This month our Bread Bakers host is Gayathri from Gayathri's Cook Spot and she challenged us all to braid our dough before baking. I’ve made a few braided loaves, like my chocolate peanut butter braid and my cherry sweet bread twist, which are both long loaves. I decided I wanted to learn how to make a round woven loaf.
A quick search of YouTube turned up hundreds of hits. (Is there anything the denizens of YouTube do not know how to do?!) I ended up following this one.
Orange Saffron Braided Brioche
Ingredients
1 cup or 240 ml whole milk
1/2 cup or 115g butter, plus a little for greasing the mixing bowl
A pinch of saffron threads
Grated orange zest from 1 orange
2 packets or 14g dried yeast
1/4 cup or 80g honey
4 cups or 500g flour (you may need an extra few tablespoons of flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
Before baking:
1/4 cup or 57g butter, melted and cooled
Optional – 1 tablespoon pearl sugar for decoration
Method
Warm your milk in a small pot or in the microwave in a microwaveable measuring up. Put in the pinch of saffron and the orange zest and leave to infuse.
Add in the butter and honey and warm again until the butter is melting. Around 120°F or 49°C should do it. Sprinkle in the yeast and stir. Within a few minutes, the yeast should activate and begin to bubble up.
Put your flour and salt in the mixing bowl of your stand mixer with the egg and begin to mix, using the dough hook. Pour in the yeast mixture and continue mixing till it comes together in a thick dough.
Knead for several minutes until the dough is smooth and stretchy and pulls away from the sides of the mixer.
Form the dough into a ball and lightly grease the bowl with a little butter. Put the ball back in the bowl. Cover with cling film and set in a warm place to rise for one hour.
Once the dough has risen, punch it down and separate it into four equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long tube.
I took photos of each step of making these four tubes into a round braided loaf but honestly, stationary images are not that helpful because, at least for me, it’s hard to see what moves from frame to frame. So just watch this YouTube video. She makes it look very easy – and it is!
Put your round braid into a round cake pan, cover lightly with cling film and set in a warm place to rise for about an hour.
As you get to the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.
When rising time is up, gently pour the melted butter over the top of the orange saffron braided brioche and sprinkle on the pearl sugar, if desired.
Bake in your preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes. The internal temperature of an enriched bread is usually about 200°F or 93°C when baked.
The bottom should be lovely and golden as well.
Leave to cool before slicing and serving.
Enjoy!
Check out all the other lovely braided breads we have for you today. Many thanks to Gayathri of Gayathri's Cook Spot for hosting!
- Artisan Herb Bread Braid by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
- Basic Challah Bread by Cook's Hideout
- Braided Bread with Candied Papaya Chunks by Sara's Tasty Buds
- Braided Garlic Bread by Sizzling Tastebuds
- Braided Herbed Breadsticks by Ambrosia
- Braided Rum & Raisin Buns by All That's Left Are The Crumbs
- Challah Bread by Mayuri's Jikoni
- Cherry Cheese Braid by A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Chicken Cheese Braided Bread by Sneha’s Recipe
- Nutella Braided Bread by Veena’s Vegnation
- Orange Saffron Braided Brioche by Food Lust People Love
- Scali Bread by Karen's Kitchen Stories
- Spice and Herb French Braid by The Schizo Chef
- Two-Seed Potato Challah by What Smells So Good?
- Whole Wheat Challah Bread by Spill the Spices
- Whole Wheat Pizza Braid by Herbivore Cucina
- Whole Wheat Zopf Bread by I camp in my Kitchen
- Winston Knot Bread by Gayathri's Cook Spot
- Zucchini Yeast Bread by Baking Sense
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.
Pin it!
