King Cake Time

Ingredients

• (1) 2 pkgs. yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup lukewarm water.
• (2) 1 cup of milk in a small saucepan over med heat…bring to a near boil…and remove from heat.
• (3) Add a stick of butter to the hot milk and let melt.
• (4) add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon salt to the milk and stir in.
• (5) By this time milk should be cooled down enough to combine with the yeast mixture. So, transfer yeast mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add the milk mixture and combine.
• (6) Beat 2 eggs well and add them to the yeast/milk mixture in the bowl. Mix well with a wire whisk.
• (7)Add a cup of flour and beat well with the whisk
• (8) Add another cup of flour and beat well with the whisk
• (9) Add a third cup of flour and stir in well with a wooden spoon. (By this time the mixture is getting too thick and will get caught in the wire whisk).
• (10) Add flour in small amounts and start kneading it in with your clean hands (can use disposable gloves for this.) Add up to 5 cups of flour in all…blending it in well.
• Drape a clean kitchen towel over the bowl and let rise until it looks about 3 times larger than you started out. This will take about 1 1/2 hours.
• I melted a stick of butter and added about 1/2 cup or a little more sugar to it, a couple of generous shakes of cinnamon, up to 1 cup of chopped pecans and a little almond extract.
• At this point roll the dough from the widest ends, still keeping it on the parchment paper. Loop it like a king cake and adjust it to make it look nice.