Braided Bread

BRAIDED BREAD
Makes 2 loaves

1/4 cup warm water
2 ½ tsp yeast (or one yeast packet)
1 Tbl sugar
1 cup hot water
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbl butter

2 ½ cups flour
1 egg
1 ¾-2 cups more flour


In a drinking glass or bowl, stir together the warm water, yeast and sugar. Set it aside for about 10 min to rise.

In your mixer, combine the hot water, salt, sugar and butter and mix. Once the yeast has risen, add 2 ½ cups flour, 1 egg and the yeast. Mix all together (using your mixing paddle arm.)

Add 1 ¾ cups more flour and mix until a ball forms. If the dough is still too soft, add more flour until the dough feels like squishy play-dough. Take the paddle arm off your mixer and put the hook arm on. Turn mixer on to the number “2” setting (if you have a Kitchen Aid Mixer) and let machine knead the dough for 7 minutes. OR knead the dough by hand for 5-6 minutes on a hard surface.
Spray a large clean bowl with cooking spray. Put the dough in the bowl and cover with a cloth to keep from drying out. Place the bowl in a warm place (like the oven with just the light turned on). A good trick my mom taught me is to turn on your oven for just 10 seconds to let it warm up. Then turn it off and put your dough in there to rise. Don't let the oven heat for too long though, or it will bake your dough (rather than rising it). Just a few seconds is all you need to get it warm in there.

Let the dough rise for a couple hours.
Punch the dough down and let it rest for 10 minutes. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Using a knife, divide the dough in half. Starting with the first ball of dough, divide it into three pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 14 inches long.
Pinch the 3 ropes together at the top, braid the ropes, and pinch the ropes together at the end:
Squish the braid together slightly and place the braid onto the prepared cookie sheet, sideways. Repeat with the other ball of dough and place on the same sheet.
Cover cookie sheet with a cloth and let rise for about an hour.
Using a fork, whisk together one egg and 1 T. water until well combined (also known as an Egg Wash). Dip a crumpled paper towel into the mixture or use a paint brush and paint the egg wash over the tops and sides of the braids. Be careful as you brush that you don't press too hard or you may deflate the loaves. Heat the oven to 350º (remove the rising braids before heating the oven!).

Bake for 14-18 minutes or just till they start turning golden brown. Let the bread sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting. Serve with butter and fresh jam. Enjoy!


For CINNAMON BREAD
(This is for 1 loaf of bread)

When I make Braided Bread, it’s fun to turn one of the loaves into Cinnamon Bread. It's okay to have dessert for dinner, right?

For the Cinnamon Loaf, divide the dough into 3rds (just like you did above) and roll each rope out kinda long and flat (and not too wide) with a rolling pin. Spread each flat rope with Cinnamon filling (recipe below) then pinch the whole thing together so it makes a long rope, with all the cinnamon sugar hidden inside. Try to keep all the cinnamon sugar inside so it doesn’t spill out while cooking. Some of it still will, but do your best. Lastly, braid the 3 ropes together. Place it on the same baking sheet with your other loaf.

CINNAMON Filling:

1 T. butter melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
(melt the butter in the microwave then add sugar and cinnamon and mix together)