I made this today. It came out well, but I have some questions & comments: > The sponge was very watery. Two ounces of flour isn't enough to make what I think of as a sponge. > As another person said, I had to add a lot of extra flour to the dough itself. > How *do* you roll out the dough so perfectly? I'd love to see a video on that! > There was a little more of the cream cheese filling than I needed, but there was way too little of the lemon curd. I used a whole 10 oz jar, when the recipe called for 4 oz. > Putting the cream cheese filling on was easy, because it was pourable. But in your photo, it looks much thicker! > Putting the lemon curd on top of the cream cheese was very hard because it was too thick to spread. That may be partly why I needed so much. Would heating it up a little help? Or putting it down before the cream cheese? (But it was so thick that spreading it on the dough might tear it.) > Would mixing the flour and sugar together before the rest of the cream cheese filling ingredients make there be fewer lumps, reducing the mixing time? I got the lumps, but it required a lot of whisking. > The recipe referred to "the right consistency" for the dough. I've baked enough to know what that means, but more detail might help novices (and it wasn't so hard, even though the braiding could look scary). > How do you roll out the dough so perfectly? But all that notwithstanding, it came out great. I used the scraps to make a single bread with just the leftover cream cheese filling. I think in the future, I might make a bunch of small ones, serving one or two each. The photos and the step-by-step descriptions are a great help. As noted above, I'd love to see video, especially of rolling out the dough. -- hs Thanks for the nice comments about the dough, but believe me, it doesn't always come out that perfect! I do take a bit of time to pat the dough into a nice rectangle before I start rolling and stop occasionally to straighten out the sides but if they are a little askew, the braid will still come out beautifully. For the other questions, the sponge is very liquidy, it isn't a dry or stiff starter. You don't want to add more flour at this stage, it can inhibit the yeast growth if the dough is too thick. Think how much easier it is to breathe in loose fitting clothing than tighter. For the filling lumps, be sure that the cream cheese is room temperature. You can even give it a zap in the microwave to be sure it is quite soft. The lemon curd I used was quite smooth and soft and spread very easily. If yours is thicker you may need to warm it to make it more spreadable. I've found that 4 ounces is a nice amount to give the lemon flavor. Keep in mind that too much filling can bubble out and burn on the outside of the bread, or can make serving very soggy. Thanks again for your comments. Happy Baking. ~ MaryJane

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