Hobbes the traveller & foodie: Braided Bread

Despite disagreeing on whether to make whole wheat or all purpose flour bread for most of today morning, we finally agreed to try out a recipe with all purpose flour (only). It turned out great, and the boys loved it.

Ingredients
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
4 - 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (maida)
1/4 cup white granulated sugar (no need to powder it, regular granulated sugar will do)
2 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk (keep the left over white for the egg wash)
1/4 cup butter / vegetable oil (we used regular salted butter)

Method

Yeast mixture after rising

In a cup (atleast twice the size of the measuring cup) dissolve a tsp of sugar in 1 cup of luke warm water and let it rest for 10-15 min (till the yeast starts to froth and the water almost doubles). In case it doesn’t rise, then take a fresh pack of yeast and start again for your yeast is dead.

Mix in your dry ingredients (flour, sugar and salt). Make a well in the mixture and add the eggs (and the yolk) and the butter / oil.

Mix the dry ingredients

Put in the eggs & oil in the middle

Make a well in the middle

the dough is sticky


Make the slurry

First make a slurry in the middle with the wet ingredients and gradually mix in the flour from the sides. Use a kneader if you have one, else mix it in with a ladle. Once the whole thing becomes one sticky paste/wet dough, take it out on your working surface (which should have been nicely floured so that it doesn’t stick)

Knead it, adding a little flour if required to prevent it from sticking. (believe me, it will be very very sticky, so keep at least half a cup of flour handy). Once the dough is soft, smooth and on pushing in with your thumb, it retains the shape, it is ready for the first rising.

Put it in a well oiled vessel and keep covered in a warm area for 1-2 hours (until it has doubled in size)

Dough should at least double in size

Divide into 6 parts

Take out the dough, back on the well floured work surface. Divide it into 6 parts. (Dont worry if the parts are not very equal)

Now roll them into long rope like piece.

Start by using both hands in the middle

Gradually move to the sides so that the thickness remains the same

Till the dough is like a long rope

Now, keep the ropes together, and pinch together one end.

Then start braiding by moving the outermost rope over the next two, under the third and over the last two. Now this step is repeated over and over.

The bread will keep tilting to the left, dont worry, your final product will be nice and straight.

As you reach the end, pinch the last bits together. Now, using the palm press on the sides to give a rectangular shape to the bread.

Put the dough on a greased baking dish. Now, let the dough rest for another 1/2 hour to 1 hour in a warm corner.[we normally cover it up with a kitchen towel and keep it in the oven (switched off)]

After the second rising

After the second rising, preheat your oven to 350 deg F or 180 deg C. (Normally, I preheat to 200 deg C and then lower the temp to 180 deg C for the final baking)
Now, use the left over egg white (add 1 tbsp of water) to brush the top surface of the dough generously (it gives the nice colour and sheen to the bread)

Now, bake for 30 min at 180 deg C.
Tip - To give the feel of a bakers oven, i keep a tray below the rack, and put in a few cubes of ice every 7-8 minutes to increase the humidity inside the oven, this gives the bread a nice crust.

Once done (you will come to know by the amazing smell of freshly baked bread in the house as well as the hollow sound when you tap the bread), open the oven door a bit and leave for 10 min.