Eggless Julekake, Norwegian Christmas Bread

          This time I am very late in posting for the monthly Eggless Challenge, but at least, I am happy that at least I was able to make it finally. Julekake/ Norwegian Christmas Bread was our challenge for this month and was suggested by Priya Srinivasan of Enveetu Kitchen. It's a delicious bread dotted with lots of raisins and candied citron, as it was difficult for me to find citron here, I have used candied orange peel. I didn't get candied orange peels in the nearby stores, so finally made my own. The bread turned out really good, the texture, excellent and the flavor from the candied orange peels was simply superb and it tasted awesome when toasted with a little butter, we all loved it..

Need To Have

• All Purpose Flour/ Maida - 21/2 cups
• Raisins - 3/4 cup
• Candied Orange Peel - 1/4 cup
• Butter - 2 tablespoons
• Sugar - 1/4 cup + 1/4 teaspoon
• Active Dry Yeast - 11/8 teaspoon
• Flax seed Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Salt - 3/4 teaspoon
• Cardamom Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Warm Milk - 1/2 cup
• Warm Water - For the yeast, flax seeds and dough 

Recipe Source : Outside Oslo

Method

          Add the 2 tablespoons of warm water to the yeast and 1/4 teaspoon sugar and leave it to foam up, it took about 10 minutes. Soak the flax seed powder in 2 tablespoons of water and leave it for about 10 minutes. To the warm milk, add the butter, sugar and salt and mix well, then add the flax seed mixture and mix it again.

          Now add the flour, cardamom powder and yeast and mix it together. Then add the raisins and orange peel and using about 2 to 3 tablespoons of water and bring it together to make a soft dough and knead it well for about 5 to 7 minutes.

          Apply some oil and leave to rise till it doubles up, about 11/2 to 2 hours.

          Punch it down, shape it into a circular bread and place it on a greased baking sheet, leave it covered for the second rise, again another 11/2 to 2 hours, depending on how warm the weather is. Then brush it with some milk and bake it at 180 C for 20 minutes, then cover it with aluminium foil and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes. Let it cool completely and slice it.

Note
Oven timings may vary a little.
Can use candied lemon peels instead of the orange peels.