Eggless Swedish Tea Rings ( Vetekrans ), Savory Version

          This month, for the Eggless Baking Challenge, Gayathri had chosen Swedish Tea Rings/ Vetekrans, an easy and at the same time, very attractive and appetizing bread. When compared to the challenges of the past, this one was very easy, the recipe used just one egg and replacing that was not a hard task. But still, the challenge was very interesting, because of the beautiful shape of the bread. The original bread was a sweet version, using cinnamon, sugar and raisins in the filling, but I wanted a savory version of the Tea Rings, so I did a filling with caramelized onions and parmesan cheese. The Swedish Tea Rings were so good, we loved the savory version, perfect with a cup of tea or coffee..


Need To Have

• All Purpose Flour/ Maida - 1 + 1/2 cup 
• Active Dry Yeast - 1 teaspoon
• Butter - 1/2 tablespoon
• Sugar - 1/4 teaspoon
• Warm Milk - 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
• Curd/ Yogurt - 1 tablespoon
• Parmesan Cheese - 3 to 4 tablespoons
• Salt - 1/2 teaspoon

For The Filling

• Onions - 2 medium, sliced
• Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt to taste

Recipe Source : Allrecipes

Method

          Take the yeast and sugar and add 2 tablespoons lukewarm water to it and keep till it foams up. Melt the butter, add the flour, salt, curd and yeast, mix, add the milk and bring it together to form a sticky dough, apply some oil, cover and keep it in a warm place for 2 hours, till it doubles up in size.

          In the meantime, heat some oil, add the sliced onions for the filling along with the sugar and salt and saute it, till it becomes golden and caramelised, remove and keep.

          Punch down the risen dough, dusting some flour, roll it out into a rectangle ( 1/4" thickness ). Spread the onion mixture evenly and then spread the parmesan cheese powder.

          Roll it lengthwise, as tightly as possible, pull the ends and bring it together to form a ring, and seal the edges together. Place the ring, seam-side down on a greased baking tray.

          Using a pair of clean scissors, cut the ring 2/3 way through, at 1" intervals, as shown in the picture. Then twist each piece slightly, so that you can see the stuffing side on the top. Cover and leave it for the second rise for another 2 hours. Brush the risen dough with some milk, bake it in a preheated oven at 180 C for about 35 minutes, till the top turns golden. Remove and enjoy while it's still warm.

Note
I have used Kraft Parmesan Cheese Powder, you can use freshly grated cheese.
After the first rise, you can shape the bread, at this stage you can refrigerate the bread for a day, when ready to bake, remove the shaped dough, leave it out for 3 to 4 hours and then bake it.