Dear Reader, I learned a new term the other day. It was from a relative and we were trying to plan a dinner out. She is gluten free and her partner is vegetarian so I suggested a restaurant with Asian cuisine.
"Is this restaurant gluten responsible?" she asked. I blinked my eyes as I read the message that came up on my computer screen. Is gluten responsible a phrase now? Is that really a thing?
I googled it and I didn't get any results but I was reminded of how difficult it is to plan somewhere to go out with the in laws. I suggested that she find somewhere to eat because quite honestly I didn't want to become gluten irresponsible.
Anyway, I am not going to claim any sort of gluten responsibility here. This bread has gluten and I don't know if you could do a version without. It's a recipe that I've been meaning to make for almost two years now ever since I first saw it on my adopted mum's blog Barbara Bakes.
I was particularly taken with the layers or leaves of bread. Mine didn't turn out quite as perfect as hers. I think that I might need to play with the size of the tin for that. I did make one change and that was to add cream cheese to the lemon and sugar spread instead of using butter as I wanted a cheesecake sort of bread. I took one warm leaf smothered in baked-in sweet lemon cream cheese and sank my teeth in and then before I knew it, it was gone and I was reaching for another.
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever heard of the term "gluten responsible" before? Do your friends or family have many eaters that has specific requirements when dining out? How do you accommodate them?
Lemon Cream Cheese Pullapart Bread
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons dried instant yeast
- 1/2 cup milk
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Lemon Sugar Filling
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (4 lemons)
- 125g/4ozs. cream cheese, softened (I used light cream cheese)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft
Lemon Icing
- 1 cup powdered or icing sugar
- 5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Step 1 - Line a large loaf tin with baking parchment. Fit your mixer with the beater attachment and add the 2 cups flour (not all), sugar, yeast, and salt. Heat the milk and butter in the microwave until the milk is warm but not hot and the butter is soft but not entirely melted. Add to the mixer bowl and beat on low speed. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time and beat for 3 minutes.
Step 2 - Switch to a dough hook and then add the salt and some of the remaining flour - you may not need to add it all, I stopped short with about 3 tablespoons left. Scrape the sides of the bowl and roll the dough into a ball and place back in the bowl and cover with cling film. Rest for 1-2 hours until doubled in size.
Lemon sugar
Step 3 - Make lemon sugar filling by combining the sugar and lemon zest. Then mix the cream cheese and butter together in a separate bowl and set aside.
Roll out dough into a rectangle
Step 4 - When the dough is ready, flour a clean surface. Punch down the dough and roll out into as large a rectangle as possible. Trim the sides so that you get a rectangle shape. Cut into five even long strips and then spread with the cream cheese mixture and then sprinkle with lemon sugar. Pile all of the strips on top of each other sugar side up.
Spread with cream cheese and lemon sugar
Then stack the rectangles
Step 5 - Now measure your tin and then cut the long strips into three or four pieces. The dough will expand quite a bit so you want some gap at the front and sides of the tin for when it expands when baking. Set aside in a warm place for its second proof/rise for 15-30 minutes. I usually reroll the scraps and fill them with the lemon sugar and cream cheese and make a small scroll too.
Cut the long stack into four or five smaller stacks
Then line them up in the prepared tin
Step 6 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Bake for 30 minutes. Check the loaf after 20 minutes and if it is browning too much, cover with foil.
Step 7 - Mix the powdered sugar and lemon juice to form an icing and fill a piping bag or zip lock bag with the end cut off and drizzle over the bread.