Sour Cream Easter Bread With Honey-Walnut Filling

This year I decided to combine the shape of a babka and the taste of a twisted, nut-filled Hefezopf for easter by making a huge round Easter bread rolled up with a walnut-honey-cinnamon filling. It straddles the line between a cake and a bread, but in any case it's incredibly good and definitely making a comeback during future holidays.

The nut filling is mildly sweet and spiced, and complements the aromatic, yeasty dough well. It's very moist when fresh thanks to the sour cream and oil, but tastes fantastic even when dried out.

You don't need to use the nut filling- or any filling at all. This dough would also probably taste good with an almond, chocolate or poppy swirl, or you could just add some raisins and/or nuts to the dough. You could even make it plain, perhaps adding a bit of lemon or orange zest in that case.

No matter what else is used, this is a champion amongst sweet yeast doughs!

Sour Cream Easter Bread
From Angellovescooking

For Dough:
3 Eggs and 1 yolk
200 g. Sour cream
150 g. Sugar
60 g. Butter, melted
40 g. Neutral or walnut oil
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1/2 Tsp. Rum extract or 1 TBSP rum, optional
1/2 TBSP Lemon juice
30 g. Fresh yeast, or 10 g. Active dry yeast
650 g. Bread flour, sifted

Butter and sugar, for the mold

Find a mold for the bread- a large kugelhopf mold, bundt mold or other loaf pan. Grease with butter and sprinkle with sugar.
Mix sour cream and yeast to dissolve. Add eggs and yolk, sugar, vanilla, rum and lemon juice.

Whisk together the salt and flour. Add the above wet mixture and knead until smooth. Add salt, oil and butter and knead until well incorporated.

Let rise for 1 hour to 90 minutes, or until doubled, in an oiled covered bowl.

Divide dough into 3 pieces. Spread each with filling and roll up, then twist and the whole twist in half. Place each piece into the kugelhopf or other bread mold to fill it up, then cover and let rise another 1 hour-90 minutes.

Bake at 180℃ for 45-50 minutes, covering with aluminium foil if it browns too quickly.

For the Filling:
200 g. Walnuts
150 g. Honey, liquid
1-2 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 TBSP Rum
1 Egg white, lightly beaten

Grind nuts in a food processor until some coarse bits remain, but most are smooth. Add honey, cinnamon, rum and egg white and mix well.