NUTELLA BRAIDED BREAD

Yesterday I published “TASTE & SEE”. A piece about what I learned from contrasting the meditative solace of making this bread with the flurry of my family’s consumption of the sweet, braided loaf. This is my adaption of a recipe that I originally found on the Tastemade app.

ingredients:

1 envelope active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup whole milk, lukewarm
2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup Nutella
Egg Wash (1 beaten egg, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon salt)

directions:

In a medium bowl combine yeast, sugar, and warm milk. Stir until it liquefies. Let sit for 10 minutes. Yeast mixture should get foamy.
In a large bowl whisk together flour and salt.
Add butter and egg to the yeast mixture.
Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture. Add in liquid mixture. Fold with a rubber spatula or dough scrapper until just combined and dough begins to form.
Knead dough by hand or with a stand-mixer for 5 minutes. Dough will be smooth and sticky.
Shape into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover with a cloth towel and let dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
On a floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll dough into a rectangle that is approximately 15″x12″.
Spread Nutella evenly, leaving a clean 1/2″ border around the edges. Roll up the dough from the long side. Using a sharp knife, cut the log in half lengthwise, leaving one edge uncut about a half inch.
Gently turn exposed layers up. Twist the two long pieces into a braid, keeping the exposed layer on top. Pinch both ends and fold under the loaf.
Transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Cover with cloth towel and let bread rest for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Brush the braided bread with egg wash.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until bread in golden. Test if it’s done by lightly flicking the golden bread. You should hear a thick, hollow thump.