Butter Plait (Zopf) with Poppy Seed
Made by Alessandro Cipriano
Ingredients
Recipe for 2 smaller plaits
For the dough
- 5 dl milk
- 100 g butter
- 25-30 g fresh yeast
- 1 pc egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 kg white flour
- 1 pinch of sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
Melt the butter (do not let it get too hot) and then remove the pan from the heat.
Add the cold milk and a pinch of sugar.
Weigh the yeast and dissolve it in the butter-milk mixture (this has just the right temperature).
Put the flour and salt in a bowl, add an egg and the butter-milk-yeast mixture and mix everything well.
Knead everything into a smooth dough.
Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it double for about 1.5 hours.
Quarter the dough and roll out four strands. Cover the strands with plastic wrap and let it rest for 5 minutes. Now lay the strands diagonally on the table and braid them into a plait.
Form roses with dough remnants and garnish the plaits with them. Fasten the roses with egg yolk.
Dilute the egg yolk with a few drops of water and beat well.
Brush the two plaits with egg yolk and let them rest in a cool place for about 30 – 60 min. Sprinkle with poppy seed.
Preheat the oven to 180 ° C convection oven or 200 ° C upper and lower heat. Brush the braids a second time with egg yolk and bake in the lower part of the oven at 180°C for 50-60 minutes.
Baking test: Tap the Bottom –The bread will sound hollow when it’s done. Take it out and let it cool down on a rack.
Ready to serve, enjoy!
