Zopf is for Sundays

In Blythe over Thanksgiving break, I made a new friend from Switzerland. He so dejectedly told me that there is nothing like Swiss bread in the U.S. My response to this was, I will make it! I did a bit of research online and found some different kinds of Swiss bread. One of the types of bread was called "zopf," which means braid in German-Swiss, the bread is braided. Zopf is traditionally baked on Sundays in Switzerland and is sometimes called Sunday bread, isn't that winsome!?

As much as I like the idea of zopf (Sunday bread, which is so cute!), I like zopf even better. If you like bread, do yourself a favor and get baking! I have baked zopf three times in the last two weeks, everyone has liked it. I have tried three different recipes and think I will share the second with you.

Ingredients:

- 6 3/4 teaspoons of yeast (I'd go with rapid rise)

- 1 1/2 cups of milk

- 1/4 cup of honey (optional)

- 1 teaspoon of sugar

- 4 1/4 cups flour

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 5 tablespoons of butter

- 1 egg yolk

Directions:

First, combine yeast and lukewarm milk. Stirring, allow the yeast to dissolve, the mixture will be a bit frothy. After the yeast has dissolved, add the honey and sugar and stir until it too is dissolved. Following this add the dry ingredients and melted butter, stir with a spoon. Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth, or if you want to avoid a mess, knead the dough in the bowl. Roll the dough into a ball, place it in a bowl, cover said bowl with a damp towel and allow the dough to rise in a warm location for an hour. After the dough has risen, divide the dough into two equal parts. Create two long strips of dough, approximately 24 inches, keeping the strips slightly thicker in the middle. Braid the bread, this can be a bit tricky, it took me two tries to get it right my first attempt. If it is too confusing, you can do three strips and braid that way, tucking the ends in. Here is a diagram that was useful and some pictures of my attempts.

This was way too long!

Make an "X," put the right top corner down and the left bottom corner up, then turn the dough down so that there are four strips facing you.

Continually move the furthest left strip
under the strip that is furthest to the right.

Your braided dough should look similar.
Make sure you tuck the ends in tight!
My ends came out a bit as the bread rose and baked.

Let the dough rise for a half an hour on a greased sheet. After the half hour brush the dough with an egg wash, avoid getting the wash in the cracks. An egg wash is made by mixing a teaspoon of water with an egg yolk. This will give the bread a crustier shell, a beautiful sheen, and a deep golden brown color. Allow the bread to rise another half hour. Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Finished product should look something like this. 

Hope you will try it out. Enjoy!