Almond Twists: A twist of happy baking!

I have a lot reasons to bake and cook each day, ^^, but mostly it's because I want to try new recipe and it's fun. And beside from having a good time in my kitchen, my family will be happy to have new menu too.

This time, I just want to try something from my new book  The cookbook from the bakery of the same name. There are a lot of cookbooks from famous bakery in these day, some are good and some are too simple ^^, anyway for this book I think it's quite good. May be it's because the bakery itself is not typical bakery but base on the Scandinavia bake goods. So some of the recipes are new to me too, and they are interesting. The book is packed with beautiful photos, and if you want to see inside of the book just click .....
The recipes use a lot of cardamom and rye, most of them are rustic style, and it means you can bake them at home with ease, and don't require any special equipment too.
Because I remember that I'm always happy with the bread recipe from the Scandinavia cookbooks (I have about 5 by now), so from this book, I will start on baking bread. The recipe that I choose is "Almond Twists". The bun itself is perfumed with a lot of cardamom (anyway, if you don't have or don't like,  just skip it) and filled with sweet and rich almond filling. 
The dough is easy to knead, and the resting time is shorter than usual, plus I have a good time in shaping the buns too ^^. 
So, if you love to play with your food (who say you can't, hehe), kneading bread dough is one of a great way to have more fun with it. And when you hold this warm and fragrance bun in your hands you will be happier too.

 Almond twists

Make 12-15 pieces 

250 ml ............................ Milk, lukewarm

1 ....................................... Egg, lightly beaten

85g ................................... Sugar

1tsp .................................. Salt

2 tsp ................................. Cardamom seeds, crushed with a pestle and mortar

7g ...................................... Instant yeast

500g ................................. Bread flour

75g .................................... Unsalted butter, softened

20g .................................... Flaked almond

Filling and glazing

25g .................................... Almond powder

25g .................................... Caster sugar

50g .................................... Unsalted butter, softened

1.......................................... Egg, lightly beaten

  Heat the milk in a large saucepan until lukewarm. Whisk the egg in the bowl with a little of the warm milk, then pour the milk into the bowl and whisk. Add the sugar, salt and cardamom to the bowl and mix well. 
Mix the yeast and flour together. Add a little of the flour mixture to the bowl and whisk well to introduce lots of air into the dough. Continue to add the flour mixture, first by whisking and then, when the mixture gets too stiff, with a wooden spoon. 

 Add the butter and knead it into the dough with your hands until thoroughly incorporated. 
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, or until the dough is elastic and no longer sticky. Add a little more flour, if necessary. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. 

 Meanwhile, to make the filling, mix the almonds and sugar together. 
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) Gas 6. 
After 1 hour, punch down the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll it out until it is about 30 x 50 cm. 
For the filling, spread the butter over the dough. Scatter the almond mixture over one half of the rectangle an area of 30 x 25 cm on one side). Fold the bare pastry half over the filling and press gently together. Place the rectangle now measuring 30 x 25 cm in front of you. Using a sharp Knife, cut the pastry into 25-cm-long and 2-cm-wide strips. Hold a strip between your fingers and twist in opposite directions, then roughly coil it in on itself like a snail and press the ends together underneath.

 Arrange on the prepared baking trays, cover with tea towels again and leave to prove in a warm place for another 10 minutes. 

Brush the beaten egg over the top and sprinkle with the flaked almonds. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden.

Almond Twists: A twist of happy baking!