You can SO make homemade Swedish Braided Bread. Its easy. I promise.

 

Okay, so I admit, I used to think this was hard too. In Bible college we had a student from Sweden who would always bring homemade Swedish Braided Bread to every class function we had. It was AMAZING. It even looked, smelled and tasted amazing. I was hooked.

 

Well, school ended, she went home....so now more bread. Out of desperation, I found a recipe on the internet. I thought "what the heck, why not". So I ventured out there and guess what? It was just as good as hers and maybe even better because I got to have my first piece straight out of the oven. Add a little butter and voila...heaven on earth.

 

So what do you need? This is the recipe I like.

1/2 c. melted butter
2/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 1/4 c. hot milk
1 pkg. dry yeast
1 egg, well beaten
1 tsp. almond extract
7 c. white flour

 

Mix the butter, sugar, salt, and hot milk in large bowl and let cool to lukewarm. Stir the yeast into 1/4 cup warm water and let stand for 5 minutes to dissolve. Add dissolved yeast, egg, almond extract, and 3 cups flour and mix. Add 3 more cups flour and mix well. Turn out onto a lightly floured board, knead for a minute or two, and let rise for 10 minutes.

 

                                     

Add the remaining flour only if dough is too sticky. Resume kneading until smooth and elastic. Put dough in a large, buttered bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk. Took mine about an hour.  Punch it down, knead it for a minute or two and divide it into 6 equal pieces. Stretch and roll each piece with your hand until you have 6 long rolls of uniform size.

 

Make 2 braids, pinching the 3 pieces of dough firmly together at the ends. Place them on buttered cookie sheets, cover, and let rise to about double in bulk. Brush with 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon cold water. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

 

 

 

There you have it. I know it takes a little bit of time. But hey, the bragging rights are great when you family and friends come over for that dinner party and you have fresh homemade bread. I mean who does that anymore (besides me?)

 

Good luck and I am sure you will do GREAT! Come on, you can do it. Live a little. Life is an adventure. Live it to the fullest.