There are few favorite recipes I enjoy from Motherland – Sourdough-based rye bread and Plushka (easy and delicious sweet bread, shaped as love heart). Spending now more than a year in lockdown there are times when you simply want a “bite of the history”…. but with a twist. Talking about the sweet bread – the classic recipe of Plushka has a butter-sugar filling sometimes with the addition of cinnamon, and that’s it. It appears no one yet tried to make a savory version of Plushka so I decided to be (one of) the First ones :).
Today I’d like to introduce 2 modifications of sweet bread you can impress your guests with. They are easy to make, delish, and based on the same dough. Starting with the pesto-garlic option to go along with a soup or a salad and moving to a sweet Banana-Pecan alternative perfectly complementing your beverage of choice.
So, without further due – Let’s crack it.
PS if you more into conventional baking mood today – go and check my Easy Bread recipe.
Easy Sweet Bread Recipe
Say "I love you" with our heartshaped Easy Sweet Bread Recipe. You prefer sweet or savory fillings? Well, we will share Sweet Banana Pecan and Salty Garlic Pesto options - both are to die for! Which one would you choose?
Ingredients
Dough
- 550 grams Strong Wheat Flour
- 250 grams Milk (lukewarm)
- 7 grams Dry Yeasts
- 8 grams Salt
- 60 grams Caster Sugar
- 2 eggs
- 100 grams Unsalted Butter
Sweet Filling:
- 50g Unsalted Butter
- 100g Banana
Savoury Filling:
- 50g Unsalted Butter
- 8g Garlic Paste
- 50g Pesto
- 1g Strong Wheat Flour
Instructions
- Pre-dissolve dry yeasts and salt in the lukewarm milk.
- Weigh up flour and sugar into the bowl.
- Add 2 eggs to the bowl where flour and sugar are.
- Add milk mixture to the bowl and knead until dough is formed.
- Cover and leave the dough aside for 15 min.
- Add soft butter and mix it into the dough.
- Ferment the dough for 1 hour.
- Give a quick mix to the dough.
- Ferment the dough for 1 hour.
- Divide the dough into 60g pieces and round them.
- Rest the dough balls covered for 15 min.
- Meanwhile, prepare fillings.
- For savory filling mix soft butter with pesto and garlic paste.
- For sweet filling mix soft butter with banana.
- Pin the dough balls to elongated shape aiming dough thickness of 1.5-2mm.
- Spread the filling of your choice on 90% of the pinned dough area. Leave 10% on any of the sides for the dough to stick.
- For sweet-filled buns - sprinkle caster sugar and crushed pecans on top of banana filling.
- Roll the dough towards the side with no filling.
- Bend the dough rolls and make a cut alongside.
- Turn out from both sides and make a heart-shaped bun.
- Proof the buns for 1 hour.
- Glaze buns with eggwash.
- Decorate savory buns with grated parmesan and sweet ones with lime zest.
- Bake at 190 °C/375 °F for 12-15 min until golden brown.
Notes
You can dissolve salt together with yeasts in the complete quantity of milk. Don't try to do it with 1/4 of the recipe quantity or less as yeasts will be deactivated by high osmotic pressure created by salt.
Baking time will vary from oven to oven - suggest you monitor colour of the buns aiming for golden-brown crust.
