Braided Sunday Bread

Prep time: 45 minutes. Servings: 6

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ packet dry yeast

¼ cup hand-warm water

3 teaspoons sugar, divided

1 ½ salt

6 tablespoons goat milk butter, room temperature

1 ¼ cups goat milk, fresh or made from powder

1 egg, slightly beaten for egg wash

White and black sesame seeds for decoration, optional

Directions

In a small bowl, combine warm water and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Drizzle yeast and stir briefly. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to wake up and bubble.

In a food processor, combine flour, remaining teaspoons of sugar, and salt. Cut butter into small pieces and add on top of the flour mixture.

Add 1 ¼ cup of goat milk to yeast mixture and stir gently with a fork to combine. Turn on the food processor and quickly add yeast-milk mixture until just combined. It should form a sticky dough. Turn the food processor off and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

Transfer dough into a large bowl. Sprinkle a bit of flour on top and knead for at least 5 minutes, or until a bead of sweat forms on your forehead!

Form into a nice round ball and let rest in a warm place, covered with a moist towel, for 1 ½ hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat your oven to 350F and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.

When the dough has risen enough, knead again for 1 minute and divide the dough in half. Shape the two halves into nice round balls. Using your hands while keeping your palms flat, roll out each half into a long strand, approximately 1 inch thick and 20-30 inches long. Lay the two strands on top of each other in a perfect cross (the horizontal on the bottom). Braid strands by crossing the horizontal two ends first (right hand always on the upper side) and then by crossing the two vertical ends (right hand always on the right side). Continue this until the strands end and tuck them under.

Transfer the braid onto a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Coat gently with egg wash and sprinkle with white and black sesame seeds. Let rise for another 15 minutes on the baking sheet.

Put on a medium rack in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, the braid should be golden brown.

When fully baked (when knocking on the bottom it should sound hollow) remove from oven. Let cool completely.

Enjoy with an extra slather of our creamy goat milk butter.