 months.)

PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD IV

Steps:

• Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles. Mix in the butter and shortening; stir until melted. Place sugar in a very large bowl, pour milk over sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, stir yeast into warm water.
• Stir 12 eggs and yeast mixture into milk and sugar; beat well. Pour all of the flour into the milk/eggs/sugar mixture; stir well to combine. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic; about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Deflate dough and let rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes.
• Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into six equal pieces and form into loaves. Place the loaves into lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• In a small bowl, beat together 1 egg and 2 tablespoons water and brush on the risen loaves. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until bottom of loaves sound hollow when tapped.

PORTUGUESE FARM BREAD

Steps:

• 1. Combine the yeast, semolina flour, and water by churning 10 seconds in a large heavy-duty food processor fitted with the metal chopping blade. Scrape down the sides of the work bowl, re-cover, and let stand until foamy, about 15 minutes.
• 2. With the machine running, add half the all-purpose flour down the feed tube. It's easier if you pour the flour from a spouted measuring cup into a wide-mouth canning funnel inserted in the feed tube or failing that, a stiff piece of paper rolled into a cone (the opening at the bottom should be at least 1 inch across).
• 3. Using a plastic spatula, scrape the work bowl, and if necessary, redistribute the dough so that it evenly surrounds the blade - take care! Add the salt and remaining flour, distributing evenly over the dough, and churn for 10 seconds. Again scrape the work bowl and redistribute the dough.
• 4. Churn the dough for 20 seconds nonstop, shut the machine off, and let the dough rest in the sealed work bowl for 5 minutes. Now churn for another 20 seconds.
• 5. Leaving the blade in place, carefully redistribute the dough until it's of uniform thinness. Re-cover the work bowl, keeping the pusher in. Note the level of the dough in bulk, estimate what it should be when doubled in bulk, and mark that level on the side of the work bowl.
• 6. Let the dough rise in the sealed work bowl until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, lightly coat an 8-inch springform pan or 8-inch pie pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
• 7. When the dough has fully doubled, pulse quickly 4 to 5 times to punch down, then churn for 20 seconds nonstop. Let the dough rest in the sealed work bowl for 5 minutes, then churn for another 20 seconds. The dough will roll into a ball and leave the sides of the work bowl reasonably clean.
• 8. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, shape into a ball, then roll in the flour to dust lightly. Place the loaf in the prepared pan, cover with a clean, dry dish towel, and set in a warm, dry spot until nearly doubled in bulk - this will take about 30 minutes.
• 9. When the dough has risen for 10 minutes, position one rack in the middle of the oven and slide a second rack in the slot just below. Place a large shallow baking pan on the lower rack - I use a 15 1/2 X 10 1/2 X 1-inch jelly roll pan - and half-fill with water. Preheat the over to 500°F.
• 10. Center the risen loaf on the middle rack and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 400°F and continue baking until richly browned and hollow sounding when thumped, 20 to 25 minutes longer.
• 11. Remove the bread from the pan as soon as it comes from the oven, set right-side-up on a wire rack, and cool to room temperature before cutting.

GRANDMA'S PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD RECIPE

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix sugar, hot milk, butter, and salt together in a large bowl, stirring until butter melts. When cooled to lukewarm, beat in eggs and yeast mixture. Gradually beat 5 cups of flour into liquid to make a smooth dough.
• If you have a stand mixer that will handle this amount of dough, you can use that to shorten the process. Simply complete above steps in your mixer bowl and let your dough hook do the kneading for you.
• To knead by hand, heavily flour a board with a portion of the remaining flour. Turn dough out onto board and sprinkle with remaining flour. Knead until very smooth, adding flour to eliminate stickiness as necessary. You should see small "blisters" of air on the surface of the dough. This takes about 15-20 minutes. Consider it your workout for the day.
• Place dough in a large buttered bowl. Cover loosely with a towel and put in a warm place until doubled in size (about two hours).
• Punch down dough (it will collapse). Using buttered hands, form dough into desired loaves. You can divide dough into two large loaves or try them as smaller rolls. Or you can try the pie pan method you see used by the historical society.
• Place your formed loaves on a buttered cookie sheet or in a buttered pie pan. Cover loaves and set in a warm place to rise again for about an hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Baking time will vary a bit depending upon loaf size.
• Optional: Use a pastry brush to baste milk over the loaves just as they start to brown. This will give them a beautiful shiny glow.
• Turn dough onto floured surface. Divide dough in two. Form each half loosely into a two-inch log. Cut log into two-inch lengths.
• Roll dough into balls. Place onto a buttered cookie sheet or in a buttered pie pan, not quite touching.
• Cover rolls and set in a warm place to rise again for about an hour.
• Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Form each half of the dough into a ball, working to put the "loose" ends on the bottom so that the top is nice and smooth. Place each dough on a cookie sheet and set aside to rise.
• Divide each half of the bread dough into three equal pieces.
• Roll each into a rope, about 1-2 inches in diameter.
• Press the ends of the ropes together and braid. When you reach the end, tuck ends under slightly and place bread on a cookie sheet for the second rise.

PORTUGUESEN EASTER BREAD (DUTCH BOYS)

Steps:

• Scald milk, stir in butter, sugar, salt. Cool to lukewarm. Sprinkle yeast onto warm water in large, warm bowl; stir until dissolved and add lukewarm milk mixture and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough additional flour to make a stiff dough. Turn out onto lightly-floured board, knead until smooth and elastic (8 to 10 minutes). Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease top and sides, then cover. Let rise in warm place, free of draft, until double in size. Punch dough down, turn out onto lightly-floured board. Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Keep pieces of dough covered until ready for shaping. Shape one piece into a 5" oblong roll. Place a raw, small egg (with shell) on dough, a little above center. Pretend the egg is the center of a clock, cut slits at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 o'clock. Pulling dough, shape arms and legs. Put arms over and across the egg, shape a round, flat head, use raisins for eyes, mouth, and nose. Repeat with remaining pieces of sough. Place on greased baking sheets. Preheat oven to 400°. Combine remaining egg and 1 Tablespoon milk and brush over dough boys. Bake 20 minutes or until done. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks. If you wish to color eggs, do so after baking - remove any oily film from eggs with a cotton swab and vinegar. Brush liquid food color on eggs.