Le gibassier

I was just searching for a recipe to use some of the candied orange peel left in my fridge from making the almost mother-in-law cake, but what I found was the most beautiful bread I’d ever seen, a type of bread I’d never heard of before. I adore it when certain things lead to great discoveries, and I felt this way again a week ago, when after watching the fantastic "The Fall" I made my usual trip to IMDb: going through Lee Pace’s profile I found this movie, which I’d never heard of before and looks exactly like the type of drama I love.

Le gibassier
from the always glorious and delicious Australian Gourmet Traveller

1/3 cup (80ml) lukewarm whole milk
14g (2 sachets/4 ½ teaspoons) dried yeast
6 tablespoons (72g) granulated sugar, divided use
2 ½ cups (350g) all purpose flour
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons orange-blossom water
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup + 1 tablespoon (70g) softened unsalted butter
100g candied orange peel, drained and finely chopped – I used homemade, recipe here
icing sugar, sifted, for dusting

Stir milk, yeast and 3 ½ tablespoons of the sugar in a small bowl and stand until foamy (10 minutes).
Combine flour and remaining sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, add eggs, oil, orange-blossom water, vanilla and yeast mixture and mix until smooth and elastic (5-10 minutes), then, mixing continuously, gradually add softened butter until incorporated. Add candied peel, knead to incorporate, then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (1½-2 hours).
Line a large baking sheet with foil. Knock back dough and divide in half. Roll out each half into a rough leaf shape, cut slits in bread, gently pull slits slightly open, and set onto the prepared sheet. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen tower and place in a draught-free place until doubled in size (1 hour) – after this period of time the slits I’d previously made on the breads were almost invisible, so I cut the breads again before baking them.
Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F. Bake gibassier until dark golden and cooked through (10-12 minutes). Dust with icing sugar and serve warm (I thought it tasted great at room temperature, too).

Serves 8