My Grandmotherâs Portuguese Sweet Bread Recipes

PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD I

Steps:

• Add ingredients in order suggested by your manufacturer.
• Select "sweet bread" setting.

GRANDMA'S PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD RECIPE

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix sugar, hot milk, butter, and salt together in a large bowl, stirring until butter melts. When cooled to lukewarm, beat in eggs and yeast mixture. Gradually beat 5 cups of flour into liquid to make a smooth dough.
• If you have a stand mixer that will handle this amount of dough, you can use that to shorten the process. Simply complete above steps in your mixer bowl and let your dough hook do the kneading for you.
• To knead by hand, heavily flour a board with a portion of the remaining flour. Turn dough out onto board and sprinkle with remaining flour. Knead until very smooth, adding flour to eliminate stickiness as necessary. You should see small "blisters" of air on the surface of the dough. This takes about 15-20 minutes. Consider it your workout for the day.
• Place dough in a large buttered bowl. Cover loosely with a towel and put in a warm place until doubled in size (about two hours).
• Punch down dough (it will collapse). Using buttered hands, form dough into desired loaves. You can divide dough into two large loaves or try them as smaller rolls. Or you can try the pie pan method you see used by the historical society.
• Place your formed loaves on a buttered cookie sheet or in a buttered pie pan. Cover loaves and set in a warm place to rise again for about an hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Baking time will vary a bit depending upon loaf size.
• Optional: Use a pastry brush to baste milk over the loaves just as they start to brown. This will give them a beautiful shiny glow.
• Turn dough onto floured surface. Divide dough in two. Form each half loosely into a two-inch log. Cut log into two-inch lengths.
• Roll dough into balls. Place onto a buttered cookie sheet or in a buttered pie pan, not quite touching.
• Cover rolls and set in a warm place to rise again for about an hour.
• Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Form each half of the dough into a ball, working to put the "loose" ends on the bottom so that the top is nice and smooth. Place each dough on a cookie sheet and set aside to rise.
• Divide each half of the bread dough into three equal pieces.
• Roll each into a rope, about 1-2 inches in diameter.
• Press the ends of the ropes together and braid. When you reach the end, tuck ends under slightly and place bread on a cookie sheet for the second rise.

GRANDMA CARDOZA'S PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD

Steps:

• Dissolve 1 package of yeast and 2 tbsp. sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. Let stand until frothy and bubbly (about 5-15 minutes).
• In a small saucepan, combine milk and butter and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.
• Combine flour and salt. My grandma's recipe calls for sifting the flour, so I sift as grandma suggests.
• In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar together until mixed well. Next add the milk and butter mixture, the lemon extract, the anise extract, and the yeast mixture to the eggs and sugar.
• Gradually add the 6 cups of flour to the mix.
• Knead the bread until very smooth, which takes about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Cover the dough, place in a warm area, and let rise until the dough doubles in size. This takes approximately 2 hours.
• Punch dough down, divide, and form into rolls, large round loaves, or braided loaves.
• Place the dough on a buttered cookie sheet (I use parchment paper) or in a pie pan, cover, and let rise again for roughly an hour.
• If you are making Folar da Pascoa, make sure the eggs are boiled and tuck them in the loaves before baking.
• Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes. When the bread starts to brown, I brush the top with milk, and this helps give a shiny, golden top to the bread. As soon as the bread is ready, I butter the top.
• Enjoy right from the oven, if you choose!

PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD

Steps:

• To make the sponge, stir together the flour, sugar, and yeast in a small bowl. Add the water and stir until all the ingredients are hydrated and make a smooth batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, or until the sponge gets foamy and seems on the verge of collapse.
• To make the dough, combine the sugar, salt, powdered milk, butter, and shortening in a 4-quart mixing bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer). Cream together with a sturdy spoon (or the paddle attachment) until smooth, then mix in the eggs and the extracts. Knead by hand (or switch to the dough hook attachment) and mix in the sponge and the flour. Add the water, as needed, to make a very soft dough. The finished dough should be very supple and soft, easy to knead, and not wet or sticky. It will take 10 to 12 minutes with the electric mixer and close to 15 minutes by hand to achieve this consistency. (Dough with high amounts of fat and sugar usually take longer to knead because the gluten requires more time to set up.) The finished dough should pass the windowpane test (see NOTE below) and register 77 to 88 degrees F. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
• Ferment at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into two equal pieces. Form each of the pieces into a boule. Lightly oil two 9-inch pie pans and place 1 boule, seam side down, in each pan. Mist the dough with spray oil and loosely cover the pans with plastic wrap.
• Proof at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours, or until the dough fills the pans fully, doubling in size and overlapping the edges slightly. (If you only want to bake one loaf, you may retard the second in the fridge for 1 day, although it will take 4 to 5 hours to proof after it comes out of the refrigerator.)
• Very gently brush the loaves with egg wash. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with the oven rack on the middle shelf.
• Bake the loaves for 50 to 60 minutes, or until they register 190 F in the center. After 30 minutes, check the loaves and rotate 180 degrees, if necessary, for even baking. Because of the high amount of sugar, the dough will brown very quickly, but don't be fooled into thinking it is done. It will get darker as the center gradually catches up with the outside, but it will not burn. The final color will be a rich mahogany brown.
• Remove the bread from the pie pans and place on a rack to cool. The bread will soften as it cools, resulting in a very soft, squishy loaf. Allow the bread to cool for at least 90 minutes before slicing or serving.

PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD

Steps:

• Sprinkle yeast into 1/2 cup warm water and let activate.
• Combine all ingredients and knead well.
• Cover with a dry towel and let rise until doubled.
• Divide into 3 round loaves and placed in greased round cake pans.
• Let rise, brush tops with beaten egg and bake at 350F degrees 30-40 minutes .