Hefezopf (German Bread)
- 500 grams Flour (Type 405 cake flour)
- 21 grams Fresh yeast
- 230 ml Soy milk or milk
- 50 grams Sugar
- 1 from 1 lemon Lemon zest
- 70 grams Butter
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 plus 1/2 Egg, large
- 1/2 Egg
- 3 tbsp Sliced almonds
- 1 Nib sugar
- If using a bread machine Combine all the ingredients (except for the garnishing and glazing ingredients) in the bread making machine.
- Select the dough setting and press start.
- When the dough is done, skip to Step 6.
- If kneading by hand In a bowl, combine warmed up milk and the ingredients marked with .
- Mix until the yeast dissolves completely.
- Add the lemon zest and the eggs, then set aside.
- Place the flour in a separate bowl and pour in the mixture from Step 2.
- Knead it for 5 minutes.
- Add the butter and salt.
- Continue kneading about another 10 minutes.
- It might be tough to knead, but be patient and keep kneading.
- First proof This dough is quite soft, but once the dough comes together, allow it to rise for 40-50 minutes.
- Cover it with tightly wrung out damp cloth to prevent it from drying up.
- Check with your finger When the dough rises up to about twice the size that it was originally, dust your finger with flour and push it down to make a hole.
- If the dough stays down like a belly button, it is done rising.
- Dust the working surface with flour for easier handling.
- In this recipe, we are going to make a braid with 6 strands, so divide the dough into 6 parts and roll it out to 40-45 cm long.
- Start braiding.
- Secure the beginning and the end of the braid tightly.
- Place the dough onto a cookie sheet, cover it with a tightly wrung out damp cloth and allow it to rise for the second time.
- It will take about 30 minutes and the dough should be 1.5-2 times bigger than its original size.
- It should look like this after the second rising.
- Preheat the oven to 200C.
- Glaze the dough with the beaten egg.
- Decorate the dough with a plenty of almond slices and nib sugar.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 200C.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 180C and bake for another 15-20 minutes.
- Adjust the time if necessary.
- This is the cross section of the bread.
- It is tasty as it is, but it is normally eaten by spreading on some butter and jam.
- I made 2 smaller loaves with the same amount of the ingredients above.
- The left loaf has some cranberries in it.
- At Step 7, divide the dough into half and add 30 g of cranberries into one.
- Here is a 6-strand braid.
- Chocolate and orange zopf Substitute 20 g of flour with 20 g of coco powder.
- Use orange zest instead of lemon zest.
- Also substitute a part of soy milk with some squeezed orange juice.
- Bake it the same way.
yeast, milk, sugar, butter, salt, egg, egg, almonds, nib sugar
Taken from cookpad.com/us/recipes/155897-hefezopf-german-bread (may not work)