Brioche is a French bread made from flour, salt, yeast and water, but enriched with eggs and butter. Sugar is often added, and the water is often replaced with milk or cream. The result is a soft, buttery, slightly sweet and rich dough approaching the category of pastry. Some recipes will call for additional flavouring…
Sweetened Breads
Brioche Vendéenne
This is brioche made as a large loaf with pleats called “barres” (bars in English.) It looks a bit like the Jewish bread, Challa. Making it like this is traditional in a western, Atlantic coast region of France called Vendée, especially for Easter and weddings. For weddings, they will even make large brioches that weigh…
Ensaimada
Ensaimada is a bread made from sweetened, yeast-risen dough, (like a sort of brioche) made in Spain, and in the Philippines. Per loaf, you use about 1 cup (8 oz / 225 g) of butter, 3/4 cup (6 oz / 175 g) of sugar and 8 egg yolks. You make a creamed mixture, then add…
Lardy Cake
A Lardy Cake is a bread into which spices, fruit and pieces of lard are mixed. The lard and sugar on the layers inside melt together and get gooey; the sugar on top gets crunchy. What makes the cake is the lard. There is really no point in making this cake without it. It’s really…
Limpa Bread
Limpa is a Swedish raised bread made in varying shapes with both rye and wheat flour. It is spicy and sweet, though to what degree will vary by recipe. The sweetness comes from molasses; the spices will be anise, caraway and fennel seeds. It is meant to be moist and light and not as harsh…
Lincolnshire Plum Bread
Lincolnshire Plum Bread is a dark, rich loaf of yeast-risen bread intended as a tea bread. It is moist, dense, rich and sweet with lots of fruit. There are not actually any plums in it — instead the fruit is raisins, sultanas and / or currants, and mixed dried fruit. Spices used include cinnamon and…
Panettone
Panettone is a sweetened Italian yeast bread with dried fruit in it. It is a traditional bread in Italy for Christmas and Easter, often being given as a gift. The bread is made tall, round, and dome-shaped at the top. Besides the bread dough, it contains raisins, nuts, and candied fruits. Sometimes food writers say…
Raisin Bread
Raisin Bread is a leavened loaf of bread, with raisins mixed into the dough. It is usually classed as a sweet bread owing to the fruit in it. The bread itself is almost always white bread, but you can get whole wheat as well. After the raisins are worked into the dough, cinnamon and sugar…