English Saffron Bread

There's a problem with the rescipe. Using that much saffron would be a mistake. 1/36 to 1/4 teaspoon would be more advisable. Also the cinnamon & nutmeg should be left out entirely. It would be much better to just take a normal white bread rescipe and add saffron. What was probably used in this was safflower, not saffron. There's a big difference

The aroma of this bread is beautiful. It is a traditional Cornish recipe for a bread/buns baked at Christmas. Cornwall used to grow masses of Crocus for the stamens that are saffron. The more saffron you use, the brighter the colour; howevere saffron - real saffron, not the ghastly powdered food colouring called saffron yellow is EXPENSIVE! I use about 1 teaspoon in my saffron buns. SOme recipes include dried fruit and others are a basic sweetish white bread with saffron added. The recipe would never include safflower in either its seed OR oil form!

I knew what I wanted from this recipe the saffron buns of my childhood so I played with it a little bit. I only used 1 teaspoon of saffron added a cup and a half of dried fruit with the flour and shaped into rolls. Cooked for about 45 minutes. My dad is Cornish throgh and through and hasn't had homemade saffron buns for years he gave this the five stars and went home with six for later. Thanks.

Just a few notes on this recipe: 1. Cube the butter before you put it in the milk, the milk isn't quite hot enough to melt two whole sticks. 2. For efficiencies sake, I'd soak the saffron in the water before starting the milk, then you're working on that while the water cools. 3. I ran out of sugar, so I used 1/4 cup of honey. I'm not sure if my loaf of bread is terribly different than it would have been, but it still tastes great. 4. Once again, I'm not sure how different it tastes, but vanilla soy milk works well as a substitute for milk. 5. If you are concerned with the taste, there isn't too much saffron. I think the bread tastes awesome. However, if the cost of saffron bothers you I would think you could decrease it.

Excellent! The saffromn combined with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and zest is an amazing coombination. (being from Jamaica, we love our nutmeg). The yeastiness, sweeteness, and texture of this bread is the best. You have not lived until you've had this one!

I haven't given this five stars, as I felt the quantity of flour was slightly out (I needed to add in a good deal more than the recipe called for) and it would have been good to know how enormous the 'loaf' would have been, so I could scale down a bit! Having said that, this is a gorgeous bread. I don't agree that it requires less saffron; it's just enough that it can be tasted as a proper ingredient in the cake, but not so much that it overpowers other flavours. The golden colour the saffron imparts to the bread is beautiful also. I added a handful of dried fruit to this recipe, which I think a couple of other people did too, and have found that citrus peel goes especially well with the lemon-zest in the bread mix. It does make an *enormous* loaf, but I'll definitely factor that in when I make this again. The double-proving worked really well and I would recommend that anyone trying this uses very strong white bread flour, as this gives a superb structure to the bread. Fantastic, thanks.

incredible bread...wow very impressive, will DEFINITELY make again! Made a very large loaf.

This bread was huge and hardly fit in my oven, but my guests adored its slightly sweet flavor. The flavors in this bread are subtle, and it is perfect to serve before or even during dinner. My guests loved this so much, they asked to take pieces home with them.

a very nice flavor and texture when fresh baked but it dried out very quickly. making very small loaves of this might be better.

The smell coming from my kitchen when I made this was divine! It was a little sweet but other than that it was exotic, everyone at my work devoured it.

Very good taste to the bread it made a beautiful loaf but was very large. Next time I will make it into two loafs.

This bread was beautiful and yummy. Had to add 2 cups more flour. Don't know if I measured wrong or what but it turned out wonderful. Took the suggestion of making two loaves instead of one large one. I will make this again!

My kiuds loved it! I made with our Easter dinner and it was deefinitely enough for everyone. Probably the largest loaf of bread I have ever seen! I was a little too citrusy tasting for me, but I was the only one who felt that way. I followed the instructions to a T and it came out exactly the way it said. So, good recipe, good bread!

I followed the recipe to the letter, I used the full amount of saffron, it was difficult to dispose of the saffron threads once I had soaked them, so I did keep about a pinch of them in the dough and I added a few threads to the top of the dough for decoration The bread was amazing. My kids and coworkers loved it! I plan to make this again someday

I love this recipe. It has become an Easter tradition in my home.

Saffron is used in this recipe. I've made this many times and it's a huge hit where ever I've brought it.

I halved this recipe per other reviews. I've never had saffron bread before, so I don't have a real basis to judge by. The flavor is very nice, but the bread is denser than I would have liked. And like other reviews - it gets hard/dried out quick - even when I stored in airtight container. I wouldn't make this again.

This was my first attempt at breadmaking and it turned out beautiful and delicious. The loaf was quite large so after a few days we used the rest of it for bread pudding!

I steeped the saffron in 1 cup of water, used 1/2 cup less of milk and added raisins

GREAT BREAD I myself love making bread and this recipe was a ton of fun. The saffron added a rich color and a heavenly smell, and combined perfectly with the hint of sweetness and the mild taste if the spices. It was wonderful and we will make this again!

I couldn't stop eating it. Good thing the recipe makes a giant loaf. I followed the recipe exactly, except I wasn't sure how to measure how many teaspoons the little threads of saffron were. They're an odd shape for that sort of measurement. I used a 1-gram jar of saffron, which cost $8. I suspect it may not be a full two teaspoons if smashed down but it was a perfect amount, and who wants to spend more than $8 for the spice of a loaf of bread? The only other thing I did was give it a wash of egg and water before baking, and then I covered it with foil for the final 20 minutes. It really is delicious with a lovely texture.

This bread is amazing. I love the spices and the subtle sweetness and the aroma. I didn't braid my bread because my dough was still very sticky; I had to add lots of extra flour but didn't want to add too much in case I dried it out; I just added until it was workable without too much mess.

I gave this recipe 4 stars because the amount of flour needed is wrong. Instead of doing 2 cups last in half cup intervals I would recommend adding an additional 1.5-2 cups flour or else the dough is too sticky. Perfect amount of saffron- I would not reduce because the flavor would hardly be noticeable if you do. Would recommend adding raisins and 1/2 cup more sugar. Also recommend making two loaves or halving the recipe. It makes a TON. Also- bread did not take 50-60 minutes. Was done in 40. Overall- LOVE this bread recipe although best used as a guideline.

This is my go-to bread recipe. My whole family loves it. Yum!

My one problem was that the dough was too moist, I had to add about 3 cups of flour to get it to knead. I believe this was partly due to intense heat and humidity, but next time I'll be more conservative on the liquid until I see how it comes together. I used 1 tsp saffron, but the flavor and color was not as strong as I would have liked. Also, the bread came out HUGE- about 1.5'x2.5'! The texture is challa-like, and great flavor.

I made two loaves of this bread. I didn't have to add any extra flour other then the flour that I used on the flat surface when I was kneading it. I baked the loaves for 50 minutes in regular loaf pans but I would do it for 45 minutes the next time so they aren't so brown. Excellent smells, excellent flavor, and would definitely make it again. My wife is going to be so impressed!

my family really loved this recipe. after i made it the first time they get after me to make more!