Portuguese Sweet Bread

“This recipe was tasty and easy to make. The bread is a bit denser than a traditional sweetbread but still very good. I have a few tips for the novice bread maker. After you kneed the ingredients in the bowl kneed and stretch the dough on a floured counter for several minutes. I also allowed my dough to rise for a total of 5.5 hours ( 4 hours in the bowl and an additional 1.5 hours after forming loaves)”

“On Apr. 2, 2006, I wrote, “This made beautiful bread for me – light, delicate, and above all, fluffy. The recipe is more geared to people who have experience baking bread than to those who don’t, but, I feel everything necessary to say is included. I kneaded the dough very thoroughly, until I could stretch out a piece and see through it. I waited until the bread had risen to double the volume before baking. I followed the recipe exactly except for brushing the loaves with an egg wash, rather than butter. It’s just beautiful. The yield was three pieces about 790 grams each. I made the loaf in my picture with one, and made buns with the rest. Thank you for posting this recipe.”

“The bread I made turned out well. However, being Portuguese I can say, this bread was nothing like traditional sweet bread I have had at countless Festas. It was the same texture due to the fact that I added extra yeast, let it rise over night and glazed it with butter as well as egg wash, but it was still not sweet enough. Rather, this bread tasted like the yeast bread that I have had at Logan’s Roadhouse (which by the way is awesome but not like Portuguese sweet bread at all).”

“I don’t make very much bread, and I found this recipe frustrating. I didn’t know how to “combine all ingredients” or how long to let it rise. I put it in the over, and then read on another blog that it took 3 hours for it to rise; I only gave it about a half and hour. its in the oven right now, and cracked. I’m sure if i was a more experienced baker I would have know what to do, but I think i messed up this time.UPDATE:so it came out extremely dense, no surprise there, but the flavor was very good. If you are new to baking and want to make this recipe, combine wet ingredients first and then add in the flour slowly. The rising process might take three or more hours, and you should really let it rise twice; before you split it into loaves, and after. Other than that, this would be utterly delicious!”

“Very good!!!”

“Everyone loved it during Easter dinner.It was good but mine turned out a little dry and crusty.I’m not sure if I did something wrong.Also, it wasn’t quite as sweet as I would have liked it.I made it using the dough hook on my kitchenaid.Overall though, I was pretty happy with it.I make it every Easter and I have not yet been able to make one that doesn’t turn out crusty.”

“Just like Grandvovo used to make!”

“My family really enjoyed this bread….or must have because it was gone so fast & they want me to make it again!! I was concerned about the texture so I made sure to knead the dough well and rise properly–and it was tender and not crumbly. Great for morning toast with tea.It wasn’t complicated and it made a yummy sweet bread which is a nice break from the ordinary :o)”

“My Great Grandmother is full blooded Portuguese, and I grew up on Portuguese sweet bread. I am sorry, but this bread was not at all like the bread I remember. The sweet bread we had was really soft, and fluffy, this bread was was much more crusty and firm. The taste wasn’t bad or anything. Just nothing like my beloved sweet bread…sigh…oh well, thanks for the experiment!”