The origin of this recipe goes back over a year, to these chocolate cherry rye twists I made around Valentine’s Day. I love enriched breads (“enriched” refers to breads like brioche, challah, panettone, which are higher in fat because of eggs and butter) and I’d been thinking for awhile about how to make something just as luscious and pleasurable for people who don’t eat dairy. Focaccia came to mind — that’s a high-fat bread that gets all the fat from olive oil. I began experimenting with focaccia dough in other forms, from cinnamon rolls to twists to babkas. As I worked with it and adjusted the ratios of fat, liquid, sugar, and baking method, the dough evolved away from focaccia and into…I don’t know, this delicious chewy fluffy olive-oil based bread that I think works for anything with layers of filling.
This recipe is golden! Thank you! We filled it with Sicilian pistachio paste, some powdered sugar, and chopped almonds. We drizzled some honey on it after baking. It was perfect!
This recipe is golden! Thank you! We filled it with Sicilian pistachio paste, some powdered sugar, and chopped almonds. We drizzled some honey on it after baking. It was perfect!