IL BOLO, Italian bread with olive oil, anise, & honey and Apricot Noodle Pudding

IL BOLO

Our calendar for the HBin5 baking group said that this bread would be baked in a year.  Frankly, I don't always have that kind of patience!  Especially for a enriched bread having ingredients like this--honey, olive oil, vanilla, lemon zest, and anise seeds.  My curiosity was aroused!

I put together the dough one morning, and went to run some errands at 9:30 a.m. while the dough was rising.  I guess I really got into getting those errands done.  I didn't get home until 3:30, with the thought that the dough would be ok.  What could possibly happen?  



This is what I found when I came in the door:         

It was another one of my baking adventures, greeting me at the door!  I quickly scooped up the overflowing dough, and began shaping the loaves.  I told myself "any problems with the egg dough sitting on the counter over 2 hours will bake out at high temps..."  :)


The loaves were baked at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, not the 35 minutes stated in the recipe. They were done at that time.


This bread was fabulous!  I brought it to a large dinner get together, and people really loved it.  The bread was soft, had a beautiful crust and tasted sweet.  The caterer is a cooking buddy, who kept nibbling at it also.  


I've been doing a lot of cooking lately, for our harvest festival.  Noodle pudding (kugel) is popular this time of year, and I would like to share one of our favorites:

Apricot Noodle Pudding
12oz.         wide noodles (one bag)
1/2cup       margarine
6                eggs
8oz.            sour cream (light)
16oz.          lowfat cottage cheese
1/2cup        sugar
1/4cup        milk (could use lowfat)
1/2cup        golden raisins  (dark raisins ok, too)
8oz.            dried apricots, cut up

Topping:
1 cup          corn flakes, crushed
1 cup          brown sugar
4oz.            margarine, softened

Directions:
Cook noodles until tender.  Drain.  Place in large pot or bowl and add 1/2cup margarine; set aside (margarine will melt).

Beat eggs; add sour cream, cottage cheese, sugar and milk.  Mix.   Add dry fruit, combine with noodles.  Pour into 9" x 13" baking dish. 

Mix corn flakes, brown sugar and 4oz. softened margarine in medium bowl.  With spoon, sprinkle small blobs of topping over kugel batter.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cut when cool.

Kugel can be eaten hot as part of the main course.  It's also good cold, and as dessert.  Kugel may be frozen and reheated.

Serves 10-12

Handwise tips:  If you have hand pain, tendonitis, or arthritis or any other pain issues and want to make this recipe:  

• My tip for this post is for the noodle pudding.  If I know that I am going to make noodle pudding in the near future, I cook the recipe's amount of noodles the same night that we are having pasta for dinner.   We then use the same hot water to cook the wide noodles for recipes like this.  After draining the noodles, I put them in the refrigerator or freezer bags.  Since I measure out the amount of noodles to match the recipe beforehand, it's a simple recipe to assemble.  I just melt the 1/2 cup margarine for the noodles, and add in everything else.  Also, that's one less pot to wash later--always a helpful thing.

This bread is one of the breads from the "Healthy Breads in 5 Minutes a Day" book.
The HBinFive Baking Group, started by Michelle of Big Black Dogs, is baking through all of the breads in this book.  To see what my HB5 baking buddies have made recently, check out The 20th HBinfive Bread Braid

Thanks for stopping by to visit! Come back soon, I'll be baking again often. I hope you will leave a comment below. I read every comment, and really appreciate your feedback. 

Judy