The best christmas breakfast you can imagine!! A sweet pull apart-bread with a flavour of a really famous Hungarian cake called „gerbeaud”.
First I have to talk about my favourite Hungarian Christmas dessert called Gerbeaud (in Hungarian „Zserbó”. It has 125 year old history. One of the most famous Hungarian confectionery is called Gerbeaud. So whenever you are in Hungary you have to that try their cakes. The original gerbeaud is in a slice form and it has thin layers of sweet yeast dough and there are walnuts and apricot jam between them. And on the top there is a layer of chocolate just in case it hasn't already got enough calories in it :D.
It is a really famous dessert especially at christmas time. And this is my favourite christmas dessert ever!!!!!!!!!!! If you would like to see the original recipe I will share that one too.
But now let’s see this beauty. So I had some apricot jam (I always have some), walnuts and chocolate. But I hadn’t got enough walnut for a gerbeaud slice. Then this idea came into my mind. What else could be better than a sweet airy light bread dough filled with the ingredients of a gerbead slice. First I wanted to make rolls but then I tought a pull-apart bread would be even better because it has more filling between the layers ).
All the ingredients are really basic and it’s so easy to make the dough. There is one little annoying thing, you have to wait until the dough rises. Yeah I know… but every minute's worth it!!
It’s the best straight out of the oven. We ate the whole thing in around 15 minutes so I don’t know how it tastes after a day or two. But I think it's still eatable :) .
Make this pull-apart bread for your family for Christmas or just for a simple weekend breakfast/dessert. And you know at Christmas time calories don’t count!
Gerbeaud Pull-Apart Bread
Prep Time: 15 min. Baking Time: 40 min. Total Time: 2,5 - 3 hours Portions: one 9x5 loaf
Ingredients:
Bread:
2 and ¾ cups or 415g all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 and ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
¼ cup or 55g butter
1/3 cup or 80ml milk
¼ cup or 60ml water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
Filling:
100g walnuts (chopped)
100g dark chocolate (chopped)
150-200g apricot jam
¼ cup or 55g butter
extra chocolate for drizzle around 50g (optional)
Directions:
1. Add 2 cups of flour, the sugar and the yeast into large bowl of a standing mixture and stir them together.
2. In a microwave safe bowl melt the butter with the milk in the microwave at 30 seconds intervalls. Let if cool for a few minutes then add the water and the vanilla.
3. Add the buttery mixture to the flour and with a dough hook mix them well together.
4. Add the salt and the eggs, one at a time.
5. Add the remaining ¾ cup flour one tablespoon at a time and beat it for 3 minutes until the dough comes together. (It’s still going to be a little bit sticky)
6. Put it into a large, oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Rise it for an hour in a warm place.
7. Punch the dough down. Roll out a large rectangle on a floured surface. (around 12x20 inches or 30x50 cm). Melt the butter and brush the dough with it.
8. Cover it with the apricot jam. (If your jam is too thick you can warm it up a little bit.) Then sprinkle the walnut and chocolate chunks on the top evenly.
9. Cut 5 strips lengthwise. Put the 5 strips on top of each other and cut this one strip into 6 squares.
10. Butter a 9x5 inches or 22x12 cm loaf pan. Put the squares cut side down to the pan and push them together. Cover it with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let it rise for 45 minutes in a warm place.
11. Preheat your oven to 350 F or 175 C. Bake it for 35-40 min. or until the top is golden brown and with a fork you can carefully pull it away from the side of the pan.
12. Let it cool for a few minutes then take it out from the pan.
13. You can melt some chocolate and drizzle on the top. Serve the bread when it’s still warm.
