Swiss Zopf recipe

There were a couple of comments about my "Zopf" and I thought I'd share a recipe. I did this previously, a long long time ago and this post is essentially an update of the old post with less waffling. 

Zopf is a traditional enriched dough bread that Swiss enjoy on a Sunday. It is really rather rich and soft but as a treat, it is really perfect. Zopf translates as braid, in case you are wondering and if I knew how, I would add an audio clip here that explains how to pronounce it. 

This is the receipt from the school home economics cookery book from the mid 1980s. 

Ingredients

500g strong white flour 
300 ml milk
60 g butter
1tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
20g of fresh yeast or 1 tbsp of dried yeast

This can be scaled up or down, depending on how big your household is. 

Method

1. Heat up the milk so it is lukewarm. Stir in the sugar and yeast and sit in a warm spot until the yeast is clearly active 
2. Mix flour and salt in a large bowl, add the soft (or melted butter)
3. Add the milk/yeast mix to the flour 
4. Knead to a soft dough
5. Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place until it is about doubled in size

Braiding and baking

First preheat the oven to 200°C

Cut the dough into two equal pieces and roll each out into a thick rope, with the middle being thicker, tapering out to the ends.

The photo shows you how to braid the two ropes into a Zopf. I still refer to this photo, after all those years! Egg wash the Zopf, then place it in the lower part of the oven. Bake for approximately 30 min. The baking time depends a lot on your oven. If it looks like the photo above and tapping of the bottom produces a hollow sound, it is baked through. 

I love Zopf most with butter and jam but it is just as tasty with cheese or ham, and maybe a pickle or two. 

Thanks for visiting. I hope the weather is better where you are, very wet and windy.