Prickly Hedges

It started out with an inspiration ‘bones’ from WildYeast. Even though the significance of the ‘bone’ is for Mexican or Spanish festivale ‘Day of the dead’ Bread, in my head, I was pairing the cute looking ‘bones’ with Clifford the Big Red Dog, one of Master Prince’s favorite cartoon animals. *eyes roll, Lolz???*

For Asians, we also have a similar day or festival for ‘All Souls Day’, called Qing Ming. The traditions are pretty similar – it’s a time for family and friends to pray and remember those who have passed on by visiting graves of ancestors or loved ones including private altar honoring with some ‘sweet’ food, tea/wine, paper or joss stick offerings, etc.

If Qing Ming is a marked of filial piety, then I am probably the black sheep of the family!! You know how opposites attract, well I like to think my other better half is my yin (or is it yang?) with this tradition. I guess I believe in remembering loved ones in the heart and as often as possible as compared to the annual or bi-annual ritual.

It is also believed that during this time, souls or spirits of the departed are allowed to leave the underworld and enter this realm. Also, you will find during this time many families burning paper offerings and putting ‘sweet’ food outside their house to ensure that the spirits are appeased and move on quietly. During this month, late night outings are discouraged least you encounter something unexpected!!

Anyway, back to the post at hand. Decided to make and shape something fun less morbid for tea.

Ingredients (For a large single loaf, just triple the ingredients.)
1 star anise (I also added a clove and half a stick of cinnamon - the taste was not that obvious or heavy) boiled with 2 tbsp cold water until liquid has reduced to about 1 tsp, set aside to cool
225g bread flour
1/4 tsp salt
38g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp orange liqueur (or if you have kids consuming these, you may want to consider substituting with orange juice or 1/2 tsp orange essence)
38g butter, melted
1 tsp low fat milk powder
Finely grated rind of 1 orange
1/4 tsp dry yeast or 25g fresh yeast
58g additional water

Kneading
Autolyse water, flour, yeast, sugar and salt for 30 min. Add eggs, milk powder, spice flavoured liquid, orange flavoured liquid and melted butter and knead to form a smooth dough.

Resting
50 min – 1 hour.

Turn out dough and gently knead in orange rind. Shape into a boule or batard and place in prepared greased tin. Cover and leave to rise in warm place.


Final proofing
2 – 3 hours or until almost double in bulk.

Baking
190C or 375F for 45-50 min or until golden. Turn out onto wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar to serve (optional).

Fluffy and soft centre with a good orange flavour.

M reckons its best eaten with a light slathering of butter!! I was happy as is, though be a little careful with the prickly thorns!! Now I understand why snakes consume their prey head first!!

Important Note – The cloves are for decorations only. Don’t be like DH who commented that the bread tasted awful and that I should not make them again. A little puzzled, I immediately asked him whether he removed the cloves before consuming the bread and he said ‘No’ *shock horror*!! “Didn’t you spit it out??”, again he shook his head *wow, amazed he actually swallowed them all* Please be wary, if you don’t already know, cloves is a VERY strong spice. Personally I found the face part of the hedgehog a little strong (even with the cloves removed!!). Perhaps next time I should use choc chips or raisins for the eyes and nose instead!!

If you want to know how to shape the porcupines, its quite easy - all you need is a sharp pair of scissors and snip away around the body!!

Source from J.Sharpter