For this month’s We Knead to Bake, we are baking a French bread that has this lovely orange flavor. It is a breakfast pastry/bread that is buttery textured and shaped in a pretty way. You can also shape it as a big loaf. I did not have some of the orange flavorings given in the recipe and instead decided to double the orange zest. 
The amount of orange flavoring was just right and I distributed it to my friends since my kids are not fond of sweet bread. The adults loved it and I froze a few for later. The texture was soft and flaky and each bite had the goodness of orange.
Shaping it was pretty fun and I used the ends of tongs and scissors.
Adapted from here. Off to the recipe.
Gibassier Bread
Tasty orange flavored French bread.
Ingredients:
- For Pre-Ferment (Biga)
- bread flour - 1 1/2 cups
- milk - 1/2 cup
- yeast - 1/16 tsp
- For Dough
- eggs - 2
- olive oil - 1/4 cup
- orange blossom water - 1/8 cup
- water - 1/8 cup (warm water or orange juice)
- bread flour - 3 1/4 cups
- sugar - 1/2 cup
- salt - 3/4 tsp
- yeast - 1 3/4 tsp
- butter - 6 tbsp (softened)
- anise seeds - 1 1/2 - 2 tsp
- candied orange peel - 1/2 cup - chopped
- orange zest - 1 tsp
- For Glazing and Dusting
- ghee - 1/3 cup - 1/2 cup
Homemade ghee can be made following this link
- sugar - vanilla sugar or castor sugar
Instructions:
Mix the ingredients for biga and let it sit at room temperature for 14 - 16 hours.
Form a dough using the biga and the other dough ingredients. Knead until dough is soft. Allow dough to double in volume.
Divide dough into 12 pieces and allow to rest for about 15 minutes.
Roll each piece into a semi circle or oval and make three cuts as shown. Use something that can be pressed into the dough to make these cuts. I used the ends of tongs. Then using scissors make four snips on the edge as shown.
Place on a greased baking sheet and allow to rise again until puffy. It took about 45 minutes for me. Bake at 350F for about 10 - 15 minutes until the tops are golden brown.
While warm, brush with ghee and dust with sugar.
1. I used the ends of tongs to make the cuts.
2. I used water instead of orange blossom water, but doubled the zest.
3. I did not use anise seeds.
1 year ago: Savory Kugelhopf Bread
2 years ago: Chilli Tofu
3 years ago: Mysore Pak
Pictorial
1. Mix the ingredients for pre-ferment and keep at room temperature for 14 - 16 hrs.
2. Biga after 14 hours.
3. Mix all the ingredients for dough along with biga and form a smooth dough. Allow to rise.
4. Dough has doubled. It took about 2 hours for me.
5. Divide into 12 pieces. Allow the pieces to rest for 15 minutes.
6. Take each piece and roll into an oval or semi circle.
7. Using something sharp (I used the ends of tongs), make three cuts as shown. You have to use something that can be pressed into the dough. 
8. Then using scissors make four snips on the edge as shown.
9. Repeat for all pieces and place on a greased baking sheet and allow to rise.
10. After about 45 minutes, they look puffy. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 10 - 15 minutes until the tops are golden brown.
11. Out of the oven.
12. Brush them while warm with ghee and dust with sugar.
Tasty bread ready. It freezes well.
Enjoy!
Linking to We Knead to Bake and Bake Fest #33 hosted here.
 on http://cooksjoy.com/blog "Pin It")
Gibassier Bread looks so yummy and I love this.
They came out simply awesome..
Perfectly made Gibassier, love the bg color..neat pics