Easter Dove cake
AdvancedIngredients for an Easter Dove cake of 1kg
For the first dough
- 40 g of Manitoba flour w350
- 40 g of milk
- 20 g of brewer’s yeast or 7 g of dry yeast
For the second dough
- the prepared first dough
- 100 g of Manitoba flour w350
- 130 g of warm water at 30° C
For the third dough
- the prepared second dough
- 100 g of Manitoba flour w350
- 20 g of room temperature butter
- 20 g of sugar
For the fourth dough
- the third dough
- 210 g of Manitoba flour w350
- 120 g of eggs
- 80 g of butter at room temperature
- 150 g of orange zest
- 120 g of sugar
- 5 g of salt
- One vanilla bean (seeds)
- Grated zest from one organic
For the glaze
- 18 g of almonds
- 7 apricot or peach seeds (bitter)
- 75 g of granulated sugar
- 30 g of egg whites
For the filling of the Easter Dove
- 20 almonds
- Coarse grained decorating sugar
- Powdered sugar
- 1 almond or candied cherry for decoration
First dough
Dissolve the yeast in warm milk at 30 to 35° C
Now add 40 g of flour and knead for a few minutes with a spatula or wooden spoon.
Cover and let rise for 20 minutes in a warm place at a temperature of about 30° C.
Second dough
Dissolve the first dough in 130 g of warm water at 30° C
Add 100 g of sifted flour and knead by hand for a few minutes.
Cover and let rise for 40 minutes in a warm place.
Third dough
Using the mixer, add 20 g of sugar to the second dough, then gradually add 100 g of sifted flour. When the flour and sugar are absorbed, gradually add 20 g of soft butter in small, room temperature pieces and knead until the dough is well mixed and no longer sticks to the bowl.
This will take about 20 minutes to knead.
Cover the dough and let it rise for 60 minutes in a warm place.
Fourth dough
Add 120 g of sugar to the third mixture and knead by hand or with a mixer.
Now add 210 g of sifted flour little by little.
Add one egg at a time and wait until it has been well mixed before adding the next.
Do not worry if you see that the dough separates a little, continue to work mixing the dough with the mixer until all of the egg has been completely absorbed.
At this point add the other egg, the salt and the aromas, then the vanilla seeds scraped from the pod and the grated lemon zest. Knead until the eggs have been absorbed and gradually add 80 g of butter in small, room temperature pieces.
Knead for about 40-45 minutes until the dough is well mixed and if you take a piece of dough and pull it apart with both hands you create a film so fine that you can look through it (the so-called window). Add the candied fruit and knead again for two or three minutes at minimum speed to prevent the candied fruit from breaking.
Cover and let rise until the dough doubles in volume.
This leavening period will last from an hour and a quarter to two hours depending on the temperature.
After this time, when the dough has doubled in volume, turn it over onto a lightly floured wooden work table and with slightly floured hands deflate the dough and lightly crush it with your fingers.
Now divide the dough into 2 parts – the first part should be about ⅔ of the dough while the second part is the remaining ⅓.
The larger part will become the body of our dove. Fold the dough onto itself twice like a book then roll it diagonally as if you were making a baguette, trying to create a slightly thinner head and tail than the belly which should be a little more voluminous.
Place the dove’s body in the central long space of the mold with the open part on the bottom of the mold.
Now divide the remaining ⅓ of the dough into two equal parts, and as you did for the dove’s body, fold the dough into three parts like a book and roll it on itself.
Place these two parts, with the cut facing the bottom of the pan, to form the wings of the dove.
Now put the dove in a place protected from drafts, like the inside of your oven with the light on and a pot of boiling water to maintain adequate temperature and humidity to rise.
Let rise for about 60 minutes.
Once again it should double in volume.
Preparation of the glaze for the Easter dove
In a mincer, chop the almonds and the apricot or peach seeds, together with the sugar, until obtaining a powder without lumps.
Now add the egg whites and mix again until it is like a whipped cream, if it is too liquidy add a little more sugar and mix again.
Once the dove has risen use a round-tipped knife or a small plastic spatula and spread the glaze over the entire surface of the dove. Be very careful not to cut or puncture the dough otherwise the dove will deflate.
Add the almonds for decoration, sprinkle the surface with the granulated sugar and cover everything with a nice sprinkling of icing sugar.
With scissors very gently make a small incision at the dove’s head and insert either a candied cherry or an almond that will represent the dove’s eye.
Cooking
Bake in a preheated oven at 170 ° C if static, 150° C if ventilated, for 40-50 minutes.
If you have a static oven then during the first 20 minutes of cooking open the oven door every five minutes for a few seconds, so that the steam comes out.
Depending on the individual characteristics of the oven, after 20-25 minutes you might need to cover the dove with a sheet of aluminum foil to protect it from excessive heat.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
The mold for a 1kg Dove is 32 cm by 22 cm.
