Baked Apple Coffee Bread

We have a meeting tomorrow morning.  Everybody is tired -- first week of classes is never easy.  So I made this treat to share with my colleagues.  It's not overly sweet and tastes awesome with tea or coffee.  You can also serve it a la mode as a dessert.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cups warm water
• 3 tbsp butter, softened (I used Land O'Lakes light butter)
• 2 cups bread flour (King Arthur's, the best)
• 3 tbsp white sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp quick active dry yeast
• 1 cup baked apples, mashed, or 1 cup pie filling, any flavor
• 1/2 tsp almond essence
• Powdered sugar, for sprinkling

Makes 10 generous slices.

Note:  This recipe makes a large loaf, which works for me this time.  In the past, I have divided the dough and made two small loaves.  This bread freezes well, too.  Just defrost in the fridge and warm up in a microwave for a few seconds for a quick breakfast.

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients, except the last three, to your breadmaker; set on Dough.
2. When the dough is ready, let it rest for 10 more minutes in the breadmaker.
3. Remove dough from the breadmaker pan and place on the lightly floured surface.
4. Shape and roll out into 13x8 inch rectangle (this dough is awesome to work with, very pliant).
5. Spray the large cookie sheet with non-stick spray.
6. Move the dough rectangle to the cookie sheet.
7. Spoon the filling lengthwise down the center third of rectangle.  I used my very simple baked apple recipe and added 1/2 tsp of almond essence.  Any pie filling or even jam would work.  I have made this before with homemade orange marmalade -- and it was great.
8. On each 13-inch side, make cuts at approximately 1-inch intervals (see my drawing -- I forgot to take a photo, oops).
9. Fold strips diagonally over filling, alternating sides.
10. Let rise in a warm place for one hour or until double.
11. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
12. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.  Caution:  You may need to cover bread with foil if the top is browning too quickly, to prevent burning.
13. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
14. Cool before slicing.

I shared here: