Raisin Braided Bread
Sometimes I recall scenes from when my daughter was little—she’d sit in front of me while I carefully braided her hair. Before I knew it, she had grown into a young lady. If I had known she would grow up so fast, I would have granted all her wishes and made her all kinds of beautiful braids 😍 This recipe is adapted from “Baking Feast”.
Ingredients
Steps
1. Combine all dough ingredients except the raisins and knead until you can pull a large thin windowpane. Then add the raisins and knead until evenly incorporated.
2. Let the dough undergo its first rise at about 26 b0C, not exceeding 28 b0C, until it doubles in size. Dip a finger in a little flour and poke a small hole in the dough: if it does not spring back or springs back slowly and does not collapse, the proofing is complete.
3. Take out the proofed dough and gently roll it with a rolling pin to press out large air bubbles, then divide it into 12 equal portions.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes. Flatten each piece with your palm and roll it up.
5. Let rest again for 10 minutes, then roll each piece into a 18 cm long rope.
6. Take three ropes at a time and braid them together as you would braid hair. Transfer the braids to a baking tray. Proof for the final rise at about 35 b0C with 80% humidity.
7. Gently brush the proofed dough with a thin layer of beaten whole egg, then bake in a preheated 180 b0C oven for 15 minutes, until the surface is golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve.