My explorations into the formulas in Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice continue with this festive little number, the Christoposomos, one of the Greek Celebration bread variations.
This was both exhilarating and challenging for me…nope, I never thought I’d qualify the craft of bread baking as exhilarating, but I’m learning to better appreciate all that I’d taken for granted as being easy or boring or plain in my youth, and yes, this is wild and crazy stuff! No dowdy submissive chica in the kitchen here, kids, just one punk rock veganfish listening to The Dead Milkmen and stripping the animal products from this delicious recipe.
All the recipes I’ve made so far from Apprentice have been very easily veganizable, and this was no exception. I used agave syrup to sub out the honey and Ener-G for the two large eggs.
I used coconut milk in this recipe because I wanted to be sure to add enough fat to the dough, and the results were just perfect. There was no lasting coconut flavour in the finished bread, but the coconut milk did lend a lovely buttery quality that was just perfect.
While this isn’t a recipe I will make often, I will indeed save this one for special occasions or for when we have guests for breakfast or brunch. It’s rather fancy and far more sophisticated than anything I’ve ever made bread-wise before, and I felt like a rock star yet again! Perhaps I’m just too easily amused?
I’d like to dedicate this Celebration Bread to Susan of Wild Yeast as she is celebrating the First Anniversary of Yeast Spotting this week! I think that is indeed reason to celebrate!
I can almost smell this from all the way over here in Texas… wow, looks amazing.
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Your bread-baking skills just get better and better each time! That is a gorgeous hunk o’ bread!
I am SO impressed – you did this with coconut milk?! What an inspiration!
Sigh… You are the superwoman of the bread baking universe! You have so much talent with making bread, and baking and cooking and sewing, I am swooning. You know Shel, you could probably mail off a few loaves to Portland…
I have that book and have been eyeing the recipe! Your post totally makes me want to bake it now, it looks gorgeous!
Hi Hannah! The glaze was part of the recipe : just water, orange or lemon extract, a little sugar and agave syrup (for honey). It is amazingly shiny! I liked that – made it all perdy & stuff!
Such a beautiful loaf! And it’s amazingly shiny- Did you do anything special to achieve that crust, or is it just due to all of the rich ingredients? (Or am I just too tired and missed where you spelled it all out?)
Beautiful! And thanks for mentioning how you veganized it too.
Wow your bread looks really incredibly awesome!
Shellyfish! This is a culinary masterpiece!!! OMGoshfish!
No baby yet….he is still baking away in there. 38 weeks today though. So he should be on the scene pretty soon. Can’t wait really.
Have a great day – and seriously – that bread is AMAZING!