Swedish Tea Ring Recipe For Christmas Morning Breakfast

SWEDISH TEA RING (COFFEE BREAD)

Steps:

• Heat the milk, add the butter and sugar, then the yeast and egg: Pour milk into a small saucepan and heat on medium heat until steamy (but not boiling). Remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and sugar until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved. Pour into a mixing bowl. Mix in yeast mixture and the egg.
• Add the spices, then gradually add the flour: Mix in the salt and cardamom. Slowly add in 2 cups of the flour. After the first two cups, gradually add more flour until a soft dough starts to form into a ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl.
• Knead the dough: Turn out onto a floured surface and knead dough for 7 to 10 minutes until smooth, OR use a dough hook in a stand-up mixer and knead the dough for 7 to 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed to keep the dough from being too sticky. Note: the dough should remain soft, so take care not to add too much flour.
• Let the dough rise and double in size: Place the dough in an oiled bowl, covered with a clean tea-towel or with plastic wrap. Let rise for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
• Make 2 simple braids, or form 1 filled wreath: At this point you can make a simple braided bread if you want (2 loaves), by punching the dough down, dividing the dough in half, and then dividing each half into three equal parts, rolling the dough pieces into ropes, braiding them, and tucking the ends under. Or you can get more fancy, which is what we've done here, with a filling, and forming the dough into a wreath shape. The following directions are for the wreath form.
• Divide and flatten the dough into 2 rectangles: Press the dough down to deflate it a bit. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Take one part (saving the other for wreath number 2) and use your fingers to spread it into a 8-inch by 16-inch rectangle on a lightly floured, clean, flat surface. If you are having difficulty getting the dough to keep its shape, just do what you can and let it sit for 5 minutes before trying again. Like pizza dough, the dough needs time to relax while you are forming it. Brush the dough with melted butter, leaving at least a half-inch border on the edges so the dough will stick together when rolled.
• Make the filling and fill the dough: Mix together the brown and white sugar and the cinnamon and sprinkle the dough with half of mixture (saving the other half for the second batch of dough). Sprinkle on more fillings, as you like, such as raisins, slivered almonds, or almond paste. You could even sprinkle on some cream cheese for a creamier filling.
• Carefully roll the dough and form a ring: Carefully roll the dough up lengthwise, with the seam on the bottom. Carefully transfer to a greased baking sheet. Form a circle with the dough on the baking sheet, connecting the ends together to make a ring.
• Cut the dough and shape the wreath: Using scissors, cut most of the way through the dough, cutting on a slant. Work your way around the dough circle. After each cut, pull out the dough segment either to the right or to the left, alternating as you go around the circle. The dough circle will look like a wreath when you are done. Repeat the steps with the rest of the dough, to form a second wreath.
• Let the shaped dough rise: Cover the wreaths lightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm area for a second rise. Let rise for about 40 minutes to an hour; the dough should again puff up in size.
• Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Brush the dough with egg wash and bake: Whisk together the egg yolks and cream. Use a pastry brush to brush over the dough. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. After the first 15 minutes of baking, if the top is getting well browned, tent with some aluminum foil.
• Cool, then drizzle with optional glaze: Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Meanwhile, whisk together the powdered sugar and water to create a final glaze (optional). Add more water if the glaze is too thick to drizzle, add more powdered sugar if the glaze is too runny. Drizzle the glaze in a back and forth motion over the pastry.

SWEDISH TEA RING

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the sugar, oil, egg whites, salt and 1 cup flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a bowl coated with cooking spray, turning once to coat the top. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. , Combine the walnuts, cherries, brown sugar and cinnamon; set aside. Punch dough down; roll into an 18x12-in. rectangle. Brush with butter; sprinkle with nut mixture to within 1/2 in. of edges. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seam to seal. , Place seam side down on a 14-in. pizza pan coated with cooking spray; pinch ends together to form a ring. With scissors, cut from outside edge two-thirds of the way toward center of ring at scant 1-in. intervals. Separate strips slightly; twist to allow filling to show. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 40 minutes., Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool. , In a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and enough milk to achieve desired consistency; drizzle over tea ring.

SWEDISH TEA RING

Steps:

• In a bread machine, put milk, egg, butter, sugar, salt, bread flour, and yeast in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select the Dough cycle and press Start. When dough is mixed, transfer to a greased bowl; cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Grease 2 baking sheets or line them with parchment paper; set aside.
• Divide dough in half. Roll each piece out into rectangles about 12x16 inches. Spread each dough rectangle with 1 tablespoon softened butter. In a small bowl, combine 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 3/4 cup light brown sugar, and 1/2 cup raisins.
• Sprinkle cinnamon mixture onto buttered dough. Roll them up jelly-roll fashion, along long side. Pinch edges to seal. Stretch and twist into rings, pinching ends to seal. Place them seam-side down onto prepared baking sheets. Using clean scissors, cut 2/3 way of the way through the loaf at about 1-inch intervals. Spread each cut slightly. you wish to
• [At this point, the dough can be refrigerated: cover dough with greased plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, let pastries come to room temperature for about half an hour before baking as directed in step 7.]
• Alternately, cover each ring with a clean towel or greased plastic wrap and let loaves rise until double, about 40 minutes.
• Arrange two oven racks so that both baking sheets will fit. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake for 10 minutes in preheated; rotate baking sheets. Bake until rings are light brown and the filling is oozing and bubbling, about 10 minutes more.
• In a small mixing bowl, combine confectioners sugar, almond extract, and milk until icing is desired consistency. Drizzle icing over warm pastries.

SWEDISH TEA RING RECIPE FOR CHRISTMAS MORNING BREAKFAST

Steps:

• Scald milk. Stir in sugar and butter until melted. Cool to lukewarm (tip: be patient and make sure to cool it or you'll kill the yeast and/or cook the eggs, neither are good).
• Put water in a large bowl, sprinkle yeast on top. Add milk and mix.
• Beat 2 eggs and mix in.
• Add salt and 2 cups of flour.
• Beat until smooth. Stir in remaining flour one cup at a time.
• When it begins to form a ball, put it onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes.
• Place in a greased bowl, turn over once like so.
• Cover with a wet towel. Rest 1-1/2 hours until doubled in size.
• Punch down and roll into a 14″ x 18″ rectangle and brush with melted butter.
• Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle. Add nuts or raisins (optional).
• Roll up from one end, bend into a circle and tuck ends together best you can.
• Snip every inch 2/3 the way and twist open.
• Lay a towel on top and allow to double in size. We usually let it go overnight but if you live in a warmer climate that may be too long.
• Bake 25-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Make frosting and top with cherries.

CHRISTMAS TEA RING

Steps:

• Roll bread dough into a rectangle 8 inches wide and 15 inches long. Spread butter over the bread, leaving about 1/2 inch of a long edge unbuttered. Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour in a bowl and sprinkle the mixture over the buttered part of the dough.
• Starting with the long edge opposite the unbuttered edge, tightly roll the dough over the filling; seal the roll along the unbuttered edge to make a log.
• Lightly grease a 12-inch round cake pan or baking dish; place dough into the pan and form a ring, pinching the two ends together to seal. Use kitchen scissors or sharp knife to make cuts 3/4 inch deep into the outside of the ring. Twist the cut sections of dough slightly to reveal filling.
• Cover the tea ring with a cloth, place into a warm area, and let rise until doubled, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Bake tea ring in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 25 to 30 minutes. Cover with a sheet of aluminum foil after 15 minutes if tea ring starts to brown too quickly. Let tea ring cool in pan for about 10 minutes before removing to finish cooling on a wire rack.
• Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla extract in a bowl to make a smooth frosting. Spread top of the tea ring with frosting.