This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Aberdeen chapter.
“Zopf”, if you speak German, or “Treccia” if you speak Italian, is a Swiss bread I discovered about two years and have been obsessed with ever since. The name translates to “plait” and according to some blogs I’ve read, the bread originates from widows cutting off their plaited hair to bury with their husbands. Is this legend true? I have no idea. I’m no historian, but I think it’s a fun story, so I choose to believe it. This is a great beginner bread to make, as it doesn’t take long to make. The dough is easy to handle, and people are always impressed with the plaited shape.
Ingredients:
- 500 grams plain flour (not self-raising)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 8 grams dried yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 60 grams unsalted butter
- 300 grams milk
- 1 egg and a splash of milk
Instructions:
- Heat up milk until lukewarm and add yeast. Put it aside for about 10 minutes until the yeast is bubbly and foamy.
- Stir together flour, sugar, and salt. Add milk and yeast when the yeast has been activated
- Chop the butter and then add to the dough. Mix together with your hands in the bowl and then start kneading on a table once the dough is starting to stick together
- Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes. Make sure to stretch it with the bottom of your hand to activate the gluten. Initially, the dough will be very sticky from the butter and the stickiness will go away as the dough is kneaded.
- Place the dough back in the bowl and let rise under a towel for 1 ½ hour until about twice the size. If your kitchen is cold then you can put the bowl next to a radiator, or in the oven at a very low temperature
- Cut the dough in half and roll into two long strings. The plaiting might be a bit too difficult to explain in text. You lay the strings as a cross, grab each end of a string and cross them. Do the same to the other string, and then continue until fully plaited. There are many instructional videos online that are easy to follow!
- Leave on an oven tray to do a second rise for 30 minutes, and then do an eggwash
- Preheat oven to 200°C and bake for approximately 30 minutes
Best enjoyed while still warm from the oven, but also excellent toasted.