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Hungarian Tea Bread
1 cake yeast 1 1/4 cups scalded milk 4 1/2 cups flour 1/4 cup shortening 2 eggs, beaten 1/4 cup sugar 1 1/2 cups raisins 1 teaspoon salt cinnamon to taste Dissolve yeast in scalded milk that has been cooled to lukewarm; add one and one--half cups flour and mix until smooth; let stand until light and puffy. Add creamed shortening, sugar, eggs, raisins, salt, remainder of the flour, and the cinnamon. Mix to a stiff dough and knead thoroughly. Let stand until double in volume. Divide into two equal parts for loaves; cut each loaf into three equal parts; roll the parts into strips about twelve inches long, tapering to a point at each end; press ends together and braid. Place on buttered baking sheets, cover and allow to stand until light. Bake from one--half to three--quarters of an hour. When cool, ice with an icing made by mixing a few drops of hot water with powdered sugar; flavor with vanilla.
A plain enriched braid that comes together like challah. The one thing the original omits is an oven temperature, so set that before you start.
- Oven temperatureNo heat is given. For an enriched braid of this size, 350F is a reasonable setting. Start checking at about 30 minutes, though the recipe's own half to three-quarters of an hour may be needed for a loaf this large. An internal temperature of about 190F indicates a baked loaf.
- Cake yeastOne cake of compressed yeast is equivalent to about 2 1/4 teaspoons (one packet) of active dry or instant yeast. Compressed cake yeast is still sold in some markets but is no longer standard.
- Scalded milk, cooledScalding was traditionally done to inactivate enzymes in raw milk thought to weaken gluten. Pasteurised milk does not require it, but the instruction to cool to lukewarm is the part that matters: milk much hotter than about 110F starts to put the yeast at risk.
- The sponge stageDissolving the yeast in milk with 1 1/2 cups of flour and letting it go puffy is a sponge. Give it 45 minutes to an hour in a warm room; it should be visibly domed and bubbled before the enrichments go in.
- Creamed shorteningShortening here means any solid fat; butter works and tastes better. Cream it soft rather than melting it, as the recipe specifies, so it disperses into the dough instead of greasing it.
- RaisinsA cup and a half in this quantity of dough is generous. Toss them in a spoonful of the measured flour before adding, or knead them in at the end, to keep them from tearing the gluten and sinking.
- Cinnamon to tasteFor 4 1/2 cups of flour, 1 to 2 teaspoons is the usual range. It goes in with the second addition of flour so it disperses evenly.
- Braiding and final proofTapered strands give a braid that is even end to end. "Until light" means roughly doubled and slow to spring back when pressed, about 45 minutes to an hour.
- Yield and icingTwo braided loaves, each serving eight to ten. The icing is a simple glaze: start with about a cup of powdered sugar and add hot water a few drops at a time until it just falls in a ribbon.