Marlene braided bread

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• ½ liter of milk
• 170 g sugar
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar (bourbon vanilla)
• 200 g margarine or butter
• 1 egg(s)
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 packets of yeast (dry yeast)
• 1 kg flour
• e.g. flavoring (lemon or bourbon vanilla)
• some milk for brushing
• Almond(s) for sprinkling
• Sugar, coarse, for sprinkling
• possibly raisins
• Grease for the tray

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 40 minutes

enough for 2 braids

Heat the milk, but do not boil. Place the sugar, vanilla sugar, egg, oil, salt, and, if desired, flavoring in a large bowl. Add the warm milk (make sure it’s not too hot, or the egg will curdle). Stir until the margarine has dissolved. Mix the flour with the dry yeast (ideally in two portions of 500g flour and 1 packet of dry yeast). Add the flour mixture to the milk mixture and mix everything well. Let the dough rise until it has increased in volume considerably. Braid the dough into two plaits and place them on a greased baking tray. Brush the plaits with milk and sprinkle with almonds and granulated sugar. Place the tray in a cold (!) oven and bake at 175°C for about 35 minutes. Tip: If you want to add raisins to the yeast plait, you should soak them in water or rum for about 1 hour before baking. This improves the taste and ensures that the dough is nice and moist.