Drożdżowy Ciasto (Polish yeast bread)

Ingredients

Starter

½ cup warm milk (110 F)

1/2 cup Flour

2 Packets Active Dry Yeast

1 Teaspoon sugar

Dough

4.5 C flour (720g)

1 cup milk

8 egg yolks

¾ cup sugar (180g)

11 tbsp butter (150g)

Topping

150g flour

100g sugar

100g butter (~ ½ stick)

Instructions

Add yeast and sugar to ½ cup warm milk. Let that sit for 3-4 minutes until it starts bubbling, then add the flour. This should get very bubbly and grow; let it sit another ~6 minutes while you make the rest of the dough.

In a mixer bowl, mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar) then add wet ingredients (eggs, milk, butter) and combine w/ a wooden spoon. Then add the wet ingredients (milk, egg yolks, butter) and mix until combined. Add the yeast starter, mix one more time, then mix with a dough hook on low for ~5 minutes. At the end, a very sticky dough should come together. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set to rise until doubled (took me ~1.5 hours in an oven w/ a bowl of boiling water for warmth and moisture).

Once the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 340F, and you can make the topping. Mix the flour and sugar, then add cold diced butter and squish it with fingertips until you have uneven clumps.

Spray two loaf pans with pam, then flour them (you can also use a large cake pan). Then, take your risen dough, divide in half, then turn it out into the loaf pans. You might have to stretch it out a little to fill the pans. Pour the topping over the top and let it rise again for another ~30 minutes.

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, the cake is done when a knife stuck into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. The cake itself will brown, but the topping will stay very light (that confused me the first time).