BRAIDED BRIOCHE

As a challenge in my kitchen for 2013 I have decided to experiment with bread!!!
I will try to bake different kind of bread using a French book I bought long time ago and borrowing recepes from my Italian tradition.
The first bread I have baked is:

Treccia di pan briosce
a very soft bread similar to the challah bread from the Jewish tradition.

Ingredients:

for yeast base:

1/2 cup bread flour
1 tsp dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm milk




for dough:

5 eggs
3 cups bread flowr
2 TBS sugar
1 tsp salt
2 sticks (230 g) butter

for decoration:

1 egg
sesame seads or
granulated sugar


Prepare yeast base mixing all ingredients in a bowl, cover mixture and let
it rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Prepare dough beating 5 eggs, one at the time, in yeast base till smooth.
Add flour, sugar and salt and knead to mix well ingredients.
Soften butter and incorporate it to dough little by little.
When all butter is incorporated well knead dough for 5 minutes.
Put dough in a bowl, cover with cling paper and let it raise in the fridge
for about 2 hours.
Take dough out from fridge and cut in two pieces.
Knead one piece and then cut it in 3 parts.
Roll them in a rope shape, then braid them together.
Put braided bread on a baking tray, cover and let it raise for 1 hour and half.
Repeat same process with other piece.

Beat remaining egg with a TBL of water and brush loaves with it.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds or sugar and bake at 400 F for 30 minutes.

Once cooled slice it and serve with jam, Nutella or prosciutto.