1,560 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

Surprise bread

Name: Surprise bread
Prep time: 5 h 34 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 6 h 24 min
Yield: 1 Surprise bread
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 2 kgs bread dough; 6 slices smoked ham; 6 slices smoked salmon; 120 g butter; ½ lime; 100 g mayonnaise; 200 g cooked chicken

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.

724 K 8× 4.4/5 (175 reviews)

6 hours 25 min. difficulté

Average

25.20 €

1 Surprise bread

7 Ingredients

Last modified on: December 27^th 2020

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

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 1 hour 35 min.

Resting: 4 hours

Cooking: 50 min.

All in all: 6 hours 25 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

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.

Source: Home made.

Nutritional information

	Proteins (gr)	Carbohydrates (gr)	Fats (gr)	Energy value (in k-calories)	Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe	3,770 RDI=1,450 %	23,000 RDI=2,170 %	1,150 RDI=180 %	9,940 RDI=500 %	41,610 RDI: 500 %
Per 100 g	120 RDI=50 %	710 RDI=70 %	40 RDI=5 %	310 RDI=20 %	1,280 RDI: 20 %

Possible allergens in this recipe: Gluten, Fish, milk, egg, Sulfites, mustard, Celery

How much will it cost?

For 1 Surprise bread : 25.20 €

Change currency:

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

This recipe uses (among others)

Other recipes you may also like

Confectioner's custard (Crème pâtissière, or French pastry cream)

Quite similar to crème anglaise but much thicker. It is used in many pastries like choux pastry (pâte à choux) or millefeuille.

January 27^th 2017784 K 313.8 40 min.

Pizza dough

Pizza dough is a lind of bread dough with olive oil, which make it softer.

July 14^th 2025526 K4.6 12 hours 60 min.

You should not soak strawberries in water

When using strawberries in a recipe, the usual way is to soak in water, which is actually a very bad idea. Just look at how to preserve them here.

February 21^th 2011183 K3 10 min.

Rémoulade dressing

This dressing is a kind of mayonnaise with vinegar, used for some salads like celeriac rémoulade. Usually it is prepared from mayonnaise, but here is another version, simpler and just as tasty.

October 3^rd 2010899 K3.8 6 min.

Italian Meringue

Italian meringue is made with sugar cooked to 120°C or 248°F. This is different from the French, which is made from caster sugar. The cooked sugar gives a softer meringue which can be added to other preparations or use as it is.

June 2^nd 2015489 K4.3 30 min.

News list of cooking-ez.com

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.

The 8 comments already posted 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

Follow this recipe (as 9 people already do)

If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.