Witchykitten's  Kitchen

Zopf ~ A typical Swiss bread

INGREDIENTS

1 kg white flour (= 1.2 lbs)
1 tbsp salt
30 g fresh yeast (= 1 oz.)
1 ts sugar
150 g butter (= 0.33 lbs)
5.5 dl milk (= 0.58 quart)
1 egg

PREPARATION

Sieve flour into a bowl and make a little hollow in the middle. Sprinkle salt over edge of the hollow.

Dissolve yeast with sugar in a little bit of lukewarm milk. Melt the butter and let cool.

Add milk, whisked egg and the yeast into the hollow and work everything to a solid dough. Kneed with your hands for 10-15 minutes until dough is really elastic and smooth. When you cut it with a knife you should see little bubbles.

Place the dough in the bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in a warm place.

Divide the dough into 3 equal parts, form those into strings and plait them into a "pigtail". Spread Zopf with a mixture of egg yolk and milk, and let it rise again on the baking sheet.

Preheat oven to 180° Celsius (= 355° Fahrenheit) and bake Zopf for 30-45 minutes. At the end you can bake the Zopf for a very short time under the grill to brown it really nicely.

Our special hint:
Zopf is delicious with a Sunday brunch and you can also freeze it without problems.