It's Knot Bread, Even Though It Is

This was inspired by one of the bread servings I tasted at Alinea a few months back.

While the radish isn't particularly as notable as I would have preferred, the bread is wonderfully smooth and chewy, and the egg wash atop created a nice crispy crust for the poppy seeds to stick to. I might consider doubling the radish amount to get more flavor into the dough.

The recipe is fairly simple. It's a basic bread dough, with radish puree, nothing special.

Radish Poppy Seed Knot Bread

3 tsp Dry Yeast

1 Tbsp Sugar

1 Cup Warm Water

1 Egg

1 Bunch of Radishs (puree'd)

3 Tbsp Butter

1 tsp Salt

Flour

Poppy Seeds

Proof the yeast in the water with the sugar, and then add the egg and radish puree. Stir in about 1.5 cups flour to form the sponge, and beat well. Let spong-i-nate for about 20 min in a warm oven.

Add the butter in small cubes, along with the salt. Start mixing/kneading in flour until your dough comes together and is smooth, and not sticky (but not too dry either!!! better on the sticky side, than the dry side!). Raise in warm oven for 30 min.

Punch down dough, and then take hand-full sized gobs and roll into snakes, then tie into knots. if the dough is too tense for knots, let it relax for a few minutes, and then continue. Let rise for about 15 min, and meanwhile preheat oven to 350 F.

Bake until toasty brown (about 20 ish minutes).