Welcome to the first installment in a series of posts where I try and make the food from my books! We’re starting off with a rendition of one of the most mentioned foods in the Saga of the Lonely God: sweet bread.
There are few things that Hala, she of enormous stature and big feelings, loves more than bread. All throughout her heroic journey, she fantasizes about leaving the horrors behind, getting home, and chowing down on soft, buttery, fruity bread baked fresh by the boy of her dreams.
Meanwhile, the boy of her dreams, realizing that her carb cravings will crash the agrarian economy of their home country:
I always imagined it as handheld loaves of soft, buttery brioche dough popping with fruit, spices, and honey. So that’s exactly what I made.
Ideally, this would contain a big pile of dried sunberries from my made-up world. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to all the made-up ingredients that I made up, but it tastes just fine with real ingredients!
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups of bread flour (about 375 g)
1/4 cup sugar (~50 g)
1/4 tsp salt
2 packets instant yeast (or ~14 g, or 4 and 1/2 teaspoons)
3 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup softened butter (a stick and half)
1/2 cup finely diced apples
2 tbsp raisins (or chopped dates, or currants)
1 tsp ground cardamom (I like to measure with my heart, so you may want more or less than this depending on your tastes)
~1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
~1/8 tsp mace and/or cloves
A bit of extra honey and butter to brush on top
FOR THE CHEESE SPREAD
About 5-6 oz of ricotta cheese or goat’s cheese
A heaping spoonful of honey
- If you don’t have instant yeast, you can gently warm up the milk, mix your sugar and yeast into it, and wait until it’s foamy before combining the other ingredients.
- With the exception of the butter, the fruit, and the spices, add all ingredients into a stand mixer bowl and let it run on low speed until the ingredients come together into a smooth dough. If you don’t have a stand mixer, no worries! I just used my hands in a big glass bowl. Then use your countertop and a dough scraper to help you fold it over itself until you have a smoother dough.
- After the dough is smooth, add the butter. If you want, you can do this bit by bit, but I just throw it in all at once. Let the stand mixer run for about five more minutes or work by hand until fully incorporated (10-15 minutes, maybe). It’ll be a pretty sticky job, not gonna lie. But this is what we must endure if we want fantasy bread.
- Once the dough has been well worked and stops sticking to the side of the bowl, toss the diced apples with the raisins and spices. Gently fold this apple mixture into the dough until the fruit is distributed. Put in a new bowl, cover it with plastic wrap or beeswax cloth, and prove overnight in the refrigerator (I put mine in around 6-7 pm and let it go until like noon the next day).
- The next day, remove from fridge and let soften on the countertop for 2-3 hours. Once the dough has risen a bit more and is workable, begin shaping.
- If making mini loaves, divide into five equal pieces. Roll into small boules and set on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, or tuck them into small ovals and drop into greased mini loaf tins.
- If making big loaves, shape into a large boule or drop into two greased 1-pound loaf tins.
- Preheat your oven to 350F/180c. Leave the shaped dough to prove for about another hour.
- During this time, you can pull out your ricotta or goat’s cheese, plus your honey, and whip those together in a food processor or using a hand mixer or going nuts with a spoon. It’ll be on the less sweet side, which I like since the bread has some sweetness from the fruit. If you like things sweeter, add some sugar. Live your life. I’m (most likely) not your mom.
- After they’ve risen a bit more, place them in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 30-35 minutes until the tops are golden brown and there’s no more audible moisture sounds bubbling inside the loaves.
- Once they’re out, brush them with some butter and honey. Let them cool down a bit in their loaf tins, maybe for 10 minutes or so, then take them out and let them cool down fully on a cooling rack.
- Or, if you’re like Hala and have no patience, you can dive on in. Your taste buds will understand why they had to die a fiery death.
- Pull out the cheese, cut up your bread, and be free.
M.M. Williams 
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