Rahul’s Garden Wedding Korovai

Method

Step 1
First, make the starter. Gently warm the milk until it is just hand-hot. Pour it into a bowl and add the yeast, sugar and flour. Mix well, cover and leave for 30 minutes to rise. 

Step 2
To make the dough, put the eggs, salt and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk at a high speed for 5 minutes, until pale and foamy.  

Step 3
Add the starter, and stir together by hand. Fit the mixer with the dough hook, and add flour, melted butter, both zests, and all 3 extracts and mix for 5 minutes on a slow speed, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Add the dried fruit and peel and mix for another 1–2 minutes. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Step 4
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Shape one third of the dough into a ball and place it in the middle of the cake tin. Divide the rest of the dough in three equal parts. Roll each to a rope about 71cm long. Plait together the 3 ropes and position them in the tin around the ball. Cover and leave to prove for about 1 hour, or until the dough almost reaches the top of the tin. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6. 

Step 5
Make the glaze by mixing together the egg yolk, sugar and 1 teaspoon of water. When you’re ready to bake, brush the glaze over the dough, cover the tin with foil, then bake for 20 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven, take it out of the tin and place it on a baking tray. Return to the oven for a further 20 minutes, or until the inside temperature is 93°C/199°F on a cooking thermometer. Cool on a wire rack and serve in slices.