Apple Ladder Loaf

This week I decided to try this recipe on found on Tammy's Recipes.

Yield:

2 loaves (10 slices each)

Ingredients:

Basic Sweet Dough:

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 packages (1/4 ounce or 2 1/4 teaspoons each) quick rise yeast
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup butter
2 eggs

Apple Filling:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
4 cups thinly sliced and peeled apples

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons orange juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Melt butter in a sauce pan, and then add milk and water just until warm (105-115 degrees). Gradually add milk mixture to dry ingredients; beat 2 minutes at medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Add eggs and 1/2 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed. With spoon, stir in remaining flour to form a stiff batter; grease top. Cover tightly with plastic wrap; rerfigerate 2 hours or up to 3 days. Remove dough from the refrigerator.

2. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Roll each half into 12-inch x 9-inch rectangle. Place each on a greased baking sheet. Spread with butter.

3. Combine the brown sugar, flour, and spiced in a large bowl. Add apples and toss to coat. Spread filling down center third of each rectangle.

4. On each long side, cut 1-inch wide strips about 3 inches into center. Starting at one end, fold alternating strips at an angle across filling; seal ends. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 45-60 minutes.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown. Combine icing ingredients until smooth; drizzle over warm loaves. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This was good. I halved the recipe. I've been such a sweet tooth lately, so I figured it best to not have two loaves hanging around! My math skills are seriously lacking, so trying to figure out what half of 3/4 was was my biggest challenge. I ended up just estimating a lot.

I think that I followed the directions well, but for some reason my dough had a difficult time rising, so it turned out not so fluffy in the end. I think my mistake happened here "With spoon, stir in remaining flour to form a stiff batter " It was almost impossible to keep stirring that dough so in order to get all the flour mixed I kneaded it by hand a little. Next time I won't do that.

It was still very yummy though!