Chain-mail bread with cream and apple

Instructions

Make the pastry cream.

1. In a saucepan pour the milk together with the vanilla. Place it in a medium heat and leave it until it boils gently.
2. In a bowl, beat the yolks together with the sugar, cornstarch and flour previously sifted. Mix well with the help of a whisk.
3. Once the milk is boiling, pour some milk (with the help of a strainer to keep cream or vanilla seeds from seeping in) into the egg yolk mixture.
4. Beat well with the whisk to warm the yolks and avoid lumps.
5. Add the rest of the milk and mix again.
6. Pour the mixture into the saucepan and place it in a medium heat to bring it back to the boil, stirring constantly. You will notice that the texture becomes thicker.
7. Once it boils, let it cook for another 1 minute, always stirring.
8. Remove from the heat and pour over a tray/tupper, cover with transparent film to prevent a layer of skin that looks like "crust" on top, and let it cool completely.
9. Once ready, set aside at room temperature until ready for use.

Make the caramelized apples.

1. Peel and remove apples core. Cut into quarters and cut into thinly slices.
2. Transfer them into a big bowl and squeeze fresh lemon juice over them. Mix with your hands.
3. Place a large skillet over medium heat and add the butter. Let it melt.
4. Add sliced apples along with sugar. Cook over medium heat for 15-18 minutes stirring from time to time.
5. The apples should loosen the water and reduce slightly more than half their juice. A syrup should remain around them and its texture should be translucent.
6. Remove from heat and let cool completely.

Make the dough.

1. In a bowl add the flour together with milk, vanilla, egg and dry yeast.
2. Mix the ingredients in the bowl until a homogeneous dough is obtained.
3. Add the honey and knead until it is fully integrated. Add salt and mix again.
4. Transfer to a work surface and start kneading. We will have to obtain a smooth, silky and developed dough.
5. Once we have a medium-developed gluten, add the butter. The ideal is to do it little by little, waiting for the dough to absorb it and facilitate the kneading process.
6. Knead for about 15-20 minutes to develop the gluten well and obtain an elastic, soft and very well developed dough. The dough, always after a rest, must pass the membrane test. Here's how to do it.
7. If we do rest we must always cover the dough to prevent it from drying.

Make bulk fermentation.

1. Make a ball with the dough, grease a bowl/tupper lightly with oil and introduce the dough inside.
2. Cover with film and let rise until it doubles its volume. In my case it was 2 hours at 76ºF.

Divide and preshape the dough.

1. Degass the dough gently and divide it into two equal pieces. Remember that if there are any pieces of dough leftover, we will always place them in the center of the dough before preshaping.
2. Preshape, make a ball and cover with a cloth. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Shape the bread.

1. Take one of the dough pieces and stretch with a roller. We will shape a rectangle of approximately 14 x 6,7 inches (35 x 17 cm).
2. Place the caramelized apples in the middle of a row.
3. Over them, and with the help of a pastry bag, place the pastry cream covering them completely.
4. Close the piece by bringing the ends to the center and making sure to seal the joint and the ends very well.
5. Place the sealed side face down on a tray lined with baking paper. Cover with film and reserve while shaping the other piece.
6. Stretch the second piece with a roller to form a rectangle of approximately 17 x 12 inches (42 x 30 cm).
7. Place the filled piece that we had reserved in the center of this rectangle.
8. Using a sharp cutter or knife, cut strips on both sides at a 45° angle. Strips should be 0,3 inches (7-8 mm) wide.
9. Cut the excess dough on the top off, leaving only a tongue that will cover the initial part of the bread.
10. Braid the bread, this better see it in the video so that you know how to do it.
11. Once we have the bread shaped, carefully transfer it to the baking tray lined with baking paper.
12. Lightly grease the surface of the bread with olive oil, cover it with film and let it rise until it doubles in size. In my case it was 2 hours at 77,7°F.

Bake.

1. Preheat oven to 355ºF.
2. Brush the bread with whipped yolk with milk and salt, place it in the oven for 40 minutes. Watch the final minutes of baking, if the bread gets very colorful, cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil.
3. Remove and allow to cool completely in a rack.

Notes

• If you have not made this type of braiding before, I recommend you to try some cords before shaping this bread.
• It is important to intertwine the strips on both sides, don't forget!
• The filling must be placed inside one of the pieces, otherwise it could come out through the braiding during baking and spoil the exterior appearance.
  
• Can honey be replaced by sugar? Yeah, no big deal. Just bear in mind that invert sugars speed up the rising process compared to normal sugar.
• The apple must be Fuji? Personally, it is the one I like best, it has a hard meat and with the right point of sweetness. If you prefer you can use another variety as long as it is not Reineta. This one crumbles.
• To know if our bread has finished the cooking time, remember that with a digital thermometer and checking its temperature we will know. It must be around185-195ºF.
• The bread alone is not very sweet, but the combination with the apple and cream makes it perfect. Of course it is in your hands to increase the amount if you prefer.
• Preservation: This bread can be kept in an airtight bag for 4 days. If you prefer, you can freeze it in film wrapped portions.

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• Apple
• Breakfast
• Honey
• Pastry cream