Bishop’s Bread | Biskupski Kruh

For those special days when a ‘normal’ plain bread just won’t cut it, Bishop’s Bread is the bread to bake. Roasted almonds, sultanas, chocolate buttons, all with the aroma of orange zest put the ‘special’ in this loaf bread/cake. It’s no wonder men in Croatia chose to become bishops! It’s kind of like a cross between a fruit bread and a chocolate panettone and it’s perfect for when you want to bake something sweet after a weeknight meal or as a morning breakfast bread served with a cup of tea or coffee.

In the original recipe, you would use a cooking chocolate block, broken into pieces, but I used chocolate buttons instead which makes the recipe even easier and your chocolate pieces are consistently sized. Also, to make it even easier (is that possible?) use almond slivers so you don’t even need to chop.

For a different serving suggestion, cut the bread into slices and lightly toast, then add lashings of butter. Ha! It’s a taste sensation and better than any store-bought fruit, chocolate bread. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

~ 140 grams caster sugar

~ Four eggs

~ Zest of one orange 

~ 50 grams almonds, chopped

~ 100 grams sultanas

~ 70 grams cooking chocolate buttons ( I used a mixture of half milk and dark)

~ 140 grams plain flour, sifted

~ Icing sugar, for serving 

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
2. Roast the almonds lightly in a pan for five minutes, until fragrant. Set aside to cool.
3. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. With an electric mixer, beat the yolks into the sugar for about 10 minutes, until the mixture is thick, creamy and has grown in size.  
4. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until glossy peaks form.
5. Add the orange zest to the egg/sugar mixture. Then add sultanas, roasted almonds, chocolate. Stir gently to combine
6. Add the sifted flour, and finally the egg whites. Mix everything gently.
7. Add the bread mixture to a well greased and floured loaf tin. Place in the oven for around 40 minutes on 180°C 
8. Immediately after you remove bread from the oven, turn it out of the tin and leave to cool. (The original recipe says to leave the bread for a day or two before eating, but I loved it warm from the oven with the melty chocolate bits.)
9. Dust with icing sugar and serve

Let me know if you tried this special bread and what you thought?

Dobar Tek! Zivjeli! (Bon Appetit! Cheers and let’s live!)