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APPLE CINNAMON DESSERT LOAF

10/12/2014

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     This was my first attempt at a yeasted pastry loaf that is not brioche. I searched among a number of recipes for ideas and found this solution--a yeasted bread that tastes great and looks impressive, but is not at all difficult to accomplish. The key is to keep the apples in the center 1/3 of the dough once it is rolled out, and to make sure the apple stuffing does not have too much liquid (you can save excess liquid for the glaze). The apples should not be sliced/prepared until the dough is ready to be rolled, otherwise they will oxidize (brown). This loaf cooks nicely and each slice displays a golden core of apples. This yields one rather large loaf.
Yield: 1 large Apple loaf (serves 8-10)

Ingredients:
For the dough:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp warm water
2 1/4 instant yeast
1/4 Tsp sugar (for yeast activation)
1/2 cup whole milk
6 Tbsp sugar
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut in chunks
1 Tsp salt
2 egg yolks

For apple stuffing:
3-4 medium sized golden delicious apples (or Granny smith--the idea is low water content)--skin peeled, cored, cut into 0.5cm slices
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tsp of lemon juice (to prevent apples from browning)
1/3 cup cookie crumbs (lady fingers, vanilla, or butter cookies)
1 1/2 Tsp cinnamon (or cinnamon sugar)
1 whole egg, beaten (for eggwash)

For glaze:
If you have juice left over from simmering the apples, you can add Confectioner's sugar to this until it thickens, and use this as a glaze!
Alternatively, whisk the following ingredients together in a bowl:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp + 2 Tsp whole milk
1/4 Tsp vanilla extract
1/4 Tsp kosher salt

Directions:
For the dough:
1) Place 2 tbsp of warm water and the 1/4 Tsp sugar in a small bowl. Stir in the yeast and let stand in a warm place until the mixture foams, about 10-15 minutes.

2) Stir the milk, sugar, butter chunks, and salt in a medium pot over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the butter melts (mixture should be warm, not hot).

3) Transfer this warm butter mixture into a medium/large bowl. Then whisk in the yeast mixture, and egg yolks. Add the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together. You can knead the dough with a hook (mixer) for 6 minutes, OR if you don’t have a mixer you can knead by hand for about 8-10 minutes.

4) Transfer dough to a clean (large) bowl lightly sprayed with oil. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled, about 1.5-2hrs (for this step, I often preheat my oven to 200F just for a moment, then I turn if off for a few minutes and place my dough bowl in there with the oven light on. It works very well.

5) Let the dough rise until almost doubled in volume, about 1 ½-2 hrs. Gently punch the dough down in the bowl and let the dough rest in the bowl on the counter for about 45-60min while you work on the filling.

For the filling:

6) Peel and slice the apples and toss in the lemon juice (to prevent browning). Melt the butter in a medium pot over the medium heat. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook until a grainy sauce forms, about 1 minute. Mix in the apple slices. Cook until the apples are tender and the sauce is reduced to glaze, about 7-10 minutes, stirring often to avoid scorching. Cool the filling for least 30 minutes and. Set the apple stuffing aside and return to the dough!

7) Place a large sheet of aluminum foil on a work surface. Spray with nonstick spray and lightly dust with flour. Turn the dough out onto the foil and roll out to 14×12-inch (30x35-cm) rectangle. Sprinkle the cookie crumbs lengthwise (in the longer, 14inch or 35cm direction) in the middle 1/3 of the rectangle leaving ½ inch (about 1.5cm) border at the top and bottom of the rectangle.

8) Arrange the apples with any juices over the crumbs. Starting ½ inch (1.5cm) from the each long side of the apple filling, cut the dough at a slight diagonal to the top edge of the rectangle at 1-inch (2.5cm) interval, making about 12-13 strips on each side. See pictures above for reference. Fold the dough strips alternately, left then right, and on a slight angle over the filling. This forms the lattice. Seal the open ends of the dough. You should not be able to see an escape route for apples!

9) Slide the loaf (keep it on the foil) onto a large baking sheet. Roll the sides of the foil up a bit to contain juices if your lattice leaks--if you braided it without gaps, you should be fine!). Cover the loaf loosely with oil-sprayed plastic and let the dough rise in the warm place until light and puffy, about 30-60min.

10) Preheat the oven to 375F. Gently brush the loaf with the egg wash. This will especially help to seal the braid. Bake until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Let cool on foil over wire rack for 30 minutes. When cool, use a spatula to gently separate the loaf from the aluminum and transfer to a large serving dish.

11) At this point you can add the glaze and sift Confectioner's sugar over the top as desired:

For the glaze:
If you have juice left over from simmering the apples, you can add Confectioner's sugar and stir until it thickens. You can use this as a glaze or a sauce to drizzle over your slices. Alternatively, whisk the above-listed ingredients together in a bowl.

Serve the cake slightly warm or at room temperature.

NOTE: Due to lack of preservatives in the dough, the loaf tastes the best within the first few hours or days of baking. I would recommend freezing the loaf you plan to eat it more than 2-3 days after baking, as it will rapidly become stale.
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SWEET DESSERT PRETZELS

9/28/2014

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      This recipe is very interesting--definitely a dessert or breakfast item. The dough has more of a buttery/brioche quality, and goes better with chocolate dip, nutella, or dessert items rather than ketchup or mustard. It is a yeasted dough, so they are fluffy breads--not cookies. You can add coarse sugar or cinnamon sugar--whatever you want to the top. They tasted great dipped in Nutella.
Yield: 12 small dessert pretzels

Ingredients:
For dough:
3-3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tsp kosher salt
1 3/4 Tsp instant yeast
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), softened and cut into small chunks
5 Tbsp sugar
2/3 cup whole milk


For brushing:
1 egg white
All-purpose flour for dusting
5 Tbsp coarse sugar
(or cinnamon sugar, if you prefer)

Directions:

1) Heat milk over medium heat to 110°F. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in 1 Tbsp sugar. Add yeast to the warm milk and blend. Let sit 5 minutes. Add eggs; whisk until smooth.

2) In a separate medium-large bowl, add together the remaining 4 Tbsps sugar, flour, and salt. Then add the milk/egg mixture. Then add the softened pieces of butter, 1 piece at a time, stirring well.

3) Transfer dough to lightly floured surface
and knead until dough is silky, about 5 minutes. You may have to add additional flour if your dough is too wet.

4) Place dough in lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Let dough rise in a warm area until doubled in size, about 1.5-2 hours. Line 2 medium baking sheets with parchment paper.

5)
Punch down dough; divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece dough on a lightly floured surface into rope (about 12-14" long). Form rope into a U-shape. Take the ends of the "U" and cross them over each other. Then grab the where they overlap and bring it down over what was the base of the "U"--now you have formed your basic pretzel shape! Repeat for all remaining pieces of dough.

6)
On each parchment-lined baking sheet, place 6 pretzels--spacing them at least 2" apart. Loosely cover pretzels with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Let dough rise in a warm, area until slightly puffy, about 30 minutes.

7) Preheat to 375°F. Add 2 Tsp of warm water to the egg white and whip together in a small bowl. Brush each pretzel all over with the egg-water wash. Then sprinkle each with 1/2 Tbsp coarse sugar (or cinnamon sugar).

8) Bake for 15 minutes, rotating baking sheets after 7 minutes. Continue baking until pretzels are golden. Transfer to rack for cooling. Serve warm or within several hours of baking.

NOTE: Due to lack of preservatives in the dough, the breads taste the best within the first few hours of baking. I would recommend freezing them if you plan to eat them more than one day after baking, as they will rapidly become stale.
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CHOCOLATE CHIP FLOWER BREAD

9/12/2014

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     This recipe is essentially a buttery, dessert, brioche-like dough that I shaped into flower/swirls with chocolate chips incorporated for additional flavor. Due to the high butter content, the dough itself it great for rolling and shaping, especially after it is chilled in the refrigerator--and it doesn't make much of a mess. I have found it to produce reliable results--the shapes still look great after baking, and the flavor is magnificent. You can make any shape you want. It took me a few tries to get a decent flower/swirl shape.
Yield: 6 medium flower breads (or 12 smaller) breads

Ingredients:
3 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 Tsp salt
1 tbsp instant yeast
3 large eggs*
1/4 cup milk
10 Tbsp butter
Mini chocolate chips for sprinkling
*You can save the white of a 4th egg to brush on the buns if you plan to top them with sugar

Directions:
1) In a mixer or bread machine (programmed for dough), mix together 3 cups of flour and the rest of the ingredients to form a smooth dough. It will be sticky at first and may require the extra 1/2 cup flour to make the dough come together if the conditions in your kitchen differ (temperature, humidity, etc). Remove from mixer and knead with your hands until silky smooth.

2) Form the dough into a ball. Place it in a greased bowl and let rise for ~1hr. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour (until chilled), or as long as overnight. This will slow the fermentation process and will make the dough easier to braid/shape.

3) Decide which shape you want. For this particular recipe, I took the dough out of the refrigerator and divided it into 12 pieces--you can do 6 pieces...whatever size and amount you want. But to make this particular shape you will have to divide each piece into at least 4 smaller pieces...so I think 12 is the limit!

A nice way to achieve the flower/swirl shape (there are multiple ways) is shown in the video below. I did not cut my shapes into exact circles, let alone this many circles. Basically you can modify the technique as you would like:
4) Place dough shapes into greased pan(s) of your choice, cover lightly, and let rise in a warm place for 1.5-2hrs until doubled (it will look very puffy).

5) Preheat the oven to 375F. Right before the swirls are cooked, you can brush them with the egg white of a 4th egg, sprinkle mini chocolate chips into the petals of the roses, and even add sugar on top.

6) Place the chocolate-chipped swirls (on cookie sheet) in oven and bake for about 30-35min. NOTE: every oven cooks differently, so watch your swirls after 10 minutes. The buttery dough should be a golden/deep brown when done, and should sound hollow when tapped on the underside.

7) Remove buns from oven and, after a few minutes, transfer to rack for cooling.

NOTE:
Due to lack of preservatives in the dough, the breads taste the best within the first few hours of baking. I would recommend freezing them if you plan to eat them more than one day after baking, as they will rapidly become stale.
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CLASSIC BRIOCHE

9/12/2014

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     This dough is perfect. It's very flaky and light, yet full of flavor thanks to the key ingredients of butter and egg. You almost can't go wrong with this one. Great flavor, great for shaping, and not messy. I think it's a win.
Yield: 6 medium brioche buns (or 12 smaller buns)

Ingredients:
3 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 Tsp salt
1 tbsp instant yeast
3 large eggs*
1/4 cup milk
10 Tbsp butter
*You can save the white of a 4th egg to brush on the buns if you plan to top them with sugar

Directions:
1) In a mixer or bread machine (programmed for dough), mix together 3 cups of flour and the rest of the ingredients to form a smooth dough. It will be sticky at first and may require the extra 1/2 cup flour to make the dough come together if the conditions in your kitchen differ (temperature, humidity, etc). Remove from mixer and knead with your hands until silky smooth.

2) Form the dough into a ball. Place it in a greased bowl and let rise for ~1hr. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour (until chilled), or as long as overnight. This will slow the fermentation process and will make the dough easier to braid/shape.

3) Decide which shape you want. For this particular recipe, I took the dough out of the refrigerator and divided it into 6 pieces (you can do 12 smaller brioches).

A nice way to achieve the traditional brioche shape (there are multiple ways) is shown in the video below:
4) Place dough into greased pan(s) of your choice (classic ruffled brioche tins, or just muffin tins), cover lightly, and let rise in a warm place for 1.5-2hrs until doubled (it will look very puffy).

5) Preheat the oven to 375F. Right before the swirls are cooked, you can brush them with the egg white of a 4th egg and sprinkle sugar or cinnamon sugar on top.

6) Place buns (on cookie sheet) in oven and bake for about 30-35min. NOTE: every oven cooks differently, so watch your buns after 10 minutes. The buttery dough should be a golden/deep brown when done, and should sound hollow when tapped on the underside.

7) Remove buns from oven and, after a few minutes, transfer to rack for cooling.

NOTE: Due to lack of preservatives in the dough, the breads taste the best within the first few hours of baking. I would recommend freezing them if you plan to eat them more than one day after baking, as they will rapidly become stale.
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CINNAMON SWIRL BUNS 

9/7/2014

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     The first version of this bread that I made for my family was gently criticized for not having enough cinnamon. So, I took it upon myself to add more cinnamon everywhere. I put fresh ground cinnamon into the dry ingredients of the dough. I rolled cinnamon sugar into the ropes of dough before braiding, and then I topped the buns with cinnamon sugar just before baking. The result was significantly better. Here is what I did...
Yield: 12 buns

Ingredients:
3 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
4-5 Tsp ground cinnamon (or to your preference)
1 1/4
Tsp salt
1 tbsp instant yeast
3 large eggs*
1/4 cup milk
10 Tbsp butter, softened
*You can save the white of a 4th egg to brush on the buns if you plan to top them with sugar or cinnamon sugar
Extra cinnamon sugar for garnishing (added before shaping the breads)

Directions:
1) In a mixer or bread machine (programmed for dough), mix together 3 cups of flour and the rest of the ingredients to form a smooth dough. Add the salt last when the dough begins to form ropes/clumps. The dough will be sticky at first and may require the extra 1/2 cup flour to make the dough come together if the conditions in your kitchen differ (temperature, humidity, etc). Remove from mixer and knead with your hands until silky smooth.

2) Form the dough into a ball. Place it in a greased bowl and let rise for ~1hr. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour (until chilled), or as long as overnight. This will slow the fermentation process and will make the dough easier to braid/shape.

3) Decide which shape you want. For this particular recipe, I took the dough out of the refrigerator and divided it into 12 pieces. I lightly patted the pieces into small rectangles and sprinkled them with a layer of cinnamon sugar. Then I rolled the rectangle into a long snake/rope shape (about 10-12" long). With some of these 'ropes,' I also made a separate batch and used half of the dough to make a larger, round "turban" shape.

Good examples of both techniques are shown in the videos below:
4) Place dough into greased pan(s) of your choice, cover lightly, and let rise in a warm place for 1.5-2hrs until doubled (it will look very puffy).

5) Preheat the oven to 375F. Right before the swirls are cooked, you can brush them with the egg white of a 4th egg and sprinkle sugar or cinnamon sugar on top.

6) Place swirls (on cookie sheet) in oven and bake for about 30-35min. NOTE: every oven cooks differently, so watch your swirls after 10 minutes. The buttery dough should be a golden/deep brown when done, and should sound hollow when tapped on the underside.

7) Remove buns from oven and, after a few minutes, transfer to rack for cooling.

NOTE: Due to lack of preservatives in the dough, the breads taste the best within the first few hours of baking. I would recommend freezing them if you plan to eat them more than one day after baking, as they will rapidly become stale.
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CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER BRIOCHE

9/6/2014

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     This is an American twist on a classic french bread. I came up with the idea when I was gathering my brioche ingredients and found a pack of Reese's mini peanut butter cups nearby. It is best to shape this bread when the dough is cold/chilled, as the chocolate will melt in warm dough and become kind of messy. This is a rich bread, but it's hard not to like unless you don't like peanut butter!
Yield: 6 medium brioches (or 12 small brioches)

Ingredients:
3 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
6-8 mini Reeses peanut butter cups (or 2-3 regular peanut butter cups), chopped
1 1/4 Tsp salt
1 tbsp instant yeast
3 large eggs*
1/4 cup milk
10 Tbsp butter
*You can save the white of a 4th egg to brush on the buns if you plan to top them with sugar

Directions:
1) In a mixer or bread machine (programmed for dough), mix together 3 cups of flour and the rest of the ingredients to form a smooth dough. Add the salt last as the dough begins to form ropes/clumps. It will be sticky at first and may require the extra 1/2 cup flour to make the dough come together if the conditions in your kitchen differ (temperature, humidity, etc). Remove from mixer and knead with your hands until silky smooth.

2) Form the dough into a ball. Place it in a greased bowl and let rise for ~1hr. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour (until chilled), or as long as overnight. This will slow the fermentation process and will make the dough easier to braid/shape.

3) Decide which shape you want. For this particular recipe, I took the dough out of the refrigerator and divided it into 12 pieces (you can do six and make them bigger). It was at this point that I tucked the chopped Reese's peanut butter piece into the cold dough.

A good examples of the traditional brioche shaping technique is shown in the videos below:
4) Place the dough (now containing the Reese's) into greased pan(s) of your choice, cover lightly, and let rise in a warm place for 1.5-2hrs until doubled (it will look very puffy).

5) Preheat the oven to 375F. Right before the swirls are cooked, you can brush them with the egg white of a 4th egg and sprinkle sugar or cinnamon sugar on top.

6) Place swirls (on cookie sheet) in oven and bake for about 30-35min. NOTE: every oven cooks differently, so watch your swirls after 10 minutes. The buttery dough should be a golden/deep brown when done, and should sound hollow when tapped on the underside.

7) Remove buns from oven and, after a few minutes, transfer to rack for cooling.

NOTE: Due to lack of preservatives in the dough, the breads taste the best within the first few hours of baking. I would recommend freezing them if you plan to eat them more than one day after baking, as they will rapidly become stale.
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NUTELLA BRIOCHE FLOWER

9/1/2014

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     This is, admittedly, my favorite bread to make on the whole website. It is not technically difficult, but it does take time and patience. I discovered the shape and saw it repeatedly on the accounts of Italian Instagrammers. So I researched on Google and YouTube and found a video (in Italian) that I could follow. I chose to use my own brioche dough recipe that I have found to be reliable and tasty. Ultimately, I combined my preferred dough with the video demo and have successfully made multiple crowd-pleasing brioche flowers. For shaping, it is important to use dough that is chilled. As you are adding Nutella to the layers of dough, they may soften. After you complete the layering process, I recommend chilling the dough for 10-15 minutes in the refrigerator. This will make it infinitely easier to make the appropriate cuts, while keeping the bread looking clean and esthetic (no oozing!). Good luck! Buona fortuna!
Yield: 1 large Nutella brioche flower

Ingredients:
For dough:
3 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 Tsp salt
1 tbsp instant yeast
3 large eggs*
1/4 cup milk
10 Tbsp butter, softened
*You can save the white of a 4th egg to brush on the buns if you plan to top them with sugar
1 piece of parchment paper + 1 cookie sheet or pizza dish

For layers:
1 medium-large jar of Nutella


Directions:
1) In a mixer or bread machine (programmed for dough), mix together 3 cups of flour and the rest of the ingredients to form a smooth dough. It will be sticky at first and may require the extra 1/2 cup flour to make the dough come together if the conditions in your kitchen differ (temperature, humidity, etc). Remove from mixer and knead with your hands until silky smooth.

2) Form the dough into a ball. Place it in a greased bowl and let rise for ~1-1.5 hrs--it will become quite puffy. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour (until chilled), or as long as overnight. This will slow the fermentation process and will make the dough easier to braid/shape.

3) To achieve this particular flower shape, I took the dough out of the refrigerator and divided it into 4 even pieces.

     The video below is in Italian (all you have to do is watch the technique), and you can skip through some of the first parts where she describes how to make the brioche--I have provided a recipe above. You can shape the dough just as she does shown in the video below. NOTE: I DO recommend refrigerating the dough once more for 15-20 minutes BEFORE making the 16 cuts. If the dough (full of butter) begins to get warm and melt as you work, it will be more difficult to cut...and messy.

4) Let your finished, braided product rest on top of the parchment paper in the pizza dish/cookie sheet for about 30 minutes (it will puff a little more).

5) Preheat the oven to 375F. Right before the bread is cooked, you can brush it the egg white of a 4th egg.

6) Place cookie sheet or pizza pan in oven and bake for about 30-35min. NOTE: watch the bread. Every oven cooks differently. The buttery dough should a golden brown on all of the petals and center when done.

7) Remove from oven and let cool for about 15min. Carefully transfer to rack for cooling. You can sprinkle confectioner's sugar on top for an added effect, but it will still look beautiful without it.

NOTE:
Due to lack of preservatives in the dough, the bread tastes the best within the first few hours of baking. I would recommend freezing it if you plan to eat it more than one day after baking, as it will rapidly become stale.
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PUERTO RICAN MALLORCA BUNS

9/1/2014

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     One of my Puerto Rican friends suggested I try to make this bread, so I did some research. Traditionally the bread is made into snail-like swirls, but I had a new square pan I wanted to use..so, naturally, mine were square. The dough has enough butter and eggs in it to resemble brioche, but by nature of its Puerto Rican origins, I can't call this brioche.
Yield: 12 buns

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 Tsp instant yeast
1 cup milk
1 cup warm water
3/4 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
16 Tbsp butter, melted

Directions:
1) In a mixing bowl, add water and milk. Then add yeast, sugar, and 1 cup of the flour and stir. Set aside this mixture for 45-60 minutes.

2) Add the egg yolks to the mixture, and stir, blending very well. Continue to stir and add the rest of the flour one cup at a time.

3) Add 8 Tbsp melted butter and mix until butter is incorporated and dough is sticky. Cover and set aside until dough has doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

4) Transfer dough to lightly floured work area. Divide dough into 12 pieces.
For swirls: Roll or pat each piece into a rough rectangle. Paint the top surface of rounds with remaining melted butter, and roll into a long rope. Form the rope into a coil, with the inner end tucked in. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
For buns: flatten pieces into rounds. Paint top surface of rounds with remaining melted butter. Roll the rounds into balls and place in a lightly greased muffin/baking/cookie sheet.

5) Cover and let rolls rise until they have doubled in size.

6) Preheat oven to 375F and bake for about 12-15 minutes. Cool on cooling rack and dust with powdered sugar. NOTE: every oven cooks differently, so watch your buns after 10 minutes. The buttery dough should be a golden/deep brown when done, and should sound hollow when tapped on the underside.

NOTE: Due to lack of preservatives in the dough, the breads taste the best within the first few hours of baking. I would recommend freezing them if you plan to eat them more than one day after baking, as they will rapidly become stale.
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    Italian-American.
    New Jersey.
    USA.

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