Dill bread recipe
Ropes of aromatic dough are rolled, snipped and coiled to create distinctive round loaves that begged to be pulled apart.
For consistency’s sake, we’ve used the King Arthur Flour ingredient weight chart to standardize the book’s original cups-to-grams equivalents.
12 servings (makes 3 small loaves)
MAKE AHEAD: The dough needs to rise and rest three times: the first time, for 1 hour; the second time, for 15 minutes; the third time for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Adapted from “Breaking Breads: A New World of Israeli Baking–Flatbreads, Stuffed Breads, Challahs, Cookies, and the Legendary Chocolate Babka,” by Uri Scheft (Artisan, 2016).
Ingredients
For the dough
- 3/4 cup (177 grams) cool room-temperature water
- 1/4 cup (34 grams) fresh yeast or 21/2 teaspoons (9 grams) active dry yeast
- 63/4 cups (810 grams) all-purpose flour, sifted, plus more for kneading and shaping
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon (18 grams) fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup (171 grams) plain whole-milk yogurt
- 5 tablespoons (71 grams) room temperature unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 small yellow onion (50 grams), finely chopped
- 2 cups (35 grams) fresh dill fronds, finely chopped
- For the egg wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- Pinch fine sea salt
Steps
Combine the water and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisking by hand until the yeast has dissolved. Add the flour, sugar, salt, yogurt and butter pieces.
Attach the dough hook and knead on low speed until the dough comes together, 1 to 2 minutes; if, after 2 minutes, the dough has dry spots at the bottom of the bowl or the dough looks very wet, add more water or flour — a little at a time — as needed. Once the dough comes together nicely, continue to mix on low speed for 3 minutes. Then increase the mixer speed to medium and knead until the dough looks shiny is somewhat stiff, about 5 minutes.
Lightly flour a work surface and set the dough on it. Lightly flour the top of the dough. Take one corner of the dough and stretch the dough until it tears, then fold it on top of the center. Give the dough a quarter turn and continue the stretching/folding/turning for 2 minutes. Use a bench scraper or chef’s knife to cut the dough into 12 equal pieces, then return the pieces to the mixer bowl. (Breaking up the dough this way will help incorporate the onion and dill easily.)
Add the onion and dill; knead on low speed just until they are well incorporated. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and fold again, giving it about four turns. Place the dough in a lightly floured large bowl, dust the top with flour, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let it rest at room temperature until the dough has doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Transfer the dough to the lightly floured surface; divide it into 3 equal pieces. Firmly press down on each piece of dough, and then pull it to make a 9-by-5-inch rectangle with a short side facing you. Fold the top edge (farthest away from you) a quarter of the way down and use the heel of your hand to seal along the edge to the bottom part of the dough. Repeat 3 more times to make a cylinder. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. Use your hands to roll each piece to form a 20-inch-long rope. Cover them with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 15 minutes.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Flatten each rope to a rectangle again and repeat the flattening process, folding the top down by a fourth, using the heel of your hand to seal along the edge, then repeating 3 times to make a cylinder. Now use your hands to roll each cylinder to make a 40-inch-long rope; an easy way to stretch them is to hold one end in each hand and slowly twirl like a jump rope. Use clean kitchen scissors to snip diagonal slits three-quarters of the way through the dough at 1-inch intervals.
Coil the snipped rope into a spiral shape, overlapping to create a pyramid shape (wide base, narrowed at the top) and set it on the baking sheet. Repeat with the other 2 ropes, creating the pyramid of coil on each baking sheet. Refrigerate one of the coils on its baking sheet; you’ll be baking the breads one at a time.
Pull on each of the segments in the two coiled breads to separate them from one another. Cover with them kitchen towels and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the dough has risen and a slight press of the finger creates a lasting indentation.
About 30 minutes before the breads are ready to bake, set a rimmed baking sheet on the oven floor (or, if not possible, on the lowest oven rack); preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Pull the third coiled bread out of the refrigerator and cover with a towel, to start its final rise.
Make the egg wash by whisking the egg, water and salt together in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to lightly coat the loaf with egg wash.
Uncover one of the first two coiled breads and brush with some of the egg wash. Place its baking sheet in the oven. Pour 1/4 cup of water into the rimmed baking sheet on the bottom of the oven and quickly close the oven door. Bake (middle rack) for 25 minutes, turning the baking sheet front to back for the last 8 minutes of oven time.
Let cool on the baking sheet while you uncover the second coiled loaf and brush it with egg wash, then place its baking sheet in the oven. Pour another 1/4 cup water into the rimmed baking sheet on the oven floor. Repeat the baking and cooling process.
Leave the oven on until the third loaf is ready to bake, and repeat the egg wash and baking (with water in the bottom baking sheet) and cooling one more time.
Nutrition: Per serving: 330 calories, 9 g protein, 59 g carbohydrates, 6 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 460 mg sodium, 2 g dietary fiber, 5 g sugar