Paul Hollywood’s Apricot Couronne

Over halfway through this years Great British Bake Off, and time to tackle my first ever technical challenge!

This week the bakers tackled one of Paul Hollywood’s formidable recipes – a sweet enriched dough Apricot Couronne – or crown. With two rises, a sweet filling, and a tricky, sticky plait to master, things weren’t going to be easy. Thankfully the full recipe is up online so there was no guess work for me – Paul Hollywood’s Apricot Couronne Technical Challenge.

10 minutes of kneading (my arms didn’t thank me for it in the morning!) and a good hours rise in the airing cupboard, the filling went in and twisted plait tackled.

I had a little chuckle to myself at the “transfer to a baking sheet stage” – sounded so simple but was incredibly sticky! A quick bit of coercing back into shape and the crown went in for its second rise – coming out beautifully puffed up.

And a surprisingly quick bake later (25 minutes, after 2 hours of prep!) – a lovely golden crown, topped with an apricot jam glaze.

Finally a quick drizzle of white icing and the couronne was complete!

I’m so happy with the way it turned out, it was great fun to make and some good tips picked up on sweet dough making.

And the all-important inside? A good bake! Well risen, great swirls of filling, light, fluffy and sooo tasty 🙂

For more on this weeks challenges head over to The Great Blogger Bake Off on The Crazy Kitchen and Mummy Mishaps.