Preview: this bread is awesome. It’s worth buying the cookbook just for this recipe. Disclaimer: Paul Hollyood does not pay me to tout his product, he’s just got a good cookbook. I’m sure Paul Hollywood has no idea who I am. Although he should. And Paul, if you’re reading this, feel free to pay me. I want to go back to Disney World.
Anyway.
When I was last home in Michigan I, er, borrowed a package of dried apricots from my Mom’s well-stocked pantry. I was going to eat them on my drive home, but, distracted by keeping the cats from diving under the break pedal, I didn’t manage to do so. Instead, when I woke up to a snow-covered world today, I opened the lazy susan, spotted the neatly wrapped dried fruits, and turned to the ever-reliable Paul Hollywood for baking ideas.
I was supposed to host my book club this morning and planned to share this loaf with my fellow literature enthusiasts, but as you know if you don’t live under a rock, the weather is a little cotton-ball-esque at the moment. With book club cancelled, I suppose I’ll have to eat this delicious bake all alone. Poor me. *Pours a glass of wine, turns on project runway, and gleefully attacks the bread with a serrated knife.*
I decided to attempt Mr. Hollywood’s Apricot Couronne, which is a rolled and twisted loaf shaped into a circle and baked with the filling exposed. I started by soaking apricots in a little orange juice overnight. Please note the well-placed cannister in the background of this picture. That’s one of my favorite things in this kitchen, and I hadn’t managed to work it into a picture naturally yet, so I just went ahead and staged this.
I put the basic enriched dough together when I got up in the morning, left it to rise, and then took the time to actually read the rest of the recipe. I discovered that this particular loaf called for homemade marzipan, a substance that I have never tasted or seen. Seeing it on TV doesn’t count. Paul instructed me to “see page 252,” which was a recipe for almond pastries. After reading this irrelevant recipe several times, I noticed another note that informed me that the recipe for marzipan could be found on page 255. Eye roll. The marzipan was actually a simple combination of ground almonds, egg, flour, sugar, and orange zest. Well, actually mine has lemon zest. If Paul wants me to actually use the ingredients he calls for, he probably shouldn’t send me on a goose chase through the pages of another chapter to discover what those ingredients are. It tastes super good, so we’re going to say that he was wrong and it should have been lemon zest all along.
I chucked the marzipan in the fridge to firm up for a while and took another project runway break. (SPOILER ALERT: Yassssss Anthony, you were always my favorite.)
(Wow, look at those cute cannisters unintentionally featured in the left photo!)
I rolled out the dough without knocking it back, and covered it with a filling of apricots, nuts, sugar, butter, and golden raisins. Paul actually called for sultanas, but I think that’s the same thing as golden raisins? Hard to say. I then covered this with a rolled out layer of marzipan, spent some time eating the filling and marzipan because it tasted awesome, rolled it up, cut it in half lengthwise like a pair of pants, twisted the two halves together and formed the dough into a crown.
Lots of recipes call for you to do your second prove in a large clean plastic bag once they are already on the baking sheet, and I find this direction problematic. On TV, they always use dry-cleaner bags for this, but, come on. It’s 2019. I’m in my twenties and subsist on a teacher salary. I only get things dry-cleaned when my mother insists on it for a wedding or something. I have developed my own method for this second prove. It involves strategically placing hot box pizza cups around my bake to keep the bag from touching the bread, and covering it with a clean garbage bag. The millenial way.
I baked the loaf for thirty-ish minutes, coated with apricot jelly to glaze, and drizzled some simple frosting and shaved almonds over the top. Look how cute it turned out!
Honestly, I thought this recipe was great. It produced a beautiful product that tastes AMAZING. The marzipan makes the bread tender and sweet, and the pops of flavor from the fruit and nuts are great. I cut a slice to sample it and to take pictures, took one bite, and promptly cut myself another slice.
Stay warm everyone!! Enjoy the lovely snow!
