sour cherry and cream cheese bread

the bread that i made today evolved at various stages after i decided to add some cream cheese i had to a dough i was making..i tend to cook by feel and sometimes it takes a while for my ideas to feel right but after considering various alternative configurations i eventually added mahlepi to the dough and i rolled the dough out and sprinkled it with a ground almond, mahlepi and sugar mix..i then dotted the dough with sour cherries and once baked i iced the loaf with a sour cherry juice and kirsch icing..

sour cherry and cream cheese bread

tea with hazel

ingredients (bread)

500 gms unbleached white flour

250 mls (approximately) cold full cream milk (i used barambah organic unhomogenised milk)

1 teaspoon (tsp) (3.5 gms) instant yeast

1 tablespoon (tbs) sugar

1 tbs murray river salt 

15 gms cold unsalted butter cubed

45 gms cream cheese

1 cup well drained morello cherries* (checked for cherry stones)

1 1/2 tsp mahlepi

3/4 cup ground almonds**
2 tbs bread crumbs

3 tbs vanilla flavoured castor sugar***

1/2 tsp mahlepi extra

1 egg 

1 tbs milk extra

ingredients (icing)

25 mls sour cherry juice*

25 mls kirsch

icing sugar

method

~place flour, sugar, yeast, mahlepi, butter and cream cheese into the bowl of a stand mixer

~with the motor running add enough cold milk to make a soft dough

~rest for 10 minutes 

~add salt and knead for 1 minute

~rest and knead for two more cycles

~remove the bowl from the mixer, cover with greased cling film, and prove until doubled

~turn dough onto a lightly flour dusted bench and knead briefly

~cover loosely with cling film and rest for 15 minutes

~roll the dough into an oblong, fold into 3, and rest for another 15 minutes

~turn the dough to the next side of the oblong each time and repeat the rolling, folding and resting twice more

~divide the dough in two and roll each piece into an oblong

~mix the ground almonds, bread crumbs, extra sugar and extra mahlepi 

~sprinkle the ground almond mix evenly over the dough leaving a 2 cm border free of mix

~dot each piece of dough with the cherries

~moisten the edges of the dough with a little water and roll up the dough

~place the two rolls of dough side by side into a greased bread tin, cover with cling film, and leave to prove until nearly doubled

~beat the egg with the extra milk and brush the top of the dough 

~ bake the bread with steam at 220 deg c for 20 minutes
~cover the bread loosely with foil, reduce the oven temperature to 180 deg c, and continue to bake for a further 30 minutes
~mix the sour cherry juice and kirsch with enough icing sugar to make a firm icing
~spoon the icing into a small plastic bag, cut off a small piece of the corner, and pipe lines on the cooled loaf

notes

* i used stoned morello cherries bottled in a sugar syrup and to make the icing i used some of the reserved syrup
** i ground my own unskinned almonds leaving some of it partially ground to provide varying texture
*** i keep several vanilla pods in my container of castor sugar

i had no idea how this bread would turn out because as i said earlier i was making this bread by feel but i think it's a lovely bread..the soft crumb has just enough sweetness (for me) from the juicy cherries and the almond mix..the mahlepi adds an overall flavour that's quite intriguing and i wouldn't know what it was if i hadn't added it myself..the almond mix is a little reminiscent of marzipan but the texture is crumbly..the crust on the sides is crisp while the top of the loaf is softer and the icing adds extra flavour and, i think, looks pretty..

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