Braided Yeast Bread (Hefezopf)

Ingredients:

Baking sheet

Parchment paper or some grease

500 g All-purpose flour

100 g sugar

200 ml lukewarm milk

1 package active dry yeast

100 g butter

1 pinch of salt

3 egg yolks

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Zest of one lemon

Optional: 100g or 1/2 cup raisins 

For the glaze:

1 egg

Preparation:

1. Heat half of the milk until barely lukewarm. Add yeast to milk, then stir in some flour until a thick batter has formed. Sift a thick layer of flour on top and let mixture stand for 15 minutes.

2. Heat remaining half of milk until lukewarm, and stir in sugar, butter, salt, egg, egg yolks, vanilla extract or vanilla sugar and lemon zest.

3. Sift remaining flour into a large bowl, and make a little dent in the middle. Pour yeast batter and milk-butter mixture into this dent, and knead everything together until a soft dough has formed (I used knead hooks and an electric hand mixer). Cover bowl with a cotton cloth and let yeast rise for at least 45 minutes until dough has doubled in size.

4. Knead dough again (I used my hands at this time). If you'd like to add raisins knead them in at this time. Then divide dough into four even portions. Form a long rod with your hands of each portion. Put all four strands next to each other, then press the ends on one side together to fuse them.

5. Take the strand on the far right and put it over the strand to its left, under the strand second to the left and over the strand on the far left. Now use the strand that is to the far right and repeat the braiding (over, under, over). Always starting for the right braid the strands in this pattern until done. At the end press the ends together to fuse the strands at the other end. Put yeast bread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a greased baking sheet.

6. Cover the braided yeast bread with a cotton towel and let the yeast rise until braided bread has increased about 1/3 in size.

7. Preheat oven to degrees Celsius  (325 F). Add water to a metal bowl and put in oven (the steam helps the yest bread to stay moist during baking, but it isn't necessary). Beat egg yolks and brush over top of braided bread. Bake at 160 degrees Celsius  (325 F) for about 45 Minutes until golden on the surface.