This is the kind of recipe that your friends will go OOOH and AAAH and WOW! YOU’RE AMAZING at and think they could never make because it looks so impressive (and complicated). Good news, it’s not complicated at all, but will still leave you looking like a super-baker!

It takes a little concentration, but sticky roast berries with toasted hazelnuts, dark melty chocolate all wrapped up in a sweet brioche - how can you NOT want to make, I mean eat, this?

I came across a version of this recipe a while back on one of my favourite blogs, Joy the Baker. I changed it up to suit my taste buds and baked it immediately and it came out so beautifully we ate it all up before it had a chance to smile for camera.

Yesterday, however, I got a call from the wonderful, inspiring and very clever super-lady Nina Timm from My Easy Cooking. Nina is a true South African food celebrity, a great advocate for all things local and laid back. Her style is welcoming and unpretentious, bringing in around 2500 - 3500 visitors to her site daily!

Nina has a weekly spot on RSG Radio, 102.1 FM, and asked me to come along and chat about food, blogging and one of my recipes. This recipe was the first that sprung to mind - the fresh berries are all about spring and nobody ever says no to some roasted hazelnuts and dark chocolate!

This bread can be eaten for breakfast, a snack, dessert with fresh cream – ANYTIME and ALL the time, really. This is the most decadent version, but you can also leave out all the extra fillings and just make a fragrant cinnamon swirl. If you leave out the additional sugar, this also makes a very tasty savoury bread – fill it with spinach, feta, sundried tomatoes, basil pesto etc etc.

So I am very excited to be sharing this with you all on my blog and on RSG. Thanks Nina! Listen in to Radio Sonder Grense, RSG, 102.1FM just after the 9am news, Thursday 10th September 2014.

Yield: 1 x 20-30cm bread

Preparation time: 30 minutes plus +- 45mins - 1 hour rising time

Cooking time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

Dough:

10g (1 sachet) instant yeast

15ml (1 tbsp) treacle or brown sugar

187.5ml (3/4 cup) full cream milk, lukewarm
*It's VERY important that the milk is no hotter than lukewarm & by this I mean only JUST warm to the touch - hotter than this & your yeast will die off & your precious bread won't rise.

1 XL egg yolk
*Always at room temperature for baking.

30ml (2 tbsp) butter, melted
*Again, very important to let the melted butter cool down to lukewarm before adding to yeast mixture.

562.5ml (2 1/4) cups cake flour

5ml (1 tsp) salt

30ml (2 tbsp) treacle or brown sugar

Oil for greasing the bowl

For the Filling:

62.5ml (1/4 cup) butter, at room temperature
*a clever way to measure ml of butter is to place a certain amount (say 200ml) of cold water into a measuring jug, then add your butter and watch the rise in water level - the difference is your ml amount in butter!

62.5ml (1/4 cup) treacle or brown sugar

15ml (1 tbsp) ground cinnamon

500ml (2 cups) fresh berries - sliced strawberries & blueberries
*You can use any fresh berries - blackberries and fresh pitted cherries would be amazing!

62.5ml (½ cup) hazelnuts, peeled, roasted and roughly chopped

125ml (½ cup) roughly chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips

1 XL egg, beaten for egg wash

Icing sugar for dusting

Method

Preheat oven to 180’C.
Pour the lukewarm milk into a measuring jug. Add the yeast and sugar and whisk together.
Add the egg yolk and melted butter and whisk again until thoroughly combined.
Allow the yeast mixture to stand for 5 minutes and get all foamy.
In the bowl of your mixer with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl) mix together the flour, salt and sugar.
Pour the milk mixture over the dry ingredients and mix until it pulls away from the edges of the bowl. At this point if you're using a mixer, change to the dough hook attachment.
Knead the dough in the mixer for 8 minutes on a medium speed. If working by hand, place the dough ball on a lightly floured surface and knead for 10-12 minutes.
The dough ball should be smooth, damp and light to the touch, without being too sticky.
Remove the dough ball from the mixer and shape dough into a ball.
Grease a large bowl with a mild oil.
Place the dough in the bowl and cover with clingfilm or a damp tea towel. Allow to rest at warm room temperature for around an hour, or until doubled in size.
While the dough rises, whisk together the butter with sugar and cinnamon for the filling. Set aside.
Get your fresh berries, chopped hazelnut and chopped chocolate ready.
Grease a 25cm cast iron pan. You can also use any oven proof shallow bowl or cake tin.
Once your dough is ready, knock it back.

Roll this out to a larger, thinner rectangle of about 30x45cm
Using a palette knife, spread your cinnamon filling evenly over the top leaving a 3cm border around the edges.
Sprinkle over your fresh berries, roast hazelnuts and chocolate.