My Most Bizarre Experiment Yet, Lemon Pudding Bread

The Problem:

Adding using flavored (lemon/cinnamon/orange) liquid when making bread imparts a really subtle flavor to the final loaf. That's fine and all, but that flavor to pop. I want it to scream "THIS IS REALLY LEMONY (CINNAMONY, ORANGY)!"

Yes, I know that making a spiral with jam on the inside will give me that flavor, but it's still not evenly distributed through the bread itself.

Yes, I know there are any number of quick bread recipes that do what I want. Unfortunately, I have an allergy that makes handling raw eggs potentially life threatening. Quick breads use eggs as an integral part. If you're curious, I can do into depth about my allergy, but for now, quick breads are off the table.

Which led me to this unholy heretical thought.

Why not just add lemon pudding mix to the bread? Would that work? Would the pudding burn during the baking? Would the final product even gel into bread form?

Well, you never know until you try.

The Hypothesis:

1. Adding lemon pudding mix to the dry ingredients will impart a strong lemon flavor.

2. Any potential issues with the rise due to chemicals in the pudding mix can be overcome.

3. The lemon pudding will not burn at high hydration temperatures.

4. The final consistency will be bread, not pudding.

5. A merciful God will not damn me forever for doing this..

   
   

The Experiment:

Using this in bread? I have a lot to answer for.

Materials:

1 package Jell-O Lemon pudding mix (1/2) cup

2 1/4 tsp. active yeast

3 1/4 cup bread flower

2 cups milk

1 tbsp. sugar

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 tsp salt

Procedure:

1) Mix the milk and water together, heat to about 110 degrees.

2) Add the sugar and yeast, let sit 10 minutes to proof

3) Whisk flour, salt, and pudding mix together in a large bowl

4) Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined

5) Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours.

6) Turn out dough onto a floured surface, stretch and fold until it can be shaped into a loaf shape (more on this later)

7) Shape into a round.

8) Place the round on parchment paper.

Hey, you got lemon pudding in my bread!

9) Lightly cover the round and let sit for an hour until dough doubles in size.

10) While waiting, put a Dutch oven on the middle rack of your oven and preheat to 450 degrees.

9) Carefully remove the Dutch oven, take off the lid, and lower the round (and the parchment paper) into the Dutch oven.

10) Replace the lid, put the Dutch oven back in your oven and let bake for 15 minutes.

11) Remove the lid and bake another 15 minutes, or until the internal temperature is at least 200 degrees.

12) Remove the Dutch oven and, using the parchment paper, remove the bread and place it on a rack.

13) Slide the parchment paper out from under the bread.

14) Let cool for at least 45 minutes.

The final product.

Observations:

This was the most difficult dough I've ever hand to handle. During the stretch and fold, my hands were completely coated with an eighth an inch of yellow goop. I wish I had a picture of that, but my hands were too encrusted to take a shot.

That mess got everywhere. My hands, my counter top, my bag of flour, my nose, my cat, etc.

Adding more flour did not help. It remained a morass of goo that just plain refused to let go of my hands.

As for what caused that, I did forget to add olive oil, or any additional fat so...

Oh, who am I kidding. I was sticking my hands to a bowl of pudding with some flour added. Two cups of milk plus pudding mix are the instructions on the package. I made pudding. With some extra stuff.

Also, I was concerned during the folding process that the pudding was unevenly integrating into the mixture. Some places had more pudding, some had more flour. Like this:

The indicated area mostly pudding, surrounded by mostly flour.

Fortunately, this evened out during the second rise and baking.

Results

Lovely thin crust and sunny yellow color.

• Thin, crispy crust and loose crumb.

• Pudding more or less evenly distributed throughout the loaf.

• The bread was moist. Extraordinarily moist. Still structurally bread, but very close to the pudding boundary.

• Rich, lemony flavor. Very rich. Very lemony.

• Overall result: Success!

Conclusions

I did get the strong lemon taste I desired, and there was no issue with the yeast or rise. The crust was thin and crisp, and the crumb was soft and moist (so moist). Those were the benefits of adding pudding. The benefits of using pudding mix in the bread were just what I was expecting.

There were no issues in the baking. The pudding didn't burn, and the final product was had the consistency of bread. Though note my moisture comments above.

The goop stage was unexpected, but in hindsight, was predictable. I have had pudding before. I know its consistency.

Would I make it again? Maybe. I'd have to let enough time pass to forget the sticky mess part. Maybe a bit more flour over the 3 1/4 cups I used? Maybe don't forget the oil?

Will this affront to God and nature ever be forgiven? That verdict is still out.

Still scraping dried lemon goop from unmentionable places,

-- Lex