Portuguese Sweet Bread (BBA Challenge)

This week's Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge finds me baking delicious loaves of Portuguese sweet bread. Like the book's author Peter Reinhart, I have always known this bread as Hawaiian bread, but it was actually brought to America by Portuguese immigrants.

This was a relatively easy dough to put together. It starts with a sponge and then gets enriched with generous amounts of sugar, powdered milk, butter, shortening and eggs. I spent a significant amount of time kneading the dough due to the high amount of fat and sugar, but it finally came together and fermented slowly but deliberately.

I used a little less orange and lemon extract than was called for because I really didn't want those flavors to dominate. The result was a subtly flavored and scented bread which toasted beautifully. You know me and my fondness for "egg in a hole," so you'll not be surprised to see that's exactly where this very tasty bread ended up. I'm so predictable.

Next week I'll be baking potato rosemary bread and from what I've read about it from the others who've already made it, it's one of the best breads in the book. I can't wait!