Almond Puff Roll, King Arthur Flour Bakealong for April

 Since I don't have much time for baking during the academic year, I haven't participated in the earlier Bakelong recipes. I decided to go backwards while I wait for the new June recipe from King Arthur Flour. This was Almond Puff Loaf from April.

It was not hard and did not require any unusual ingredients. H and I went shopping for a new sofa in the morning, during some spring rain. We successfully bought a sofa (delivery in 3-5 weeks), and went to our favorite stores (World Market and Tuesday Morning) afterwards, then had lunch at Culver's. We were going to a friend's house after supper to play board games, but we had the whole afternoon available, so I decided to make the recipe.

First, I made the bottom crust, which is essentially a biscuit dough shaped into a flat rectangle. I didn't like this part because it was super sticky and I wasn't sure it was coming out properly. The top crust is a choix. I've never made one before, but it was easy. One spreads that on top of the sticky bottom layer with a spatula, and it looked a bit like whipped potato. Then one bakes for an hour and the choix puffs up into a rounded oval loaf. When you take that out of the oven and it starts to cool, it sinks and leaves a flatter pastry that is something like a Danish (without filling). Finally, you spread the loaves with jam (I used raspberry, which I bought at Tuesday Morning) and powdered sugar icing. Both the choix and the icing are flavored with almond.

These are the loaves before slicing. The pastry was light and flaky and not too sweet, but there was plenty of sweetness from the toppings. We took one loaf to board games and kept the other for ourselves. I still have a few cookies left from last weekend, but we're eating well. And it's raining again.