Homemade Braided Bread

It’s pretty, it’s delicious, and it makes everyone smile, yep, we’re talking about a loaf of our homemade braided bread. We’ll give you a step-by-step explanation all about how to make a beautiful braided loaf. Just use the recipe we spotlighted yesterday, you know the one, “One Bread Recipe for Endless Possibilities“, and let’s start braiding.

What you’ll need

This recipe

Preheat your oven to 355 degrees fahrenheit

The recipe is enough to make two braided bread loaves, so we recommend using a Gygi bowl scraper to easily cut the dough in half (or you can just half the recipe if you only want to make one loaf).

Next, separate your halved pile of dough into 6 pieces and roll them out into long dough segments.

Line up all six dough  segments on a well-floured surface. Make sure the dough segments do not touch one another. Combine all the 6 ends of the segments, on one side of the line-up. Toss a little flour on top of the dough segments to ensure they don’t stick to each other.

Now, you’ll start braiding. To do this, you’ll always want to pull from the same side. Pick either the right or left side. We used the right side in the pictures below. Pick up the end segment, on the far right, and pull it over two segments, under the third, and over the rest of the segments until it reaches the other end. You’ll always pull from one side and end on one side.

In short, you’ll want to always go over two, under one, over two.

Continue this process of bringing the end piece over two, under one, and over two (until it reaches the other side) until you reach the bottom of your loaf. If you start on the right side all the segments on the right will eventually end up on the left.

Once you reach the bottom of the loaf, tuck all the ends under the loaf and combine them using the same technique you used at the top to make a uniformed look on both ends.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and let the bread rise for about 15-20 minutes. Bake for 30-minutes. Melt down 1/4 cup of butter and brush on top of the loaf after baking for 30-minutes. Bake for 5 more minutes, or until the bread has become browned on all sides.

Gygi Pro Tip: If you want your bread to have a glistening sheen, whip up egg whites and brush the egg whites onto of the loaf. This creates that store-bought shine.

Enjoy!

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Homemade Braided Bread

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By Gygi – Serves: 2 Large Loaves

Prep Time: 2 hours – Cooking Time: 30 minutes – Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 cups warm water (110 degrees)
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 canola oil or butter
• 1/2 cup powdered coffee creamer (optional)
• 9-10 cups all purpose flour
• 4 Tablespoons SAF Instant Yeast
• 1/4 cup butter

Instructions

1

In the bowl of your mixer, fit with your dough hook, combine water, yeast, and sugar. Stir until yeast and sugar have dissolved and let sit for 10 minutes, until the surface is foamy.

2

Add the oil, salt, and 2 cups of flour and mix to combine.

3

With the speed on low, slowly add the powdered coffee creamer. Then add the remaining flour, one cup at a time, until the bread pulls away from the sides and starts to creates a clean ball. The dough will still be a bit sticky.

4

Turn the mixer to medium speed and continue kneading for 5 minutets. Watch the dough. If it sticks to the sides, add a bit more flour, one tablespoon at a time.

5

Prepare a floured workspace. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and dust with flour. Continue kneading into a smooth, elastic ball.

6

Place in a greased bowl, cover with a flour sack towel, and allow to rise, until doubled in size.

7

Punch down dough and split the dough in half. This amount of dough is enough to make two braided loaves.

8

Using one half of the dough, split it into six equal pieces. Use a scale to keep things accurate.

9

Roll each piece of dough into a rope of equal length, about 12" long.

10

Attach the dough at the top and tuck ends underneath.

11

Now, beginning with the right side of the loaf, grab the outside piece and bring it over two pieces, under the third piece, and over the final two pieces.

12

Repeat, always grabbing the piece on the right side of the loaf. Over two, under one, over two.

13

When you reach the end of the loaf, tuck the ends underneath to match the top end of the loaf.

14

Place on a piece of parchment paper, cover with a flour sack towel, and allow to rise for 15-20 minutes.

15

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 355 degrees Farenheit.

16

When dough has nearly doubled in size, place in oven and bake for 30 minutes.

17

Melt 1/4 cup butter and brush onto the loaf after baking for 30 minutes. Place back into the oven and bake for 5 more minutes or until the bread has browned on all sides. (You can also brush on whipped egg whites for a shiny finish)

18

Let cool for 5-10 minutes and enjoy warm. Or cool completely!