Hefezopf – Swabian plaited yeast bun (english recipe)

Every Saturday my Grandma baked us a ‹Hefezopf› – a sweet white bread made of braided yeast dough.

The smell called us kids into the kitchen, and we always tried to get the first piece while it was still just out of the oven and cooling down. And every Saturday my Grandma would complain, because not much was left for coffee time later, and nearly never enough for the breakfast on Sunday 🙂

Ingredients:

500 gr plain flour
80 gr sugar
1 pinch of salt
75 gr unsalted butter
250 ml lukewarm milk
21 gr fresh yeast
raisins if you like them

to put onto the bread before baking:
1 egg yolk mixed with a bit of milk
coarse sugar

Make a firm yeast dough out of the ingredients. Rest it for at least 30 minutes to let it prove.

Cut the dough in three parts, roll it into form, and create the plait.

Let it rest again for a while until it has risen again, then get the egg yolk-milk mixture on top, and sprinkle with the coarse sugar.

Put it in the oven at 175°C for 35-45 minutes. In case the bread gets too dark, cover after 20 minutes with a bit of baking paper.