pain viennois/roscones colombianos

 

 

There is a Colombian pastry I really love called roscón. It is bread shaped like a donut that has guava paste inside and sugar sprinkled on top. I don't have the recipe for this (my grandmother Tuti is getting it for me, probably by exchanging it for the hottest gossip in town), so I made one up. I used the recipe for sweet bread, sometimes called pain viennois (from Richard Bertinet's Dough), and stuffed the bread with guava paste.

It is remarkably similar to the real thing.
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Ingredients

4 cups bread flour
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 2/3 caster (superfine) sugar
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature

Directions

1. Whisk together the dry yeast and bread flour in a large, wide mixing bowl.  Add the salt and sugar and whisk in well.

2. Add the unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, then rub the butter into the flour mixture until well crumbled.

3. Add the eggs and milk, then mix together with a spatula until it forms a shaggy dough.  Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Note that this recipe uses two eggs – the photo below was from a double batch.

4. Knead the dough until smooth.

5. Oil the scraped-out mixing bowl, then return the dough to the bowl, cover with clingfilm and allow to rise until doubled in size (about an hour).

6. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently fold it onto itself. Divide the dough into five pieces, then shape each piece into a long roll. If you want, insert the jam or chocolate in the rolls and make sure none of it is sticking out. Make the rolls into rings. Place the dough on a tray lined with parchment paper, allowing room to spread.  Brush each roll with two coats of beaten egg, before making several deep cuts diagonally across the top with a razor or sharp knife.(I forgot to do this).  Preheat the oven to 350 F.

7. Allow the dough to prove for an hour longer, then bake in the preheated oven for 10 – 15 minutes, until dark golden brown.  The finished bread has a brioche-like quality and can be used for a variety of sweet and savoury applications