An amazing sweet, rich loaf with home-made syrup

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A yummy sweet treat for in the weekend is this French version of a sugar bread. This recipe comes from the baking bible “Larousse Book of Bread” by Éric Kayser. I have adapted the recipe, allowing for the autolyse period and using instant yeast instead of liquid sourdough. The taste, I am sure, is different then what mister Kayser envisioned, but believe me, you will not have to make do with some random bread. This is proper good stuff.

French Sugar Bread Loaf

Dutch versus French

Being Dutch myself, I was brought up with Frisian Sugar Bread from Friesland, one of the provinces in the north of the Netherlands. “Fries Suikerbrood” is a wonderfully sticky, white bread with marbled sugar beads and cinnamon throughout. Warm out of the oven or from a toaster, a bit of butter is all you need. This, however, is a different animal. The French use their standard country loaf, and use a home-made sugar syrup that is drizzled in the creases you make using oil. Rich bread with a sweet taste makes for a wonderful breakfast.

Picture yourself on a sunny Sunday morning, late spring, the air is warming up, sunlight through the trees, a fresh coffee and orange juice within arm’s reach, and a slice of this bread, topped with beurre d’Isigny. That’s how it should be.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 100 grams

Servings Per Container

Amount Per Serving

Calories 310 Calories from Fat 64.8

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 7.2g 11%

Saturated Fat 4g 20%

Trans Fat g

Cholesterol 41mg 14%

Sodium 115mg 5%

Total Carbohydrate 54.4g 18%

Dietary Fiber 2.4g 10%

Sugars 17.3g

Protein 7g 14%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Sugar Bread

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 25

Proofing time 2

Total Time 45

Author The Orange Baker

Ingredients

For the syrup

50 grams Cane sugar
50 milliliters Water

For the bread

500 grams All-purpose flour
325 milliliter Water (Filtered)
80 grams Cane sugar
10 grams Salt
10 grams Yeast
Vegetable oil to grease the bowl, and the dough

Instructions

Utensils

Large bowl (3 liters)
Measuring cup, scale, small bowls
Dough scraper
Baker’s brush
Clean film, kitchen towel or lid cover for bowl
Baking sheet, parchment paper
Small pan for syrup

The night before: the syrup

Prepare the syrup by bringing the water and sugar to a boil, and leave it to cool. Keep it at room temperature until you use it.

Preparation

Put 400 grams of the flour in the bowl and add the water. Mix until you have a coarse dough and all the flour has been incorporated by the water. Cover with a lid or kitchen towel and set aside for at least 15-20 minutes. This is the so-called autolyse period.
Add the remaining flour, the yeast on one side of the bowl, and the salt and sugar on the other side. Mix in the bowl until all the dry ingredients have been absorbed by the dough. Flick the bowl over.

Kneading

Knead for roughly 7-10 minutes. The dough is ready when you try to make a window of the dough: a thin film of dough, about a millimeter thick, that does not immediately tear up. If it rips easily, just knead a bit more.

First proofing

Clean the bowl you have been mixing the dough in, and grease it with a bit of oil. Form a ball of the dough, place in the bowl and cover with the lid, clean film or a kitchen towel. Place the bowl on a warm spot. Do not place it on direct heat, and do not place it in the full, hot sun as this will dry out the dough and leave a harder skin that you will see in the dough. Leave for the first proofing for one hour, or until the dough has doubled in size. Line your baking sheet with the parchment paper.

Greasing the dough and second proofing

This is an important step and crucial for this loaf: grease your counter top with oil.
Use the scraper to clear the dough from the bowl and turn on the oiled kitchen table top. Be careful not to just flick over the bowl, as you will stretch the gluten in the dough too much, and the effect is gone, and you also want to maintain the large bubbles in this particular bread. Let gravity do the work for you.
Fold the dough a in a round shape by rotating the dough carefully and in small increments over the counter top, while you carefully shape and smoothen the loaf. The oil on the counter top will grease up the bottom of the loaf, and that will prevent the edges from closing. We need this open crust for the syrup.
Cover the loaf with a clean kitchen towel and leave to proof for about 45-60 minutes. It will be ready when you prod it with your finger and the indent slowly pops back. When it immediately pops when you prod, it’s not done yet. Towards the end of the proofing period, preheat the oven to 200^oC/400^oF.

Bake

Pick up the dough and place it with the smooth side down, and the bottom up on the lined baking sheet: the oiled edges will create an open crust. Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. The loaf will be ready when it is golden-brown.
Take it out of the oven and place it on a cooling rack right away. Use a baker’s brush to brush the syrup over the bread, and pour the syrup in the cracks in the bread.