James Beard's Moravian Coffee cake is good. I made it a number of times years ago. But my favourite is another "sugar" cake. I'm posting both recipes for you. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Moravain Coffee Cake ==================== James Beard 4 to 4 1/2 cups Flour 2 packages of active dry yeast 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 stick butter 1/2 cup 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 1/2 cup mashed potatoes 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 cup melted butter Confectioners sugar icing (optional) Stir together 2 cups of the flour and the yeast. Heat the water, sugar, butter, and salt over low heat only until warm., stirring to blend. Add to the flour yeast mixture and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes on medium speed of electric mixer or 300 strokes by hand. Blend in the eggs and mashed potatoes, then add 1 cup of flour and beat one minute on the medium speed of the mixer or 150 strokes by hand. Stir in more flour to make a moderately stiff dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and satiny, about 8 to 10 minutes. Shape into a ball and place in a lightly buttered bowl, turning to butter all sides. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch the dough down , divide in half, and let rest 10 minutes. Pat or roll each portion into a square to fit into each of two buttered 9 X 5 X 3 inch pans. Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle half the sugar cinnamon mixture over each coffee cake. Drizzle cakes with the melted butter. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Bake in a preheated oven (350) for 30 minutes. Cool in pans five minutes and then remove. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Tarte au Sucre ============== Sugar Yeast Cake This yeast cake with a sugar topping is popular in the North, which is sugar beet country. you can double the quantity of dough and use half for 'pain brioche', a rich bread that the French like to toast for breakfast. 4 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar Dough 1/3 cup of milk 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons yeast 1 1/2 cups flour (more as needed) 2 eggs 3/4 teaspoon salt 6 tablespoons butter . Make the yeast dough. Put the lukewarm milk in a small bowl, add the sugar and add the yeast. Leave to proof. Sift the flour on a marble slab or board and make a well in the center. Add the eggs, salt and dissolved yeast mixture. Briefly mix the central ingredients then draw in the flour with both hands, pulling the dough into large crumbs with the fingertips. Knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes or until very smooth and elastic, adding more flour if necessary so that the dough is not too sticky. pound the butter to soften it thoroughly, then work in into the dough, slapping the dough on the work surface, just until the butter is thoroughly incorporated. Transfer the dough to a light oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let rise until almost doubled in bulk. Thoroughly butter the pie pan. Transfer the risen dough to a floured work surface and fold it in thirds, patting it to knock out the air. flour your hands and flatten the dough into the base, not the sides of the pan. Let rise for 15 minutes and then spread with soft butter and sprinkle with the brown sugar. Let rise for 15 minutes and then bake for 15 or 20 minutes in a 400°F oven. Serve at room temperature. For Pain Brioche After folding the risen dough in thirds on the floured work surface, shape into a rectangle and set in a buttered 20 x 10 x 6 cm. loaf pan and leave to rise for about 30 minutes. Brush with an egg glaze and bake in 400°F oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Chocolate Babka I processed the chocolate just a little to break it up, added some butter and some powdered sugar and spread it over the dough. Then I rolled it up and then twisted it before putting it in the buttered loaf pan. Sprinkled the top with a little struesel topping. Mixed a little butter, flour and sugar together for the struesel. I didn't measure anything thing.

Happyday, I agree that you are overproofing your bread, probably. If you let it rise too high it will collapse on itself and you'll get that sunken lump. Ask me how I know. (grin) Ann T, I do bread dough overnight and it's good, I've done it up to two days in the fridge and it's good, but I keep it more than that I it seems to develop a flavor that I find similar to mild sourdough. Elery loves it, so he's always hoping that I don't have time to bake that dough, LOL. jasdip, you won't find a consistent yeast amount in bread recipes. Some have more and some have less, depending on the flavor the originator of the recipe was shooting for and liked. As has been mentioned, bread is simple and forgiving, you can use more yeast or less, you can use whole wheat or white or off brand flour, oil or butter or none, milk, water, coffee, whatever and it will usually come out just fine. I just made a loaf for Elery that took a cup of liquid, I used 3/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of Sriracha sauce, along with a bit of dry mustard and some black pepper. White whole wheat in place of all purpose. He loved it, I'm not even tempted to try it! I had seen a similar recipe on the internet, but I didn't feel like looking it up, so I made it from what passes for my memory and it was still just fine and an absolutely beautiful color. Annie

Linda, mahleb is like cardamom, hard to describe. It's made from the pit of the sour cherry and is used in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking, especially sweet breads. This is how some sites describe its taste: "Mahleb tastes somewhat nutty and bitter." "...quite sweet with notes of cherry and almond. Some describe it as resembling marzipan." "... a combination of fragrant rosewater-like sweetness and a nutty and faintly bitter, but not unpleasant aftertaste." "Because of its fragrant character and potential for bitterness, use it sparingly, 1/2 to 1 tsp to 2 cups of flour in a recipe." "Especially in Greece, mahleb is loved for specialties like tsoureki [ÏÏοÏÏέκι], a brioche-type braided sweet bread that is traditionally baked and eaten only at Easter time." That's what I was trying to make. Penzey's doesn't carry it, but The Spice House does. Here is a link that might be useful: The Spice House

I know this is a little late to respond, but I make Rotis all the time. I try to limit the amount of wheat I eat, and using flat breads makes that simpler. I always use whole wheat flour, I find King Arthur the best, because it is finely milled and it makes for a smoother dough. Rule of thumb 1/2 as much liquid as flour. So if I am using 1 cup of flour, I use 1/2 cup water (I often use a tablespoon of whey or even yogurt or kefir - adds a little more flavor to the roti) and salt usually between 1/2 & 1 tsp. The dough is always going to be a little different. If the dough is sticky, I add a little more flour, just enough to make sure it is not sticky. I roll it in a ball and coat it in olive oil then let it rest for at least 15 minutes but usually overnight. (Soaking the dough helps remove the phytic acid, making the nutrients more available. This also makes for a more flavorful roti, as it will sour a little.) I knead the dough briefly to mix in the oil, then roll into little balls, which I flatten and roll in flour until I roll them into disks about 6". The trick with rotis is to make sure your pan is in the right heat zone. Too cool, and the roti will just sit on the pan without puffing, too hot and the roti will burn. I normally use a medium hot...it will be different on every stove. Often my first roti wont puff. If it doesn't puff a little, it will be too dense and a little unpleasant to eat. I just remove it and raise the temp before adding the next roti. Once I have the right temp and the rotis puff before burning, I add the original roti back on. Usually within a few seconds it will puff. I use a spatula to press down on the areas that don't puff, to encourage them to puff. ( I only press down on the cooked side, so not until I have flipped the roti at least 1 time.) I think I generally get about a dozen rotis per cup of flour. I don't usually try seasoning them with anything until they are cooked, because I use them for everything. I have slathered with peanut butter, and sprinkled choco chips and covered with a second roti, back on the grill. I make grilled sandwiches with them, eat scrambled eggs in them, use them for tacos/burritos, heat them, and coat them with cinnamon and sugar, they make great quesadillas, and I even throw them back on the griddle on low heat/or in the oven until they get crispy, and use them for crackers.