Braided White Bread

Like I said, I’ve been having quite the fascination with baking bread. The other night, I made 3 loaves of bread AND a batch of cookies! I’m not quite sure what got into me, but it was fun After having so much success with the bread that I’d made, I wanted to “do it again”! Like I said, there’s something marvelous about rising bread…. it’s almost like it’s alive, like your little pet or something! HA! anyway, so I hopped back online and looked for another recipe to attempt, not complicated, but different than what I did before. Of course! Why not a braided bread? Lovely AND different! I have to admit, this one made me think of my mom. It seemed when I was very young was when my mom baked the most. Being the youngest of four children, I’m not surprised if she probably was “worn out” after making treats and sweets and breads for all my other siblings, but for some reason, I only remember a lot of homemade breads and such when I was very young. The braiding part of it reminded me of all the pretty Easter breads my mom used to make, or all the soft pretzels we used to enjoy as children. I even vaguely remember a blueberry braid that my mom made one time, or maybe it was several times, but that was a beautiful thing. Another Sunday morning favorite, I’ll have to get the recipe sometime. 

 

 

• 3 cups flour
• 3 tsp active dry yeast
• 3 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup of warm water
• 1 tbsp butter, diced
• 1 egg, beaten

Attach dough hook to mixer, add flour, dry yeast, sugar, salt, and warm water. Add more water if necessary, paying attention to the consistency of the dough. Add diced butter, mix. Adding a little flour, knead dough inside of bowl or on floured surface. Let rest for 10 minutes.

 

Roll dough out into a log, and cut in half. Roll out each half. The ropes should be 15 inches long approximately. Connect their ends together and begin to “braid” them or “twist” them, whichever you prefer. Place into greased pan, and brush with beaten egg. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and bake for 30 minutes. Release from pan and let completely cool before slicing.

 

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