A good Italian /Bread with fennel seeds.
Ciambella Bread
7 cups of flour (840g)
1 tbls instand yeast
3 ts fennel seeds
2 ts salt
2 cups water
1 large egg
1 heaping tablespoon of vegetable shortening
In a large bowl or stand mixer combine all of the dry ingredients and mix together. Add the remaining ingredients and combine knead 10 minutes with stand mixer or 20 by hand. Finish kneading by hand until the dough is no longer sticky. Return to the bowl cover at let rise for two hours.
Pre heat the oven to 400 degrees F and bring a large pot of water to the boil with a bit of olive oil added to it.
Deflate the dough and divide in to 12 equal pieces.Roll each into a rope about 18 inches long . Join two ropes together at one end overlap them to form a kind of braid . Join the braid together at it’s ends to form a circle. Repeat for the rest of the sections. Boil each circle for about two minutes each.
Bake on a tray lined with parchment paper for 30 minutes or until brown turn them about half way through the baking process.