Swiss plait bread

Name: Swiss plait bread
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 500 g plain white flour; 2 tsp salt; 1 tsp sugar; 7 g (1 sachet) fast action dried yeast; 60 g butter; 300 ml lukewarm milk; 1 egg yolk

Bristol @bristol

Bristol, United Kingdom

This bread is a typical Swiss recipe and is known as Zopf in the German-speaking part of the country. It's made with milk instead of water which gives it its particular flavour. In my family, we used to have one for breakfast every Sunday morning so I've always thought of it as "Sunday bread".

I've put in dried yeast because that's what I have to hand at the moment but any kind of yeast should work.

Bristol @bristol

Bristol, United Kingdom

I've put in dried yeast because that's what I have to hand at the moment but any kind of yeast should work.

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Ingredients

500 gplain white flour
2 tspsalt
1 tspsugar
7 g (1 sachet)fast action dried yeast
60 gbutter
300 mllukewarm milk
1egg yolk

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Steps

1

Mix the flour, salt, yeast and sugar in a bowl.
2

Rub in the butter.
3

Slowly add the milk and continue mixing until you have a soft and moist dough.
4

Knead for about 10 minutes and leave to rise for an hour and a half or until it's at least doubled in size.
5

To plait the bread, first cut the dough in half and form two long, thin rolls of equal size (around 1 meter).
6

Cross the two rolls in the middle and fold the lower one across the other.
7

Repeat the last step with the other roll, alternately crossing the rolls until you have a plaited loaf.
8

Brush with the yolk of one egg. Depending on who you ask in Switzerland, you can or cannot mix the yolk with a tablespoon of milk beforehand.
9

Bake for 35 minutes at the bottom of the oven, heated to 200 degrees.