Braided Bread ('Hefezopf')

Whisk together the warm milk and egg. Reserve 2-3 tablespoons for brushing the loaf before baking. Stir the salt, sugar, and yeast into the remaining milk-egg-mixture.

Add the liquid mixture to the flour. You can either knead the dough by hand or by machine. If using a stand mixer, knead the dough for 2 minutes on the low setting followed by 4 minutes on the high setting. Then add in the butter and knead for another 3-4 minutes on the high setting or until smooth. If kneading by hand, knead the dough until smooth, then incorporate the butter and continue kneading until it is smooth again.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1-1.5 hours. Briefly knead the dough to deflate it and divide it into 4 evenly sized pieces. Cover with plastic wrap and leave them to rest for 10 minutes. Now you can roll them into 4 strands, about 1.5 inch (3.8 cm) in thickness. Shape the dough into a braid pattern. If you're unsure how to do it, check my blog post for a visual guide. Cover the braided bread loaf with plastic wrap and let it proof at room temperature on a parchment-lined baking sheet until doubled in size, about 30-45 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 200 °C (390 °F).

Shortly before baking, brush the proofed loaf generously with the reserved milk-egg-mixture. Bake the loaf for about 25 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown on top. Let it cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing into it.