Sweet Danube bread - recipe

The sweet Danube bread is a soft pull-apart bread filled with a silky smooth custard… it makes a perfect treat for parties to share with friends or family! Find this and many more recipes with pictures on the Giallozafferano App (in English)
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Start by making the dough, which is essentially a brioche dough: in a stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine the flour, the instant yeast – it does not need to be dissolved in water, just add it to the flour – and the sugar. I’m using lemon and vanilla as flavourings, but you may choose orange or tangerine zest, for example. Slice the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds… add the seeds to the melted butter, which should be at room temperature: fat is a great conductor of flavours. After the vanilla pod, some lemon zest, organic is better, grate it straight into the butter. Then dissolve the salt in the water and crack the egg. Now that everything’s ready, you can start the mixer and beat in the ingredients. Scrape the dough off the paddle, switch to the dough hook and beat until it clears the sides of the bowl and has a smooth and elastic texture. After about 10 minutes, the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl, as you can see, and is wrapped around the hook. Now pull it off the hook, lightly grease the work surface with melted butter, just enough to keep the dough from sticking, otherwise you would need to add more flour but the end result would be different. Knead quickly into a ball. It’s perfectly smooth, isn’t it? Grease the bowl, too; add the dough, cover with cling film and allow to rise for a couple of hours. In winter, the best place is the turned off oven with the light on, because it’s a warm environment.
I’m making the filling for the Danube bread, a custard, so combine the milk and cream in a saucepan, bring almost to a boil, then add the lemon zest and the vanilla pod, split open, along with the seeds; allow to cool a bit – until slightly warm – after that you can remove both the vanilla pod and the lemon zest. You can grate the lemon zest if you prefer, but make sure to strain the mixture to remove any solids. Now take a couple of bowls and separate the egg whites from the yolks: add the sugar to the 3 egg yolks and the sifted corn starch. Now take the lemon zest and the vanilla pod out of the cooled milk. Return to the heat, pour in the egg yolk and corn starch mixture, stir well and cook over a low heat until thickened. The custard is thick enough, so turn off the heat; transfer to a shallow container, cover with cling film, placing it directly on the surface to keep it from forming a skin; then you can set it in an ice bath to cool down quickly.
And here’s the risen dough: here’s the custard, that’s set nicely in the meantime, lightly grease the work surface with melted butter, roll the dough into a log shape and cut it into 30 pieces, about 1 oz (30 g) each. Now roll into small balls; arrange the pieces in a row, so that while you’re shaping one, the others are allowed to rise and rest. I’ll show you briefly how to shape one: first of all, roll until nice and smooth like this, and pat it flat; place a teaspoon of custard in the center and pinch it closed. Arrange the balls around the perimeter of a cake pan. Mine is 11 inches (28 cm) in diameter and it has been buttered and lined with parchment paper. Continue until the pan is full and the dough used up, of course.
Here’s my beautiful Danube bread! Now leave it to rise for another hour, in the turned off oven with the light on.
The Danube bread is risen, all you have to do is brush with an egg and milk mixture, cream is fine too. The beaten egg makes the bread shiny and golden brown, but it also acts as a glue: I’m leaving my Danube bread plain, but you could sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds, if you like. Now bake in a preheated static oven at 340°F (170°C) for about 40 minutes. And while it is baking, let’s see together the ingredients needed for this recipe.
Ingredients
11-inch (28 cm) round cake pan
For the dough
- 4 cups (530 g) of bread flour
- 2 ½ tbsp (30 g) of sugar
- 1 ¼ tsp (4 g) of instant yeast
- about 1 cup (230 ml) of milk
- ⅕ cup (50 ml) of water
- 1 medium egg
- 3 ½ tbsp (50 g) of butter
- the grated zest of 1 lemon
- the seeds from 1 vanilla pod
- ½ tbsp (10 g) of salt
For the custard
- less than 1 cup (200 ml) of fresh milk
- ⅕ cup (50 ml) of heavy cream
- 3 egg yolks
- ⅓ cup (70 g) of sugar
- 2 ½-3 tbsp (20-25 g) of corn starch
- 2 pieces of lemon zest
- 1 vanilla pod
For brushing and garnishing
- 1 medium egg
- 1 tbsp of milk
- 2 ½ tbsp (20 g) of powdered sugar