Sweet Braided Yeast Bread

Sweet Braided Yeast Bread recipe

Ingredients:
- 350 g white bread flour,
- 60 g powdered sugar,
- 20 g fresh yeast,
- 165 ml milk,
- 35 g butter,
- 2 egg yolks,
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar,
- grated zest of half lemon,
- grated zest of half orange,

- optional: 1 full teaspoon of dark cacao powder,
- optional: a few pieces of various nuts for surprise.

Instructions:
1,
Add to the 165 ml warm milk and mix gently:
- 2 teaspoons of sugar (from the 60 g powdered sugar),
- 1 tablespoon of flour (from the 350 g white bread flour),
- sprinkle in the 20 g fresh yeast,
- mix and set this aside for 10-20 minutes for the yeast to dissolve and activate.

2,
Mix all ingredients by hand in a big bowl large enough to hold the dough when risen. Add the following:
- the remaining of the 350 g white bread flour (1 tablespoon of it was “feed to” the yeast),
- the remaining of the 60 g powdered sugar (2 teaspoons were “feed to” the yeast),
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar,
- 35 g warm butter, (just room temperature so it is easier to knead the dough, don’t need to melt it)
- 2 egg yolks,
- grated zest of half lemon,
- grated zest of half orange,
- the activated milk-yeast mixture.

3,
Knead the dough by hand, for about 5 minutes. It will stop sticking to the bowl and become homogene. When homogene keep kneading for another 5 minutes.

Optional: divide the dough into 2 parts and mix in 1 full teaspoon of dark cacao powder to half of the dough to make a multi colored braided yeast bread.

4,
Let the dough rise, covered at warm temperature until doubled in
volume (about 40+ minutes).

5,
Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 3 or 4 equal parts depending on how you want your braided bread to look like (We did 4 strands).
Roll each part into a long strand. Place the 4 in a row, parallel to one another.

6,
Pinch the tops of the strands together and braid them.
Tuck the ends of the loaf underneath.

7,
Place the loaf in a baking pan lined with parchment paper and leave the braided loaf for another 40+ minutes to raise in a warm place until puffy.

8,
Brush the loaf with eggwash if you like it shiny.

9,
Bake in the center rack of the 175 Celsius preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes, or until golden-brown.

10,
Remove from the oven and let cool.

Slice and enjoy!

Bake it yourself and tell us in the comments how it turned out for you. Have Fun!
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Music: Andreas Theme Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/