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Surprise bread

This recipe is for a large surprise bread so you can make six layers (48 small sandwiches if you divide each layer in 8), with three different flavours: smoked salmon/lime, smoked ham/butter, mayonnaise/chicken.

664K 8 162 4.5

Last modified on: December 27^th 2020

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For 1 Surprise bread, you will need:

1 2 kgs bread dough
2 6 slices smoked ham
3 6 slices smoked salmon
4 120 g butter
5 ½ lime
6 100 g Mayonnaise
7 200 g cooked chicken
Total weight: 3,255 grams

Change these quantities to make: 1 Surprise bread 2 Surprises bread 3 Surprises bread

Change measures: Metric

Metric weight Metric volumes

How long does it take?

Time required for this recipe:

Preparation	Resting	Cooking	Start to finish
1 hour 34 min.	4 hours	50 min.	6 hours 24 min.

At what time:

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Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 10 min.

If you are making your own bread, proceed as for the new leavened bread or mixed seed bread (as in these photos).

Put the dough seam downwards, in a large deep round tin or mould, lined with baking parchment to facilitate turning out (unless you are using a non-stick mould).

The mould in this photo is 20 cm (8") diameter, 12 cm (4.5") high.

Stage 2 - 2 hours

After two hours, when the dough is well risen, bake a little longer than a normal loaf.

Stage 3 - 50 min.

Turn out and leave to cool on a wire rack.

The results are better if you use a loaf that's not too fresh, so make it the day before.

Stage 4 - 5 min.

On the day, cut the top off the loaf, just where it becomes rounded, to obtain the smallest possible lid, and the largest straight cylinder possible.

Stage 5 - 5 min.

With a bread knife (or other serrated knife - this is important), cut vertcally all around the inside of the loaf. Go round twice if necessry to make sure it's cut through from top to bottom.

Stage 6 - 5 min.

Insert the knife into the base of the loaf and cut using a sweeping, sawing movement.

The aim is to slice off the base horizontally to obtain a "perfect" crumb cylinder.

Stage 7 - 10 min.

Now comes the tricky moment: extracting the soft cylinder of bread intact from its ring of crust.

It should be fairly easy, if you have cut round well enough beforehand, to turn the loaf upside down and shake it gently.

You can also slip a metallic spatula or a pallette knife down the side and make small see-saw movements.

Don't get bad tempered or panic, but go at it gently, carefully, and stay zen...

Stage 8

If you succeed and manage this, what follows is only sandwiches!

Stage 9 - 3 min.

Cut the block of bread in half vertically.

Stage 10 - 5 min.

Then slice each half thinly (1/2 cm, 1/4" approx.).

You will need an even number of slices, and keep them in order, because they will be assembled in pairs, and it is much easier if they were cut next to each other with similar size and shape.

Then, begin the fillings:

Stage 11 - 5 min.

For smoked ham: prepare 3 pairs of ½ slices, and butter one of each pair.

Stage 12 - 5 min.

Put a slice of ham on the butter, and trim of any that overhangs the bread with scissors or a very sharp knife (it's easier with scissors ).

Stage 13 - 1 min.

Put the top slices on the sandwiches.

Stage 14 - 5 min.

And cut each one into 4.

Stage 15 - 5 min.

For smoked salmon: prepare 3 pairs of ½ slices, squeeze lime juice one slice of each pair, and butter the other.

Stage 16 - 5 min.

On the butter put a slice of smoked salmon, trim off any extra, and complete the sandwiches, then cut into 4.

Stage 17 - 5 min.

For chicken mayonnaise: prepare 3 pairs of ½ slices, and spread mayonnaise over each one.

Stage 18 - 5 min.

Arrange small pieces of cooked chicken on half, complete the sandwiches, and cut into 4.

Stage 19 - 5 min.

Begin the assembly of the surprise bread by making a layer of 8 sandwiches of one filling.

Stage 20 - 5 min.

Continue to fill with a different type of sandwich in each layer.

Stage 21 - 5 min.

Right to the top of the loaf.

Stage 22 - 2 hours

Then add the lid, and refrigerate for a few hours.

Remove and leave at room temperature one hour before serving, so that the sandwiches are not too cold (or they will have less flavour).

Remarks

For the bread you can use any kind you like, it's a matter of taste. Personally I prefer leavened bread or even better mixed seed bread (as in the photos), but you can also use sandwich bread, in which case replace 400g white flour with 100g rye flour + 300g whole-wheat flour.

For the fillings, you can vary ad infinitum. In this recipe there are 6 layers with 3 differents fillings, but it would be more interesting to have a different filling in each layer. Here are some more ideas:

A little cream cheese, pepper, salt and a very large handful of freshly chopped fresh herbs
Tuna rillettes
Hoummous
Taztikis
Roquefort mixed with a little butter and a few walnuts
Etc...

An idea to try: surprise bread with sweet fillings, for a children's party for example, with jams, honey, chocolate...

In this recipe each layer of the sandwiches is cut into 8, but if it's for an aperitif, it's wiser to cut them into 10 or 12 to makes smaller sandwiches, and avoid filling up your guests before the meal.p>If you'd like more information about making your own bread, look at this dedicated page.

Nutritional information

Whole recipe
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
4,134 Kcal or 17,308 Kj	365 gr	1,306 gr	387 gr
207 %	141 %	123 %	59 %

Per 100 g
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
127 Kcal or 532 Kj	11 gr	40 gr	12 gr
6 %	4 %	4 %	2 %

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

Possible allergens in this recipe: Gluten, Fish, Milk, Egg, Sulfites, Mustard, Celery

How much will it cost?

For 1 Surprise bread : 25.17 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

Source

Home made.

This recipe uses (among others)

	Bread dough: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Spring Bread, Special Cheese and Walnut Sticks, Baker's chicken and potato tart, Baker's pizza, Baker's tuna and mushroom tart, ... All
	Cooked chicken: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Gratin-style spinach and chicken omelette , Crispy rolls with chicken and leek, Rice and peas, Baked eggs with chicken and spinach, Quick chicken curry, ... All
	Butter: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Bisto-style canapés, Tomatoes Provençal, Ramekins of duchess potatoes, Hazelnut and orange cake, Onion fondue, ... All
	Mayonnaise: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Mixed salad with curry mayo, Macédoine of vegetables, Seafood feuillantines, Crunchy courgette and mushroom salad, Vegetable tartare, ... All

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Your 8 comments or questions on this recipe

Just calculate the volume of your mould, or measure it using a weight scale while filling it with water, then compare with the volume of my circular one (227 inch cube), then adjust the weight of dough you will need (simple proportionality calculating).
Posted by jh september 21^th 2020 at 08:36 (n° 8)
But my main question is what amount of flour should I take for 7.9 inch square mold? If you can help me out I will be super happy! Thank you in advance!
Posted by Anonymous september 20^th 2020 at 18:02 (n° 7)
Mine is 7.9 inch square so height and width and depth is all are same.
Posted by Anonymous september 20^th 2020 at 17:57 (n° 6)
My mould is a circular one 8 diameter x 4.5 high => 227 inches cube, to compare with yours.
Posted by jh september 20^th 2020 at 17:38 (n° 5)
7.9 x7.9 inches cube
Posted by Anonymous september 20^th 2020 at 15:47 (n° 4)
7.9 what? cm? inches?
Posted by jh september 20^th 2020 at 13:58 (n° 3)
I have 7.9 x x7.9 cube pain surprise pain . Similar to the round pan you have used. Do I use the same quantity of dough?
Posted by Anonymous september 20^th 2020 at 12:33 (n° 2)
Really useful. Very clear! Just what I wanted to make a Pain Surprise for my daughter's wedding. She lived in the Vendee when young, and this was what she loved. Thankyou.
Posted by Patricia june 18^th 2016 at 20:56 (n° 1)

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