Jujube & Pecan Roll

This is a recipe I developed per my family's breakfast demand. The usual whole wheat bread can no longer do for our taste bud. With my affection to jujube and nuts, it was only natural to get to this combination. Instead of the dried jujube, I used the jujube honey and the pecans were also grounded up to blend into the bread itself. Normally I would use walnuts, but pecan worked really well too!

For some of the basic build up, I would point to my post earlier (fool proof bread) . This is a slight variation to the basic bread and I will focus on the key steps here.

This recipe will make about 8 individual pieces.

To make the Dough (30 minutes kneading)

All purpose flour 3.5 cups

Rye flour 0.5 cup

Yeast 2 tsp

Glutton (optional) 2 tbsp

Jujube honey 1/2 cup

Warm water 1 cup

Sugar 1 tsp

Salt 1/4 tsp

Softened butter 3 tbsp

Pecan 1/2 cup (grounded)

Use either a machine or by hand to mix and knead the dough. First mix the yeast, sugar and warm water together and divide it into two bowls. In one of the bowls, mix in 0.5 cup of the flour, let it proof on the side. In the other bowl, mix in the remaining of the flour, rye flour, jujube honey, glutton and salt. Knead it well, for about 10 -15 minutes, then knead in the butter, for another 5-10 minutes until fully incorporated. And finally add in the grounded pecan, knead for another 5-10 minutes.

Let it proof in a warm moist place for 30-45 minutes until it double in size.

To shape the dough and second proof (30 minutes)

First divide the dough into 8 portions. Take one portion, and cut it into 3 equal pieces. For the each of the piece, knead and roll the dough into a rope like piece, about 1 inch thick and 5 inch long. Do the same for the other two. With the 3 pieces of "ropes", pinch one of the ends together and then weave them like you would make a braid (assume you have done that at point of your life :) . Repeat it for the other 7 portions and you will get 8 braided bread in total.

Let them proof in the warm moist place for another 30 minutes.

Baking the bread (30 minutes)

Brush each of the bread with some egg wash (mix one egg with about 1 tbsp of water), place a few pieces of whole pecans on top and put them into 375 degree oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Let them cool down before enjoy them with some honey butter!