Braiding Bread with Six Strands and Recipe

(Not me, just a great video of how to do it!)

I felt like being creative today. When I make bread, I usually just make a three strand braid. However, I wanted to do something a little more elaborate so I went for the six strand. I have previously done this and it turns out really cool. I originally had a hard time finding a good recipe to use that braided well. For this to work, you need a fairly large recipe (but not so large that it won't fit in a bread maker) with dough that is really pliable and does not break apart easily. Thus, I came up with my own recipe. This is similar to the sweet milk bread except that it is larger and has eggs, which make it more pliable when braiding with six strands. This makes a really pretty loaf of bread.

Bohemian Bread

Ingredients:

3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
2 1/2 T of butter
1 3/4 t of salt
4 cups of flour
2 3/4 t of yeast

Directions:

Place all ingredients in bread machine, liquids first, dry ingredients, then yeast. Set to dough cycle.

When dough cycle is complete, turn oven on for 200 degrees. When it reaches 200, turn off.

Remove dough from machine and cut into half. Cut each half into three. Roll out dough to long strands. Press ends of all six together. Braid using six strand method. If you do not know how, look it up online. It is very easy if you watch it on YouTube a couple of times. Here is a great diagram to follow.

Place loaf on stoneware pizza pan (regular pan works fine too). Put in warmed oven. Add a cup of steaming water in a mug to the oven for additional help in rising the dough. Allow to rise for 30 minutes.

After rise is complete, paint the loaf with egg white. Put back in the oven and bake at 340 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes.

Here is a how today went:

There is something great about the smell of yeast bread rising!

Yummmm!