This recipe is inspired by this post from ABC Food. It creates a delicious sweet braided bread traditionally baked at Easter in Germany.
To create this bread you need a sourdough starter. If you don’t have a starter you can create one using this page. In this recipe we call the sourdough starter a ‘mother starter’ as the starter remains in the dough and is not retrieved before the final leavening takes place. So make sure that you don’t use all of your starter but increase it to the amount required in the recipe. How to increase?
This recipe creates 3 loaves.
Unit size | 1162g (41oz) |
Number of loaves | 3 |
Total flour | 1246g (43.95oz) |
Temperature
Our recipes assume a consistent dough temperature of 20°C (68°F), for the home baker this is a challenge but remember that you can use warm water to increase the dough temperature if the weather is colder or add ice to the water to cool it.
Dough – Ingredients
Ingredients | Measurements |
Bakers flour | 1243g (43.845oz) |
Mother Starter | 202g (7.125oz) |
Milk – full cream | 630g (22.223oz) |
Caster sugar | 155g (5.467oz) |
Butter – salted and at room temperature | 249g (8.783oz) |
Eggs | 309g (10.9oz) (works out to be about 2 per loaf) |
Sea salt | 16g (0.564oz) |
*2804g (98.908oz) |
Fermentation Time | 15 hours |
Required Dough Temperature | 22°C (72°F) |
Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and knead until a rough dough is formed. Tip on to the bench and do some kneading. You do not need to knead until you can form a translucent window but 5-10 mins of kneading will make a nice smooth dough.
Place the dough in the bowl and cover with a plastic wrap. At this point preform the Fruit Preparation stage.
Fruit Preparation
Ingredients | Measurements |
Sultanas | 466g (16.438oz) |
Nutmeg | 3g (0.106oz) |
Cinnamon | 19g (0.67oz) |
Place sultanas in a bowl and cover with boiling water, leave to stand for 30 mins. Drain and then add the spices.
When the fruit is ready to be incorporated in the dough, tip the dough on to the bench and stretch out the dough and add in the fruit. Wrap up the dough and place in bowl. Mix to roughly incorporate the fruit in the bowl.
Leave in the bowl for about 4 hours and tip onto bench and stretch and fold every hour. This will help develop the dough and also help fully incorporate the fruit into the dough.
Place the bowl covered with plastic wrap in the fridge overnight.
In the morning divide the dough into 3 and then each part into 3 and roll into a sausage.
Braid the 3 sausages and prepare the nuts.
Nut Preparation
Ingredients | Measurements |
Pistachio Kernels or Flaked Almonds | 100g (3.527oz) |
Milk | 50g (1.764oz) |
Chop the nuts up roughly if using pistachios. Braid the loaves and then paint with milk and press the nuts on to the top and side of the dough.
Place the braided loaves onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Bake for 45 mins at 220°C (428°F).
When you pull the loaves out of the oven then perform the Final Glazing stage.
Final Glazing
Ingredients | Measurements |
Brown Sugar | 80g (2.822oz) |
Boiled water | 80g (2.822oz) |
Mix together water and sugar and when the loaves are removed from the oven then quickly paint with glaze.
Dough to Oven Time | 14 hours 30 mins |
Bulk Fermentation Time | 4 hours |
Retardation Time | 10 hours |
Final Proof Time | 30 mins |
Baking Time | Preheat oven and bake at 220°C (428°F) for 45 mins. |
If you have our app then the alarms are worked out for you, here is an example of the schedule.
Time | Action |
Saturday 9am | Mix dough |
Saturday 10am | Prepare fruit and spices |
Saturday 10.40am | Incorporate fruit and spices into dough |
Saturday 11.40am | Turn dough |
Saturday 12.40pm | Turn dough |
Saturday 1.40pm | Turn dough |
Saturday 2.40pm | Turn dough and cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in fridge. |
Sunday 9am | Preheat oven and prepare nuts. |
Sunday 9.30am | Take dough out of the fridge and split into 3. Makes plaits and paint with milk and sprinkle chopped nuts on top. |
Sunday 10am | Place on baking tray lined with baking paper. |
Saturday 10am | Bake loaves for 45 mins at 220°C (428°F). |
Saturday 10.45am | Glaze bread as soon as removed from the oven. |
Check out our Bread Boss app on iTunes and the Google Play Store for more recipes and the ability to create your own alarms and recipes: