One of the Christmas breads my mom made was a Nut Bread Roll. She was originally given the recipe by a neighbor of one of our relatives after mentioning that it was the best nut roll she had ever eaten. ( I am not sure how many she had ever eaten as they were not popular in our family or where we lived at the time). Mom would soon tweak the filling making this my favorite of mom’s Christmas breads. However, she did not always enjoy making this bread. Mom often had a “blow out” on the side of the roll if she was planning on giving it away, so she was often disappointed with how they turned out. We never minded though….we got to eat all the “mistakes.”
My mom found that when she used a refrigerated cake yeast, the bread part of the roll turned out better and was much less likely to “blow out.” If you are lucky enough to live in an area that still sells yeast by the cake in the refrigerated section of a store I think it is worth buying it. It is not easy to find though. It is often sold only during the fall and winter baking seasons. Red Star only distributes it to the Midwest and Northeast in the United States. If you are outside of those areas, you may want to look for a specialty/international store that carries eastern European foods. You do not have to use cake yeast. I now use SAF instant yeast and have had very good luck. You can also use active dry yeast. No matter what type of yeast you choose, just make sure that it has not reached its expiration date and has been properly stored.
I found that the bread recipe also makes nice cinnamon rolls as well. I just spread the rolled out bread with butter, cinnamon, granulated and brown sugar; rolled it up along the long edge, cut into desired slices, and placed in a round greased cake pan to rise some before baking at 350 degrees F.
Nut bread rolls can be made in advance, frozen, and then reheated prior to serving or just defrosted and served at room temperature.
Nut Bread Roll
Ingredients
- BREAD
- 2 c. scalded milk
- 1/2 c. butter
- 3/4 c. sugar
- 6 c. flour
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 oz. active dry or instant yeast or 1/2 large yeast cake
- NUT MIXTURE
- 4 c. chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)
- 1 stick butter
- 1 1/4 c. sugar
- 1 1/4 c. honey
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (or more to taste)
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 c. milk
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Crumble yeast in a cup with 1 tsp. sugar and 1/2 c. lukewarm scalded milk. *
- Let stand in a warm place to rise. *
- To the rest of the scalded milk add butter, sugar, and salt.
- Place in a large bowl.
- When the mixture is lukewarm add beaten eggs.
- Stir in yeast and flour.
- knead until smooth and elastic.
- Add more flour if necessary.
- Cover and let rise until double in bulk.
- Meanwhile, combine ingredients for nut mixture in a pan over medium heat. Heat until spreading consistency, stirring frequently. Set aside until needed.
- Cut dough into 4 even pieces.
- Roll a piece of dough out into an oval or a rectangle.
- Spread 1/4 of the cooled nut mixture over the dough leaving about an inch or so of a nut-less border around the dough.
- Roll the dough into a log starting with a long side of the dough. Seal the edge with milk or water, if needed.
- Place seam-side down on a parchment-lined or greased baking sheet.
- Let rise again for a few minutes.
- Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown and hollow-ish sounding when tapped.