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Braided Sweet Bread
As I grew up we always had homemade
bread. My parents did not like
store bought bread & only bought a loaf for us for school
lunches. If
there was no time to bake our own then we had bakery bread. I
regret
not writing down my fathers recipe for his sweet bread but
this is close to it.
My kids love to eat this while it's warm right from the oven,
but if you seal it
well, it will stay fresh for a few days. This could be made
with a minimum of mess
and you don't need to flour your table & roll it out. You will
need a warm space
to let your dough raise & "Time", the dough needs to raise twice
so it will take a few hours to complete the process.
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Ingredients
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2-1/4 cups Hot Milk
1 package dry yeast
1 egg
7 cups flour (approx)
Golden Raisins (optional)
Grated lemon rind (optional)
Large mixing bowl
2 large cookie sheets
First, heat your milk on he stove or in
the microwave, Do Not Boil.
In a large mixing bowl, add your butter, sugar, salt & hot
milk, mix well.
Take your yeast & empty into a 1/4 cup warm water, mix well &
let
stand for 5 minutes. Then add your yeast mixture & egg to the
previous
ingredients. Now you start adding your flour, start with 4
cups, stir well
add remaining 3 cups of flour & stir well. If the dough is too
hard to stir
dust your hands with flour & mix by hand. your dough is ready
when it
doesn't stick to your hands anymore, if need be add more flour
till it
reaches this point. Now you want to knead the dough for a few
minutes.
This can all be done in the same bowl or if you prefer dust
your table or
counter & knead the bread there. Take a large bowl or even a
pot, grease
it up with margarine lightly & place your dough into it. Cover
with a towel
and place in a warm spot (top of your stove) & let it rise.
Check in an hour
to see if the dough is starting to raise. Once the dough is
doubled in size
you will knead it for a good 5 minutes, let rest for a few
minutes.
Take your 2 cookie sheets & lightly grease them with
margarine.
Form your dough into a ball & separate into 2 equal parts.
Take your
first section, form a ball ( I do all this on the cookie sheet
) divide into
3 equal parts. Take one part & roll the dough with your hands
on the
cookie sheet to form a long roll, as long as your sheet, do
the same to your
remaining 2 sections. Bring all 3 to the center of the pan,
place next
to each other, start braiding the rolls. As you braid you will
notice the dough
shrinking in length, you want to keep stretching it as you
braid. when
done, pinch the edges together on both ends & tuck under
slightly.
Cover the bread with a towel & place in a warm spot to rise.
Now work
on your second loaf, doing the same as the first. Cover & let
rise.
Again this can take an hour or longer, you want them to double
in
size or close to it. Once their ready, uncover & in a small
cup add an
egg Yolk plus 2 tablespoons of water, mix well. Brush your
bread
all over the top & sides with the egg mixture right before
placing in the oven.
Bake at 375 degrees
25 - 30 minutes
Check at 25 minutes & make sure the bottom isn't getting too
brown.
You don't want the bottom to burn. It's best to bake 1 bread
at a time.
Let bread cool for about 15 minutes before slicing. Serve
Once totally cooled, store in containers or plastic bags.
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If you like raisins in your bread add about a cup of golden
raisins
to the mixture before you add the flour.
To add a lemon taste to the bread, grate
the rind from a lemon
and add a one tablespoons to the mixture before adding flour.
Taste great toasted too!
Enjoy!
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Thank You!
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