Adaptation from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. I make this every year for Christmas as a braided wreath or as 2 large braided loaves. It is a fabulous recipe, and hunting down where to buy the cardamom pods to make it every year is worth every minute. A little sweet, full of flavor, this makes a fantastic dinner bread for Christmas Eve and an even better bread for Eggnog French Toast for Christmas breakfast.
Ingredients: [‘milk’, ‘active dry yeast’, ‘warm water’, ‘sugar’, ‘cardamom seed’, ‘salt’, ‘eggs’, ‘all-purpose flour’, ‘unsalted butter’, ‘egg’, ‘milk’, ‘sliced almonds’, ‘coarse sugar’]
Quantity of Ingredients: [“1 cup milk”,”1 tablespoon active dry yeast”,”1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F)”,”1/2 cup sugar”,”1 teaspoon cardamom seed, crushed (you can use a mortar u0026 pestle or coffee grinder)”,”1 teaspoon salt”,”2 large eggs, lightly beaten, at room temperature “,”4 1/2-5 cups all-purpose flour”,”1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted “,””,”1 large egg, beaten “,”1 tablespoon milk”,”2 tablespoons sliced almonds, for topping “,”2 tablespoons coarse sugar, for topping (optional, can use Turbinado sugar)”]
Number of Servings: 20
Steps: [‘Scald the milk in a small saucepan (heat until a ring of small bubbles is visible around the sides of the pan). Remove from heat and let cool.’, ‘In a large bowl, whisk yeast into the warm water and set aside for 5 minutes.’, ‘Whisk the milk, sugar, cardamom, salt, and eggs into the yeast mixture.’, ‘Add 2 cups of the flour and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.’, ‘Beat in the butter and as much additional flour, 1/2 cup at a time, as you can until the dough is stiff but not dry.’, ‘Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.’, ‘Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and satiny, about 10 minutes.’, ‘Shape the dough into a ball, place into a lightly greased bowl, turn it over in the bowl to grease the top, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature 45-60 minutes until doubled in size.’, ‘Lightly oil a cool work surface.’, ‘”Punch down” or lightly knead the air bubbles out of the dough on the oiled surface.’, ‘Divide the dough in thirds and roll each third into a rope about 36 inches long.’, ‘Line a large baking sheet with parchment.’, ‘Braid the 3 strands on the baking sheet, and pinch the ends. To make the 2 loaves, braid the entire strand and cut in half. Set the braids next to each other on the baking sheet.’, ‘Cover the braids with a towel and let rise at room temperature about 45 minutes.’, ‘Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F’, ‘Combine the beaten egg and 1 tablespoon of milk to make the glaze.’, ‘Brush the egg glaze over the bread (a pastry brush works well for this).’, ‘Sprinkle with almonds and pearl sugar (optional).’, ‘Bake 20-25 minutes until golden. Transfer to a rack to cool to room temperature before cutting.’, ‘The bread is best eaten the day it is made, but can be stored 1-2 days covered in plastic wrap.’]