The Festive braid bread

This recipe comes from my mum, this bread is so easy and so incredibly tasty!

Every time we make this, it barely survives until the next day. It goes great with a cheese platter, with marinated salmon, to accompany salads.

Ingredients

500g white bread flour
1 egg
1 tsp salt
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp active yeast (use double, if using fresh yeast)
200 ml tepid water

You will need some extra ingredients to season the bread before baking:

1 egg yolk
1 tbsp water
sesame seeds or poppy seeds
Maldon salt (optional)

Preparing the dough

Put the yeast in 100ml water.

In a dough mixer or by hand mix the flour, salt, sugar. Add the egg, mix well. Add the water with the yeast, mix well. Add the rest of the water (100ml) and kneed for 10 min until the dough is smooth.

Cover with a wet towel and leave to rest for at least 2 hours. The dough should double in size and the time will vary depending on how hot your kitchen is, so just keep an eye on it once in a while.

Braiding

Once the dough has risen, take it out on a floured kitchen top.

Divide the dough in three pieces and roll them out. Join the three pieces together at the top and braid the dough.

Leave to rise for another hour with a wet towel on top.

Baking

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Mix the egg yolk with some water and with a brush paint the whole dough. This will help the seeds stick well to the surface.

Sprinkle the sesame or poppy seeds all over, and the Maldon salt.

Bake in the oven for 20min aprox, but as you know, each oven is slightly different, so keep an eye on it after 15min just in case. It should come out golden brown.