Almond Crusted Citrus Bread Rolls

We love lemons and oranges... and I can't help to think that this simple equation sounds really good to me:

lemon + orange + almond + bread

= almond crusted citrus bread rolls

This recipe originates from the book, Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas and it is known as Greek Almond-crusted Citrus Loaves in this book. I wonder if Lou is referring this recipe to Tsoureki as I can see some resemblances based on the content of the recipe.

This recipe is chosen by my baking buddy, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours being our 28th The Home Bakers (THB) bake. THB is an baking event organised also by my friend, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours. With a group of gorgeous ladies, we are baking all recipes from the book, Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas until every recipe from this book has been baked.

Due to my preference to enjoy these bread with savoury dishes, I have baked these into lightly sweetened breads with only 15g of added sugar in each loaf. Apart from sugar reduction, I have baked this bread in the form of rolls rather than free form loaves. I have tried braiding the bread but the dough is a little too soft or un-constructed to shape anything slim with smooth surfaces.

Maybe, I was expecting something jazzy based on the citrus-y equation in my head but all I can say is these breads are just pretty basic. Nice to eat when they are freshly baked but not particular fancy or fluffy.

Almond Crusted Citrus Bread Rolls

A zesty bread made with both orange and lemon zest

Instead of using butter, I'm baking my breads using this oil. Now I wonder if butter will bake it better.

Instead of shaping them as large round loaves, I'm shaping them as rolls.

Watching them growing...

Before baking...

After baking... the bread with almond

After baking... the plain ones

Like the citrus-y colours of these rolls but taste-wise is pretty basic

Being the rule of this event, only the host of the chosen bake can post the recipe in her blog post. Please visit Joyce from Kitchen Flavours for the detailed recipe of this bake.

And, here are the notes and modifications that I used for my bake.

My ingredients list:

Make two 9 inch loaves
2 tsp dry yeast
1 1/4 warm water (105 -115 °F)
30g caster sugar
30g milk powder
120ml rice bran oil
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp grated orange
1 tbsp grated lemon
600g flour (100g Italian OO flour + 500g bread flour)
 
Topping:
1 egg white
3 tbsp slice almonds

Modifications that I have made from the original:

• Instead of using 8 tbsp of melted butter, I have used rice bran oil to bake these breads and wonder if the use of butter will make any difference.
• I have reduced the amount of caster from 65g to 30g.
• Instead of using milk, I have replaced 1 cup milk with 30g milk powder.
• As I wanted this bread to be the lesser sweeter kind to enjoy with savoury food, I didn't add any vanilla extract.
• For the same above reason, I didn't add demerara sugar in my topping.
• Instead of baking these breads as a form of loaves, I have baked them as a form of rolls.
• I have baked two loaves of breads. Each contains 6 rolls. One has almond topping on it and another is plain which is brushed with just oil before baking. 
• All were baked at 160°C fan forced for 20 min.

Happy Baking