Plum and Marzipan Bread (Vegan)
Plum and marzipan bread - this delicious vegan bread is a soft, fluffy, brioche-like yeasted dough filled with marzipan and spiced plum compote.
Servings 1 loaf
Ingredients
Dough:
- 300 g (2 ½ cups) white bread flour
- 7 g (2 ¼ teaspoons) fast action/instant yeast
- 50 g (¼ cup) caster or granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 190 g (¾ cup + 2 teaspoons) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy) lukewarm
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 50 g (3 ½ Tablespoons) vegan block butter softened
Filling:
- about 300 g ripe plums (6 medium)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 3 cloves
- 2 allspice berries
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 2 teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch) mixed with 2 teaspoons cold water
- 200 g (7 oz) marzipan
- demarera or pearl sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- To make the dough, place the bread flour in a large bowl, add the yeast to one side and the salt and sugar to the other, stir to combine.
- Add the lukewarm milk and the vanilla and mix to form a shaggy dough. Turn out onto an un-floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. The dough will be sticky at first but resist the temptation to add extra flour, it will become smooth after a minute or two of kneading (you may need to scrape it off the surface with a dough scraper). Of course you can knead it in a stand mixer if you have one.
- Add the softened vegan butter. Continue to knead until the butter is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth and elastic. It may seem greasy and messy at first but keep kneading and I promise you the butter will all mix in and the dough will become smooth.
- Once the butter is fully incorporated the dough should look smooth and silky and it should pull away from the work surface or sides of the bowl cleanly. It should still be soft and slightly sticky however.
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and set aside to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.
- While the dough is rising make the compote. Slice the plums into quarters if they are small, or eighths if they are large, remove the stones and place the sliced plums in a small pan with the spices, a Tablespoon of sugar and a Tablespoon of water. Bring up to a simmer and cook until the plums have softened but still retain most of their shape.
- Add the cornstarch slurry to the plum mixture and cook for another minute or so until thickened. Depending on how juicy your plums are you may need to add a drop more water or another teaspoon of cornstarch (mixed with a teaspoon of cold water). You want the compote to be quite thick so that it doesn't make the bread wet. Taste and add a little more sugar if required; remember that the marzipan is very sweet however so you want the compote to be on the sharp side. Set the compote aside to cool.
- Punch down the risen dough and give it a brief knead to knock out any air bubbles. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into an approximately 25 x 38 cm/ 10 x 15 inch rectangle. Transfer the rectangle onto a piece of baking parchment and place on a baking tray.
- Roll the marzipan out into a sausage then flatten it, it should measure about 30 x 6 cm/ 12 x 2.5 inches. Place the marzipan along the centre of the rectangle of dough, there should be about an extra 4 cm/1.5 inches of dough at either end.
- Remove the spices from the cooled plum compote and spread it on top of the marzipan.
- Cut the dough surrounding the filling into diagonal strips about 4 cm/ 1 ½ inches wide, making sure to leave a border of uncut dough around the filling, there should be the same number of strips on either side.
- Fold both ends up, then cross the cut strips of dough over the filling, alternating sides so that it looks like its been braided.
- Loosely cover the dough with oiled cling film and leave it to rise until it is puffy and springs back slowly when you press it gently with a finger – about 45 minutes to 1 hour. The bread is ready to bake when it looks puffy and if you gently press the dough with a finger it springs back slowly most of the way but leaves a small indentation. If it springs back quickly and fills in completely then it isn't ready yet.
- While the dough is rising preheat the oven to 180°C/160℃ fan/350°F/gas mark 4.
- Gently brush the risen dough with soya milk and sprinkle with demarera or pearl sugar. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden and cooked through. Loosely cover with tin foil towards the end of baking if it starts to colour too much.
- Leave the bread to cool on the tray for 10 minutes then carefully slide it onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Best eaten the day it is made but will keep for a couple of days in an airtight container.
Notes
- See post above for tips, details and step-by-step photos.
- As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!