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Giant poppy seed, pistachio and apple bread

Preparation time
over 2 hours

Cooking time
1 to 2 hours

Serves
Serves 8–10

Dietary
Vegetarian

By Olia Hercules
From Saturday Kitchen

Ingredients

For the dough

  • 250ml/9fl oz full-fat milk
  • 7g fast-action dried yeast or 15g/½oz fresh yeast
  • ½ tbsp caster sugar or runny honey
  • 2 free-range eggs
  • 360–400g/12½–14oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 1 tsp sea salt

For the filling

  • 2 apples, cored 1 diced and 1 sliced
  • 1 lemon, juice only
  • 100g/3½oz poppy seeds
  • 100g/3½oz pistachios
  • 400ml/14fl oz full-fat milk
  • 80g/2¾oz unsalted butter
  • 100g/3½oz caster sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • generous pinch sea salt
  • 1 free-range egg mixed with a touch of milk or kefir, to glaze

Method

  1. To make the dough, whisk the milk, yeast, sugar and eggs together in a large bowl. Add the flour and mix everything together well to make sure there are no pockets of dry flour. The dough will look a bit strange at this stage – shaggy, a bit wet and weird. Either put it in the fridge until the next day or leave it to hydrate and rise for about 1 hour, covered with a tea towel in a warm environment.. Wet your hands and stretch and fold the dough to bring it together.

  2. Place the apples in a bowl and squeeze the lemon juice over the top, to stop them from going brown.

  3. Meanwhile to make the filling, put the poppy seeds, pistachios and milk in a saucepan and simmer over a low heat for about 30 minutes or until all the milk has evaporated. Leave to cool down and then put the poppy seed mixture into a food processor. Add the butter, sugar, vanilla and salt. Blitz to a paste. Mix the diced apple through the poppy seed paste and set aside.

  4. To assemble, flour a work surface and your hands really well. Scoop out the dough and give it a gentle knead, collecting the flour from the worktop with the dough. It will soon stop being sticky and will feel so lush and velvety, like the top of a newborn’s head. Flour the work surface generously again and, using a rolling pin, start rolling out the dough. You can also use your fingers to stretch the edges out. When the dough is roughly 40x30cm/16x12in, dot the filling all around and then use your hand to gently (so as not to rip the dough) spread the poppyseed and apple filling. It won’t cover the dough perfectly and there will be some gaps around the edges, but that’s ok.

  5. Line a wide, flat baking tray with baking paper. Roll up the dough, not too tightly, into a long log. Cut it in half and then cut the two halves lengthways. Gently drag and lift one of the pieces of dough and curl it around itself, with the exposed filling facing upwards. Then wrap the next piece of dough in a similar manner around the first coil. Keep doing this until you have one big ammonite-shaped beast.

  6. Gently insert the sliced apples, skin-side up. Glaze the dough with the egg wash and cover loosely with a clean tea towel. Prove in a warm place for 30 minutes–1 hour. It should be nicely puffed. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Bake the bread for about 40 minutes until brown. Rotate the tray halfway through if there are hot spots in the oven. Leave to cool down a little and then slice into wedges and serve.

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