The Sunniest Sun Bread

Sun Bread is a sweet book by Elisa Kleven that doesn’t specifically mention the Winter Solstice, but revolves around bringing the sun back after a period of cold gray weather, so it’s a perfect fit. Making your own sun bread is a popular activity this time of year and there is even a recipe in the back of the book. That recipe contains wheat, which I am allergic to however, and some other things that may not work for your family. So what to do? I struggled with this a lot when I first found out I was a celiac, especially around the holidays. There are so many fun traditional breads– and finding gluten free versions of them was nearly impossible. But then I figured out the secret. Good base recipes. All of those fun holiday breads generally fall into two categories– a sweet enriched dough or a savory dough. Find two good base recipes that work for you, and you can vary the seasonings and shape the breads in almost infinite ways. You’ll know a bread dough is “enriched” if it has a bunch of butter, eggs and/or milk in the recipe. So find a good brioche recipe that works for your allergies (I love the olive oil brioche from “Cannelle et Vanille Bakes Simple” with whom I have no affiliation even though I recommend it literally all the time!) and then use that as the base for everything. You can change up the spices and shape the bread differently for different results. This sun bread is from the same base recipe that I make my Befana bread, conchas and a number of other breads from. If you need a vegan recipe, find a good basic vegan brioche and do the same thing. Look for traditional recipes to work out the spices and shaping, but otherwise use your base. It opens up a whole new world!

All of that said, I used my trusty brioche recipe for this sun bread, but since I wasn’t using the recipe from the Sun Bread book anyway, I decided I wanted to take it even further and make it as sunny and warm as possible. I put together a group of herbs that don’t just add a yellow color, but have associations with the sun. I added ginger for its fiery taste that is warming and cozy. And then, because I can’t leave well enough alone, I made a persimmon butter to layer between the rolled pieces of the corona, because they have always looked a bit like cinnamon rolls to me and I knew I wanted to fill them, but I wanted something orange-y and sunny. The bread is still great without the persimmon butter, but it does take it to the next level. You could also use a store bought orange marmalade or something in that vicinity as well. And then, I made a simple orange honey butter to really take things over the top! It was absolutely delicious and my entire family loved it. We had an impromptu tea party with our sun bread, some spice bush tea (we had just watched Little Bear’s Winter Solstice where they talk about sassafras tea so it seemed appropriate) and read the story together.

Sunny Sun Bread

The quantity of bread your brioche recipe will make isn’t standardized, so adjust the spices as you see fit. The recipe I use as a base makes two smallish loves or one big bread for reference. We grow saffron crocuses and I love using the tiny bit of saffron we collect to make special holiday breads like this.

Ingredients:

• your favorite “base” brioche recipe
• 2 tsp ground turmeric
• 2 tsp dried calendula petals
• 1 orange, zested
• 1 tsp ginger
• pinch saffron
• egg wash (optional)
• persimmon butter (optional, recipe follows)
• orange honey butter (recipe follows)

Method:

Generally, make the bread as your recipe instructs. When you are proofing your yeast in milk or water, add the saffron to the warm liquid. Add the turmeric, calendula, orange zest and ginger with the dry ingredients. Complete the first rise according to your recipe.

Next shape the bread. Divide the dough roughly in half. Roll the first half into a sphere and flatten it out a bit. Roll a small piece for the nose and attach it. Use a wooden spoon to make two depressions for the eyes and use a knife to cut a smile.

Divide the rest of the dough into 8 or 10 pieces. Shape half of them into triangles and roll the other half into long snakes. Flatten them a little and then spread them with the persimmon butter. Roll them up and attache them to the face alternating triangles and spirals. (If you aren’t filling the spirals, just roll them up after you make the snakes)

Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise again.

Brush with egg wash and bake according to your recipe. (You may need to adjust the time depending on the orginal shaping instructions.)

Persimmon Butter

This makes more than you need, you can actually scale it back to one persimmon which will be about what you need, but it’s fiddly to cook that way and delicious so you may as well make extra! (I have done it with one persimmon though and it cooks much faster.) There are two main types of Asian persimmons: the astringent variety– hachiya which is sort of pointed or egg shaped and the non-astringent– fuyu which is round. I prefer fuyu and use it for this recipe. I have read that hachiya contains more pectin and have tried using a mixture, but I just don’t like them as much. North American persimmons are much smaller (and also astringent) so I would factor at least 3-4 for each fuyu persimmon. I might add more sugar to them too.

Ingredients:

• 6 persimmons
• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 teaspoon orange zest

Method:

Peel and dice the persimmons. Pop them into a food processor and puree them until smooth.

Add the persimmon puree, sugar, orange juice and zest to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 20-45 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened. (Thick apple butter, but persimmon) You can add more orange juice as needed. Cool and fill your sun bread! The extra can be kept sealed in the fridge for a week or two.

Orange Honey Butter

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (one stick) of butter softened
• 2 TBS honey (or to taste)
• 1/2 orange, zested
• a pinch of grey salt

Method:

Mush everything tother in a bowl and the spread generously on your warm sun bread!