Breakfast Breads 6: Coffee Cakes

For the last class of this course, we made two coffee cakes are included in breads, I guess, because they're yeasted. First, we made a sponge that needed about 30 minutes to ferment. During that time, we made the same poppyseed filling that we used in a previous class, as well as an almond filling, made by creaming butter together with almond paste, eggs, sugar and flour.

Poppyseed Coffee Cake Almond Coffee Cake When the sponge was ready, we used it to make an enriched dough that had milk and eggs in it. This dough was very soft and smooth, and we let it sit for about a half hour while we watched Chef demo the shaping techniques. She rolled each half of the dough into a 5×3 rectangle. On one, she spread the poppyseed filling, then rolled it up into a log. Then, she cut the log all the way through lengthwise, leaving the ends attached. After giving it two twists, we had a loaf with a spiral of the filling showing. With the remaining dough rectangle, Chef spread a thin layer of raspberry jam, followed by some of the almond filling. After rolling it into a log, she trimmed it to fit in a loaf pan. An eggwash and a sprinkle of sliced almonds completed this coffee cake.

For the finishing touches, we could choose to brush with apricot glaze, drizzle with fondant or dust with icing sugar. These loaves were especially delicious: soft, rich sweet breads laced with yummy fillings.

I really enjoyed this class, breakfast being my favourite meal. While none of the recipes were especially new to me, I learned a few new shaping techniques as well as a new appreciation of yeast's contribution to the first meal of the day!

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