Swedish Tea Ring

The H family has Swedish ancestry. It seemed apt to make a Swedish bread for Christmas. The big dinner in our house is on Christmas Eve when we have my in-laws over for dinner. When I saw this recipe on Simply Recipes, it looked so pretty, I had to give it a shot. I made one wreath (the recipe is for two) and followed the directions promptly.

The rest in pictures:

Ingredients

Wet ingredients mixed in with one cup of flour, waiting for the second cup

Before kneading

After seven minutes of kneading, ready to rise

I used raisins and almond paste along with the cinnamon sugar for the filling

Risen dough

Rolled out into a 16 x 8 rectangle

Fillings are in

Rolled, top to bottom

Ring

Half way wreath

Complete wreath ready to rise

Risen (later glazed with egg yolk + milk)

Out of the oven

Glazed (not very well) with a sugar glaze

This coffee bread was super yummy. Everyone liked it a lot too. We could have eaten all of it if we weren't so full from dinner. It was great to have some on Christmas day as well. In fact I was so excited to have more of it that I have baked two more loaves to share at a H family reunion over New Year's weekend.

This is the 60th post as I approach one year of blogging about bread baking. It has been a good learning experience. I realize I got behind in posting and didn't have insightful comments in the last 8-10 posts. But now I am caught up.

I'll be back in 2012!

-RPH