Portuguese Sweetbread

I have fond childhood memories of enjoying my grandmother’s homemade sweetbread. She would wake up at 5:00 AM to make it. Years ago, I decided to carry on my grandmother’s tradition of making sweetbread, although I must admit I don’t wake up quite that early to make it.

Unfortunately, my grandmother didn’t write down her sweetbread recipe. After experimenting with recipes over the years, this is the closest I have come to her recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 envelopes active dry yeast
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup very warm water
• 1 tsp. salt
• ¾ cup milk
• 1 stick butter
• 4 eggs
• 7-7½ cups unbleached flour

Directions:

1. Sprinkle yeast and 1 teaspoon of the sugar into ½ cup of very warm water. Stir well until yeast is dissolved. Let stand for about 10 minutes to proof. It should double in size and be bubbly.
2. Heat the remaining sugar, salt, milk and butter in a saucepan, stirring occasionally until butter has melted. Pour into a large mixing bowl and allow to cool until its lukewarm.
3. Beat eggs in a small bowl until frothy. Remove 2 tbsp. of the egg mixture for brushing on the loaves before baking.
4. Using an electric mixer, add the beaten egg mixture and yeast mixture to the milk mixture. Add 3 cups of the flour until the batter is smooth.
5. Using a large spoon, add enough of the remaining flour (4-4 ½ cups) to the mixing bowl to make a soft dough.
6. Turn dough onto a well-floured surface. With floured hands, knead the dough for 5-10 minutes. The dough should be soft.
7. Place the dough in a large buttered bowl. Turn the dough so that the butter is on both sides. Cover the bowl with a clean, dish towel dampened with hot water. Place the bowl in a warm, draft-free place for 1-1 ½ hours until it doubles in size.
8. Punch down dough and turn onto a lightly floured surface; let rest for 10 minutes.
9. Divide dough in half and shape into two round loaves; place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Allow to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.
10. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove loaves from oven and brush with reserved beaten egg. Return loaves to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes.
11. Cool loaves on a wire rack. Once the loaves have cooled they should be wrapped before storing.

When our son comes home during the holidays, we always have a sweetbread bake-off! When it’s baking, its delicious smell travels throughout the house! It tastes great toasted and spread with a little butter or margarine for breakfast.

Sweetbread also makes a great gift! Just wrap it and place it in a decorative basket.