Fryske Sûkerbôle

Name: Fryske Sûkerbôle
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 480 min
Yield: 1 servings
Cuisine: Dutch
Ingredients: 15 7/8 oz milk; 1 7/12 oz ginger syrup; 5/14 oz fresh yeast; 12 5/14 oz white bread flour; 1 egg; 12 5/14 oz white bread flour; 1 10/13 oz stem/preserved ginger diced; 2/11 oz ground cinnamon; 2/7 oz fine/table salt; butter for greasing; 15 7/8 oz pearl (nibbed) sugar

Fryske Sûkerbôle

Cuisine:Dutch

Course:Bread

30m prep 35m cook 8h ready

Sugar, spice and all things nice? Traditionally, this loaf from the northern Netherlands would be a gift to the mother of a newborn baby girl. Because of the amount of sugar, it is a sweet, sticky, chewy occasional treat, rather than an everyday staple, especially if served as Dineke suggests, with a generous layer of butter. She says, “With all the sugar, this bread should keep for a few days, but somehow we have never been able to put that to the test.” MAKES: 2 small loaves FROM MIXING TO OVEN: 7–8 hours, or overnight plus 4–5 hours BAKING TIME: 30–40 minutes

Collect

Gather these ingredients - no prep needed yet.

450 g milk
45 g ginger syrup
10 g fresh yeast
350 g white bread flour
1 egg
350 g white bread flour
5 g ground cinnamon
8 g fine/table salt
450 g pearl (nibbed) sugar

Prepare

Dice 50 g stem/preserved ginger
butter, for greasing

Let's Cook

Step 1.

Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and let cool until hand warm (about 37°C/98°F). Stir in the ginger syrup and fresh yeast until dissolved, then whisk in the white bread flour until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and leave at room temperature for 2 hours.
Step 2.

Whisk the egg into the pre-ferment until combined. Add the remaining white bread flour, diced stem ginger, ground cinnamon, and salt. Mix until a dough forms, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth, elastic, and stretchy.
Step 3.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and leave to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, or in the refrigerator overnight. If refrigerated, remove the dough about 2 hours before baking and let it return to room temperature.
Step 4.

While the dough rises, line two 500g/1lb loaf tins with kitchen foil, pressing it flat against the sides without tearing, and leaving about a 5cm/2in overlap all around. Grease the foil generously with butter. Sprinkle about one-third of the pearl sugar into each tin, shaking and tilting to coat the sides and bottom evenly.
Step 5.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Dust the tops with flour and roll each piece into a rectangle slightly shorter than the longer side of the loaf tin and about 30cm/12in long. Reserve a little sugar for the tops, then sprinkle the remaining sugar evenly over the two rectangles. Roll each piece up tightly from the short end, and place seam-side down in the prepared tins. Gently press the dough into the corners.
Step 6.

Cover the tins with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and leave to prove for about 2 hours, until the dough rises just above the tops of the tins. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas 4.
Step 7.

Brush each loaf with a little water and sprinkle with the reserved pearl sugar. Bake for 30–40 minutes until golden brown, checking halfway that the tops are not burning; tent with foil if necessary. Remove the tins from the oven, fold the foil over the tops of the loaves, then lift them out of the tins and leave to cool completely in the foil.