Hefezopf (German Bread). Hefezopf: The German Braided Bread in German Food & Recipes Hefezopf is a speciality hailing from the German lands but can be found in slight variations all over Europe. It is sweetened and has rich dough which is then rolled and forms strands. Hefezopf, which translates to yeast braid, is a famous bread from Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and South Tyrol. Hefezopf (German Bread)

You can have Hefezopf (German Bread) using 12 ingredients and 18 steps. Here is how you achieve that.

Ingredients of Hefezopf (German Bread)
  1. It’s 500 grams of Flour (Type 405 cake flour).
  2. You need 21 grams of Fresh yeast.
  3. You need 230 ml of ◆Soy milk or milk.
  4. Prepare 50 grams of ◆Sugar.
  5. Prepare 1 of from 1 lemon Lemon zest.
  6. Prepare 70 grams of Butter.
  7. Prepare 1/2 tsp of Salt.
  8. You need 1 of plus 1/2 Egg, large.
  9. Prepare of For glazing and garnishing.
  10. It’s 1/2 of Egg.
  11. It’s 3 tbsp of Sliced almonds.
  12. Prepare 1 of Nib sugar.

Sweet Braided Hazelnut Bread - German Nusszopf The Sweet Braided Hazelnut Bread or in German "Nusszopf" is just delicious. It contains ground hazelnuts that can be easily substituted with ground walnuts or almonds. The dough is a yeast based dough, and not difficult to make. Place the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center.

Hefezopf (German Bread) step by step

  1. [If using a bread machine] Combine all the ingredients (except for the garnishing and glazing ingredients) in the bread making machine. Select the dough setting and press start. When the dough is done, skip to Step 6..

  2. [If kneading by hand] In a bowl, combine warmed up milk and the ingredients marked with ◆. Mix until the yeast dissolves completely. Add the lemon zest and the eggs, then set aside..

  3. Place the flour in a separate bowl and pour in the mixture from Step 2. Knead it for 5 minutes..

  4. Add the butter and salt. Continue kneading about another 10 minutes. It might be tough to knead, but be patient and keep kneading..

  5. [First proof] This dough is quite soft, but once the dough comes together, allow it to rise for 40-50 minutes. Cover it with tightly wrung out damp cloth to prevent it from drying up..

  6. [Check with your finger] When the dough rises up to about twice the size that it was originally, dust your finger with flour and push it down to make a hole. If the dough stays down like a belly button, it is done rising..

  7. Dust the working surface with flour for easier handling..

  8. In this recipe, we are going to make a braid with 6 strands, so divide the dough into 6 parts and roll it out to 40-45 cm long. Start braiding..

  9. Secure the beginning and the end of the braid tightly..

  10. Place the dough onto a cookie sheet, cover it with a tightly wrung out damp cloth and allow it to rise for the second time. It will take about 30 minutes and the dough should be 1.5-2 times bigger than its original size..

  11. It should look like this after the second rising. Preheat the oven to 200℃..

  12. Glaze the dough with the beaten egg..

  13. Decorate the dough with a plenty of almond slices and nib sugar..

  14. Bake for 15 minutes at 200℃. Reduce the oven temperature to 180℃ and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Adjust the time if necessary..

  15. This is the cross section of the bread. It is tasty as it is, but it is normally eaten by spreading on some butter and jam..

  16. I made 2 smaller loaves with the same amount of the ingredients above. The left loaf has some cranberries in it. At Step 7, divide the dough into half and add 30 g of cranberries into one..

  17. Here is a 6-strand braid..

  18. [Chocolate and orange zopf] Substitute 20 g of flour with 20 g of coco powder. Use orange zest instead of lemon zest. Also substitute a part of soy milk with some squeezed orange juice. Bake it the same way..

Pour in a little lukewarm milk and stir until a liquid yeast batter forms. The recipe is simple but I have seen recipes where all kinds of fruit is added to the bread. The Hefezopf and Hefekranz tradition of braiding goes back many years. It was perhaps started as a symbolic tradition of human sacrifice hough it can not be fully corroborated. The bread tastes best with some butter and optional some jam or honey.