Zopf-The Sunday Bread

Zopf I made, as you can see I couldn't wait to have a piece!

Sunday Bread! These are Zopf, pronounced TSopf. A wonderfully moist and delicious bread from Switzerland. Seeing as my sister is married to a Swiss man and has lived there for the last ten years I have a large exposure to it The first time I ate zopf I was 16 and was visiting Switzerland for the first time. It had a taste all its own, wonderfully dense, but not to dense, soft with a perfect crust. Buying them in the store is a treat, but homemade zopf is the best. Western Europe has a love affair with bread that America has not gotten on board with yet, but we need to.

My dear sister taught me to make zopf on my visit to her in the summer of 2009 and since then I have made it about 50 times. Each time I bake it learn to make it better. This past year, I figured out how to increase how wonderfully moist it was; when I took it to work for a holiday party, people were actually moaning as they ate it. How great it is to know you bring such pleasure to those around you. The thing about zopf is the sooner you eat it the better it is. It takes about three hours from start to finish, but the actual work you put in is less than half an hour, all the other time is letting it rise.

Here is the recipe my sister bestowed upon me and this website has some great instructions on braiding it, (zopf means braid). Happy Baking! P.S. You need a scale for this recipe.

1 kilogram of all-purpose flour
1 tblsp of sugar
1 tblsp of salt
23 grams of dry yeast (using less makes it last longer, you can use as little as 7 grams)
125 grams of butter (about 9 tablespoons)
600 milliliters of milk
1 egg yolk

Mix dry ingredients together including yeast (no special tricks here). Mix in melted or softened butter. Then add milk slowly (use all for delicious moist bread). Knead by hand for ten minutes or in a mixer for five. Let dough rise covered for one hour or until double in size (using a damp towel over it will help it rise).

Then roll out dough, see link, or read this paragraph I like to do two breads so you split the dough into four dough balls of the same size. Twiddle them out into long snakes about 50-60 cm. Lay two over each crossways exactly in the middle and bring them down to do a four way braid (outside one over two, back under one, repeat).

Once they are braided place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Cover and let rise another 30 minutes. Brush outside with egg yolk then place in cold oven. Turn on oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Celsius. Let bake 35-45 minutes. Outside should be a dark brown (see picture above) and if you knock on it it should sound hollow.

Enjoy and I hope you moan a little too!