Zopf is one of my favourite Swiss breads and is traditionally eaten for breakfast on Sundays with butter and honey.
Ingredients
for 3 small breads
- 2 cups plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 50g butter, soft
- 1/2 cup milk (full fat), lukewarm
- 5g dry yeast or 10g fresh yeast
- 1 egg for the icing
Step 1: Mix all the dry ingredients
Mix the flour with the salt and the sugar.
Step 2: Knead in the soft butter
Add the soft butter and mix it in by rubbing it between your fingers.
Step 3: Add yeast and milk
Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk.
Step 4: Mix by hand
Add the milk and mix it all together until it’s well combined and smooth.
Step 5: Knead
Knead by hand for at least 5-10 minutes. Kneading dough allows gluten to form which enables the dough to rise better, be lighter and fluffier.
Step 6: Let it rest
Let it rest at room temperature coverd by a damp cloth for 2 hours or until it has reached double its size.
Step 7: braid it
Here you can find a short video how to braid it.
Step 8: let it rest again
Put the breads on the baking tray and let them rise for another 15 minutes.
Step 9: brush with egg
Wisk one egg and brush the breads with it.
Step 10: bake
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and bake the breads for about 20 minutes (for one big bread it’s approx. 35 minutes). You know they’re good when they are golden and make a hollow sound when you knock on the bottom.
Enjoy!
And let us know how it turned out 😀