A sweet soft Easter braid (Osterzopf) — a recipe for a sweet leavened bread taken from the Merano site, a charming town in the province of Bolzano that I visited many years ago during a work trip with my dad.
The dough is wonderful and very manageable; I only added a little flour when shaping the three folds after the first rise and it turned out smooth, soft but well structured — a real wonder!
I preferred to do 3 rises in total and the result is excellent!
This dough could also be used to make brioches, swirls and small braids for family breakfasts or snacks — the result will be pastry-shop quality. Try it!
At this time of year there are many recipes traditionally linked to Easter, both Italian and foreign, and below I leave you some recipes that might interest you…
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I’ve opened a recipes channel open to everyone and free on WhatsApp — no notifications and no sound; you can subscribe by clicking the link here https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaHbGIn9cDDig7Cw2x0F and every day you’ll find one sweet and one savory recipe!
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Cooking time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 4 3/4 cups type 0 flour
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 egg
- 1 packet dry yeast (instant)
- 6 tbsp granulated sugar
- 5 tbsp butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups milk (for me: Granarolo 'Più Giorni' (longer-lasting))
- 2 tbsp rum
- 1 lemon (grated zest)
- 1 tsp salt (I used 1/2 teaspoon)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp milk (I added this; it's not in the original recipe)
- as needed pearl sugar
Tools
#ADV
- Teglie antiaderenti
- Carte da forno
- Planetarie
- Pennelli
Steps
1) For this fantastic sweet braid I warm the milk slightly, then add the dry yeast and a pinch of sugar, and let it rest for about 10–15 minutes.
2) I used the stand mixer but everything can be done by hand: put the flour, sugar, the whole egg and the 3 yolks, the grated organic lemon zest, the rum and the salt into the bowl you prefer.
3) Start the machine or begin kneading by hand, pouring the milk-and-yeast mixture in a steady stream; when it forms a almost-dough mass add the softened butter in pieces and continue kneading for about 15 minutes, adding if necessary a tablespoon or a little more flour (personally I added it because the dough was too soft).
4) The dough is smooth and well combined, so I place it in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and let it rise for about 1 hour away from drafts.
5) When it has doubled in volume I turn it out onto the work surface, make a couple of threefold turns and put it back, covered, to rise for about 30 minutes.
6) Now I divide it into two (with these quantities you get 2 beautiful soft and delicious braids) and make classic three-strand braids, placing them on 2 separate baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and let them rise again for about 20–30 minutes.
7) Now I beat the egg yolk with a little milk and gently brush the soft Easter braids (Osterzopf) with this mixture, then sprinkle with pearl sugar.
8) Bake at 356°F in conventional mode for about 30 minutes, depending on your oven’s characteristics.
9) When the bread is golden and well baked, I remove it immediately from the oven and glaze it with a syrup of water and sugar, then let it cool on a wire rack.
DON’T MISS THIS RECIPE — I INVITE YOU TO MAKE IT FOR EASTER OR ANY TIME YOU WANT A SOFT BREAKFAST FOR YOUR FAMILY!
Enjoy!Annalisa
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Remember that at the top, where you see the blog menu, there is a magnifying glass 🔎 that allows you to enter an ingredient or a recipe title to find all preparations with that title or ingredient — I hope you find recipes you’ll enjoy!
A recipe by Martha Thaler – Maso Zmailerhof taken from the Merano site
Annalisa says…
If you want to make brioches, swirls or small braids for breakfast and make them richer, you can add chocolate chips, raisins, or mixed candied fruit.
I dove into a little brioche I made and folks… THIS CAKE IS AMAZING — not too sweet, frighteningly soft, DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I tried glazing the ultra-soft, delicate, fragrant, DELICIOUS large Easter braided loaf with a quick syrup of water and sugar and… you can see the result, ha ha!
P.S. I can’t remove the small double photo of the first dough… sorry!
