My father’s mother’s ancestry was from the Azores and she made the most delicious Portuguese Sweet Bread. I learned how to bake it myself and my children’s eyes light up when I mention it.
I just happened to find a Portuguese specialty store near-by called 9 Islands Bakery. Located at: 1 Padre Parkway Suite D, Rohnert Park. The 9 islands are the Azores.
It’s a tiny little shop but worth finding.
AND I found traditional Portuguese Sweet Bread! Oh my! The smell totally brought back such wonderful memories.
They have a small selection of Portuguese products: cheese, linguça, and tins of sardines and other treats. The traditional O Sabor dos Açores cheese is fantastic!
They also bake some very tempting Portuguese sweet treats.
Needless to say, I left there with 2 bags filled with bread, cheese and treats. I will return another day for their Linguiça, which is a form of smoke-cured pork sausage, seasoned with garlic and paprika. When I was growing up my mother had a Portuguese friend who made his own Linguça and always kept us supplied.
I was inspired to find my grandmother’s recipe for the bread. Here it is. It takes a while to produce the loaves but, oh my, your home will smell divine during the process!
pão doce
PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD
2 packets of active dry yeast
½ cup lukewarm water
2 1/2 cups warm milk
1 cup sugar
½ pound unsalted melted butter
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, beaten
11 cups all purpose flour (add more if dough is too sticky or less if too dry)
Dissolve yeast in water.
Mix all dry ingredients together.
Melt butter and milk in a saucepan over low flame then cool to lukewarm. Beat eggs and sugar together.
Mix all ingredients together (adding flour last) and knead until dough lifts neatly from bowl.
Put dough in greased bowl. Set in a warm place, cover with kitchen towel and let rise, usually 1 to 2 hours.
Punch down, deflating the dough.
Form individual breads and put in buttered and floured pans (most any shape or size will do). Let rise again until dough doubles in size, filling the pans, about an 1 to 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Beat an egg with 1 teaspoon of water to make a wash; use mixture to gently brush tops of the bread.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
To test: remove bread from pan (using a kitchen towel) and tap bottom. It should sound hollow.
NOTE: I sometimes use some of this dough to make cinnamon rolls frosted with a powderd sugar glaze. To make: take one of the balls of dough and roll into a rectangle shape on a floured board. Spread butter, sugar and cinnamon on the surface, then roll into a loaf/log. Cut desired sizes and bake about 1 hour, more or less. Keep an eye on them. When cool, frost with powder sugar glaze.
Happy eating!
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