Ingredients Changes

• Used regular flour instead of bread flour

Following Along (Time: 1 hour)

2/8/25: The day before the big KC vs Philly Superbown showdown. This was the first recipe from the Big Book of Bread bake-along. Why this one? An excess of raisins in the home and no prolonged rise time. Unfortunately, that’s about all the praise I can offer for this recipe. Relatively simple and fast. Probably because it’s so boring. Despite the exciting kickoff of this baking adventure and the prospects of potentially bringing this to our friends’ Superbowl party, I admittedly slept through the baking and awakened to a regular slightly sweet swirl bread that I couldn’t differentiate from store-bought varieties. It tasted better with a schmear of peanut butter on it, which tells you how it doesn’t really stand alone well. Bake it if you need something easy and to use up raisins.

Ingredients Changes

• Dropped cranberries
• Doubled raisins
• Used regular flour instead of whole wheat for the preferment

Following Along (Time: 1 hour)

Pairs well with goat cheese.

2/15/25: Day after Valentine’s day. After staying up past midnight watching Vikings and the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok avenge his death followed by surprise fall of laundry detergent off shelf and very early morning clean up, this couronne was a much needed turnaround for us.

This French bread is purposely shaped into what that after which it’s named: a crown. Often you’ll see recipes with the highlighted ingrredients of cranberries and pecan nuts. We substituted walnuts & raisins because that’s what we had on hand.

I wasn’t expecting much from this recipe, choosing it primarily to use up an excess of raisins we had leftover from Christmas baking. Eating a slice on its own allows you to appreciate it’s lovely textures: hard crust covering a chewy center with added variety from the walnuts. It’s a versatile bread as well. I used a slice to soak up the extra sauce from my Blue Apron gnocchi dinner. Its flavor profile, however, is optimized by pairing with goat cheese to bring out the combination of sharpness and sweetness from the embedded fruit.

Summary comments: I woke up the next morning literally wondering when we could have another crown (the answer is no sooner than the next day due to the fermentation time) and that this bread is a perfect companion to a charcuterie board.