Beautiful Braided Bread Recipe
Beautiful braided bread recipe. How’s that for an alliteration? Somewhat of a work of art, this is one delicious loaf of bread that you almost feel bad about cutting in to…almost.
Homemade Braided Bread Loaf Recipe
I say almost, that is, but not quite since it’s just so darn tasty with it’s spongy, soft center and perfectly golden crust. Lightly brushing the dough with an egg and water mixture gives the loaves a beautifully shiny golden finish.
Soon after the loaves have cooled a touch, they are pretty much devoured in our household. After all, isn’t enjoying freshly baked bread one of life’s little pleasures?
We shared a few homemade bread recipes on the blog such as our grandma’s classic white bread recipe as well as our pull-apart Christmas tree dinner rolls, our Italian loaf recipe, sweet bread buns and homemade dinner rolls.
Braided Bread Recipe
Equipment
- Stand mixer
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm milk divided
- 1.5 tbsp yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 4.5 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp water
- ½ tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Combine yeast ingredients (1.5 tbsp yeast;1 cup warm milk;1 tsp sugar) in a cup and leave it to sit for a couple of minutes.
- In the meantime, place flour and salt in a mixing bowl and mix together.
- Add yeast mixture to flour mixture.
- Add 1 cup warm milk and oil and continue mixing.
- Dough needs to be firm so if you find the dough appears sticky, add more flour to firm up the dough.
- Mix for 5-10 minutes.
- Remove from bowl and knead by hand for 2-3 minutes on a floured surface.
- Leave for 1 hour covered with a paper towel.
- Knead again for another 2-3 minutes.
- Leave for ½ hour covered with a paper towel.
- When double the size, divide dough into 6 parts for making two loaves in a 9×13 pan.
- Lengthen the dough to about 40cm long.
- Work 3 strands and braid the dough loosely together to form one loaf. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Place in a parchment lined pan greased lightly with oil. Separate the two loaves down the center with parchment paper. Grease the loaves on all sides.
- Brush on one beaten egg with 1 tbsp water.
- Optional – add sesame seeds over the loaf after brushing on the egg mixture.
- Add 2-3 cups of water in an oven-safe dish and place inside oven on a separate rack. This will give the bread a shiny appearance.
- Bake at 385F for 30 minutes. Loaves should be golden colored on to the top.
Nutrition
Got leftover bread?
Did you know you can make your own bread crumbs at home? Check out this simple post for making homemade bread crumbs that you can then use for making these delicious frozen perogies and steamed cauliflower.
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What are we supposed to do with the 2nd cu. of milk?
@Diana West, HI in the numbered instructions #1 uses a cup of milk and #4 uses a cup of milk. Enjoy
When does the second cup of milk come into use!? I’ve read the recipe a few times. Am I missing something?
Hi Janna, yes, you’re right! But actually the bread dough bakes best with 1.5 cups warm milk in total. The first 1/2 cup is added to the yeast mixture and the remaining 1 cup is added to the dough mixture after combining with the dry ingredients. Many thanks for your question!
@Janna GOOD, If you read the directions one is mixed with the yeast and then one is added a little further down in the recipe . Number 3 says and yeast mixture to the flour which includes one cup of milk. Number 4 says and I cup warm mil and oil and continue mixing. Hope that helps.
Which oil do I use, the vegetable or olive? It never specifies, but the recipe calls for both.
We prefer vegetable oil for baking as olive oil changes the flavor. This recipe is with vegetable oil. Thank you for stopping by! -Jane
I tried this recipe today but it didn’t go well for me. My dough was far too dry with 1.5 cups of milk and I had to keep adding more just to form the dough. When I was forming it into braids it was splitting, and now it’s cooked I can tell the dough was far too dry because it’s all cracked. The second issue was that the dough strands needed to be MUCH longer than 25cm in order to make a braid. I measured mine at 50cm, but I think longer would have worked even better. Maybe the recipe was supposed to say 25 inches? I also wonder if the oven temperature should have been higher because the loaves are a very pale colour, even after rubbing with oil and glazing with egg. I had to leave it in the oven for an extra 10 minutes to get a better colour.
There are two things I did differently from the recipe, and I’m curious to know if you think they could have contributed to the problems I had? First, I kneaded by hand rather than in a stand mixer. Secondly, I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil.
Hi there, thankyou for your comments! Yes after rechecking the proportions, more milk is needed to prevent the dough from being too dry. So we have corrected the amount to 2 cups in total. Additionally, the length of the dough strands work best when around 40-50cm long but will depend on the size of the pan used. We prefer using vegetable oil (or canola oil) over olive but it can also be used.
@Su, I just cut into my loaf. Unbelievably dry, I’m so disappointed. Looks beautiful, I missed the additional milk also. May try again..
@Jane and Sonja, so I had the opposite issue. Two cups of milk made a total soupy mess. I wound up having to add a significant amount of extra flour just to form a dough at all
Not going to try this. Please offer gram measurements as an option. Plus…what happened to the milk? Baking is a science.
Hi there Rita, thankyou for your comment! Unfortunately, we don’t have the measurements in grams as an option at this stage. As for the milk, it is divided and added to the yeast mixture and then the balance is added to the dough alternatvely with the oil.
@Rita Marasa, baking is easy and the instructions were clear. Made a beautiful loaf.
How do you add filling to it?
Hi Andrea, we haven’t tried adding a filling to this bread, what sort of filling were you wanting to add?
@Andrea, I added two cups of cheese as well as 4 tablespoons of butter at room temperature. I incorporated the butter before the yeast, and the cheese in with the addition of the 2 cup of butter.
Attempting now! I did half AP flour half Bread flour and added an egg into my dough. Had to add 4 spoonfuls of flour to get it to come together correctly. When you have it rise, is it correct in reading leave out on the floured surface with a paper towel (not moistened) on top? I’m so used to rising bread dough in a greased bowl with Saran Wrap or warm moist towel on top to keep moisture in.
Might change it up a bit but will post again with results
Mine came out perfect!!! Wondering if it can be made gluten free ???
We used all ingredients and followed it well and it turned out great. It is two cups a milk by the way. We did have to add a teaspoon of flour to the recipe. The key is to mix the dough with flour as you are rolling it.
This came out great. I served it with a maple cinnamon butter. I kinda want to try to braid it before the second rise and let it rise in the braid to see if it makes it a little fluffier but this was delicious as is!
It’s perfect! I am going to try adding rosemary next.
Hi! Could I make the dough in my bread machine?
Yes, we don’t see why not. You would need to take it out and form it into the braids before baking in the oven.
Do you think I could add Golden raisins to it?
Yes, I don’t see why not. The dough isn’t sweet though – just the raisins will be.