And The Winner Is...

What a funny little day. P-town has the awesomest Labor Day Celebration in Utah called Golden Onion Days. It's your typical small town celebration with the carny and parade and everything. Last year they held the first bake off competition. I got the flier for it this year and thought that I should enter something. I hadn't thought about it again until yesterday. I was looking around at what the prizes were and saw the top prize was $50 and everyone else got gift cards or whatnot so I thought at least I wouldn't come away empty handed. I also realized that it's a small town and it's only in it's second year so I probably had a pretty good chance at winning something. I'm not trying to boast or anything but I really do like to bake a little too much. Anyway, I decided I wanted to enter this recipe I have for some yummy Swedish bread. I called the person in charge to see if they were still taking entries and she took my info over the phone. Doug and I baked the bread around 10 last night and I took it to the drop of place this morning around 8:30 along with my $5 entry fee.

I came home and did some more canning (apples - I'm finally done with the 2 boxes I got) and cleaned the house and whatnot and then we went back for the awards ceremony this afternoon. It was funny because there really were only about 2 or 3 entries per category so everyone literally walked away with some sort of prize (even if it was just a blue ribbon). This sweet old lady in my ward entered about every category in the super senior age division and I think came away with three top prizes. It was cute.

So they get to my category - Adult Yeast Bread Variety - and there were about 6 of us that had entered something. I thought for sure I didn't have a very good chance because there were so many more entries than just the 2 or 3 in every other category. For some reason the judges liked the bread and it got 1st place. I was a little excited. It was fun to get a little medal and a little $ for doing something that you love to do. I also lucked out and the bread did turn out pretty good. We decided to add a little almond extract to the dough to give it a little something extra. It was tasty. The presentation looked much better at the event than it does here. I have to give all the credit to Doug though because he's the one that did all the mixing and without that it may not have turned out the same. He told me later that he was proud of me because at least I beat someone and didn't just get a prize for submitting something. Anyway, I'll probably enter something (or two or three) next year now that I know how easy it is to win! I'm not one to keep secrets so if you want the recipe I'm including it here.

Swedish Egg Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 c. butter or margarine
1 c. milk
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground Cardamom
1 tbsp. yeast
1 tsp. almond extract
2 eggs
4 c. flour
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp. water

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in approximately 3 tablespoons of warm water. Let it foam up for 15 minutes.

2. In the meantime, place butter or margarine and milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once it boils turn off heat and set aside until it cools to a lukewarm temperature.

3. In a large mixing bowl add sugar, salt and cardamom. Then add simmering milk to the sugar mixture. Add eggs, almond extract and yeast to milk and sugar mixture and mix well. Add approximately 4 cups of flour to milk and sugar mixture until mixture begins to pull away from sides.

4. Cover and let rise in warm area until it doubles. After it doubles, take dough out, knead it and divide into halves. Then divide each half into 3 parts. Roll each part into balls, and then roll balls into even strands. Place 3 strands on greased jelly pan side by side and braid strands together to make two separate loaves. Cover and let rise until loaves double.

5. Lightly brush on a mixture of egg yolk and 2 tablespoons of water on top of loaves. Bake on 350 for 20 minutes.

Makes 2 loaves