Sweet Bread (Massa Sovada)

I almost did not bake any sweet bread this year for Easter, I had so many things to do, preparing for our daughter's communion, which was celebrated also on Easter  Sunday. I kept talking my self out of it, but in my heart I knew that I would kick myself for not baking any. My kids had asked all week, when are you making the "massa sovada", to which I kept responding, "one of these days". I made it Good Friday, which I must confess, did not sit well with me, because that day, is a day of  reflection and quiet, surely the Good Lord will not be to upset with me. I grew up with my mom, making "massa sovada", she would even let us help out (sometimes) and I now know why only sometimes, little hands sometimes get in the way of speeding things up. The thing is,she never used a written recipe, it all came magically from her head. This  led me on a search for a recipe for sweet bread, and I finally found one, that I can follow, but make my own way "magically" like my mother. This is the recipe I use portuguese-five-egg-easter-bread , by Emeril Lagasse. There are only a couple of things I change, I use real butter instead of lard, and never use lemon zest (just wouldn't be like my mom's), and I only knead it once, really, really well, than let it rise. This time around, I halved the recipe, it produced 4 lovely round loaves of sweet bread. One loaf we actually had for supper that night, warm out of the oven slathered with butter, it was delicious.



















Ingredients

  • 4 cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 pound lard (I use butter)
  • Three 1/4-ounce envelopes active dry yeast
  • 5 pounds flour
  • 12 large eggs
  • 4 cups sugar
  • Zest of 1 lemon, grated
  • 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for glaze
  • 5 boiled eggs (optional)

Instructions

In a saucepan combine the milk, salt, and lard and bring to a boil. Set aside.

In a small bowl combine the yeast, 1 cup of the flour, and 1/2 cup warm water and set aside.

In a large bowl, with a whisk, combine the eggs, sugar, and lemon zest and mix thoroughly. Add the milk mixture, yeast mixture, and remaining flour and thoroughly combine. Set aside to rise, kneading 6 times every half hour. The bread will take 6 hours to rise.

Prepare 5 round loaf pans with butter or lard. Divide the batter among the pans (pans should be half full). Press the dough evenly in the pan and let it rise again until it reaches the top of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Brush with beaten egg and bake for about 1 hour, until golden brown.

Yield: 5 loaves

Note: If you choose to add the five eggs for Easter, place an egg on top of each loaf during the final rising.


ENJOY :)

Comments

  1. Ficou com um aspeto delicioso a tua massa sovada. Nunca fiz, mas gosto bastante. Quem sabe "one of these days"... Bjs

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  2. já faço massa com esta receita, talvez à 3 anos para cá.......é muito parecida com a nossa massa aqui da ilha, como a minha mãe faz, e a minha avo fazia :)

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  3. A tua massa sovada ficou tão bonita... Thanks for sharing your recipe with us.
    Bjs
    Patrícia

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  4. Thanks for the recipe. My Vovo passed it to my grandmother but the recipe card was incomplete. Yours is the closest to theirs I have found.

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  5. Many many thanks for posting this recipe, one of the inumerous wonders of Azores where my husband is from! Love it

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  6. Thank you so much for the recipe. My ex-husband lives in the Azores and our children are always asking for Massa Sovada but I had lost the recipe when moving. This is as close as it can be to the one I lost. The only difference is I always made ten loaves at a time! I also use butter and the lemon zest!! Thanks again!

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  7. 4 cups of sugar seems like too much.
    Is this recipe correct?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes 4 cups of sugar, you are using about 19 cups of flour..It really isnt overly sweet...but you could cut back on some of the sugar if you like ! thank~Diana

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  8. Thank you for posting! My grandmother was also from Terceira. I missed having her massa sovada at Easter and this recipe is very similar to what I remember hers tasting like- without the lemon zest. I am thankful for your post as now I can keep the tradition with my own kids! (Hard-boiled egg on top and all!)

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  9. This is exactly what I was looking for! I couldn't find my mom's recipe book, but I knew hers made 5 loaves and used 1/2 pound of Crisco and about 15 eggs. Happy Easter!

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  10. Amiga, thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I've never made Massa Sovada but have wanted to give it a try. I have a question about the last step -- adding the last 5 eggs. Do you hard-boil them first or does it cook in the oven?

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    Replies
    1. Hi, yes its best to hard boil them, so they don't explode in the oven :)

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  11. This is almost exactly the recipe my mother has used for the 39 year of my life. She wrote it down for me. I make it often but I have never put the hard boiled eggs in. I want to this year but do I remove the shell first? I remember a few times my mother put hard boiled eggs in hers but I don't remember if they had the shell still.

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    Replies
    1. Hello :) You leave the shells on ! Happy Baking ! -Diana

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  12. In regards to the kneading of the bread. Do you knead it like traditional dough or is it the folding technique like many other portuguese sweet breads Ive seen on youtube?

    ReplyDelete

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