| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 5 hr 20 min |
| Active: | 1 hr |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Zest from 1/2 lemon
- 4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 1 cup whole milk, cold
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 3 large eggs
- Nonstick cooking spray, for spraying the bowl and dough
- Cream Cheese Filling, recipe follows
- Microwave Lemon Curd, recipe follows
- Sparkling or Swedish pearl sugar, for sprinkling
- One 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 large egg
- Zest from 1/2 lemon
- Pinch fine sea salt
- Grated zest from 1 lemon plus 1 cup lemon juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (1/2 packet) powdered gelatin
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, yeast, salt, zest and 4 1/2 cups of the flour. Set aside.
- Melt the butter and add to the cold milk in the bowl of a stand mixer, then whisk in the sour cream, extracts and 2 of the eggs. Add the dry ingredients and mix with the paddle attachment until a rough dough forms. Switch to the dough hook or knead by hand until the dough is very smooth and soft, about 8 minutes. If the dough is very sticky, add the remaining flour 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and add the dough. Spray the top lightly with cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in a warm room and allow to double in size, 45 to 60 minutes.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured piece of parchment and roll into a rough 10-by-26-inch rectangle. Fold over the dough on the short sides toward the middle like you were folding a really long letter, then open the dough back up so that there are creases in the dough, dividing it into three.
- Spread or pipe the Cream Cheese Filling to fill the middle section within the creases, then top with the Microwave Lemon Curd.
- Using a sharp paring knife, cut the exposed dough on either side of the middle filling into 1-inch-wide bands. Cross one band over the filling on a slight diagonal and then cross the opposite band over the first. Continue crisscrossing all the bands. Gently shape the braided dough into a round, sealing together the ends. Beat the remaining egg together with 1 tablespoon water, then use this egg wash as “glue” to keep the ends together. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and allow to almost double in size, 45 to 60 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Brush the dough with egg wash and sprinkle with sparkling or Swedish pearl sugar. Bake until just golden brown on top, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature before eating.
- Mix together the cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, egg, zest and salt with a wooden spoon until smooth.
- Transfer 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice to a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over it and stir until combined; set aside.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, butter, salt, eggs, lemon zest and remaining 14 tablespoons lemon juice.
- Microwave the curd mixture on high for 3 minutes. Stir the curd, then microwave for 3 minutes more. Stir again, then microwave for 2 minutes. Stir and check to see whether the curd coats the back of a wooden spoon, has thickened in the bowl and the temperature reads 170 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. If not, zap again, a minute at a time, until you reach the right consistency. This should not take longer than 10 minutes.
- Stir the softened gelatin into the still-warm curd until well incorporated. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd and refrigerate until chilled and set, about 1 hour.
- Adapted from “Fantastical Cakes” by Gesine Bullock-Prado © Running Press Adult 2018. Provided courtesy of Gesine Bullock-Prado. All rights reserved.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 586 |
| Total Fat | 30 g |
| Saturated Fat | 16 g |
| Carbohydrates | 70 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 29 g |
| Protein | 11 g |
| Cholesterol | 162 mg |
| Sodium | 379 mg |
Reviews
After reading the posts below, I wanted to leave you with my own tips. This is an excellent recipe, however, some adjustments are required. On the show, she rolled the dough out to 10″ x 30″ so this is what I did. If you choose to make the ring, be aware it is huge. If I did this again, I would divide the dough to 2 or 3 coffee cakes. The eggs scrambled a bit in the microwave with the lemon curd but I just put it through a sieve and it was fine. I used traditional yeast so I proofed it first and put no cold liquids in the dough. Using the dough hook for 8 minutes worked great so I did not have to knead it myself. This makes a wonderful, tender yeast dough. This is a lot of work so I made the two fillings the day before. It really was worth the effort. Very lemony. Make sure and note there is lemon extract in the dough. Also, when you roll it out, make sure you have the same number of strands on each side of the coffee cake.
Watched her make this on TV. I made it but left out the lemon curd. Instead I put the cream cheese filling in center and layered fruit (blueberries, raspberries,etc).In stead of a ring I divided in 3rds. I am a professional baker….This is a great recipe. The dough took alot longer to rise..BE PATIENT….(the liquid should be warm.) I am very pleased….my family loved this recipe.
I tried this recipe twice and both times the lemon curd did not set in an hour. Next time I will make the curd in advance to give it more time to set. It needed way more than an hour. I used a store bought curd. On a whole, the bread tasted really good and was very impressive looking.
This looks so good and fairly easy to make, so I tried it. My dough didn’t rise and I did exactly what I was supposed to, I even watched the video to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I know the yeast was fresh because I used it the day before for bread that turned out great! Does it need more time to rise or a really warm room? Very sad it didn’t turn out because it uses a lot of ingredients. I have been baking break and baked goods for years now, so I am not a new baker. Wondering what went wrong.
Tasty and very doable. I did not give it 5 stars because the lemon curd did not turn out perfect. As I feared, the eggs cooked a bit, and despite reaching temperature and coating the back of the spoon, it did not quite set though it did taste good. I think in the future, I would just do it over a boiler as I am used to. I would think this would be a great base recipe for other breads. Mane cherry and almond or peach.