Easter Zopf with Raisins and Lemon Glaze
This Easter Zopf should be part of every Easter brunch. Best when baked on Sunday morning or the night before, your kitchen will be filled with the sweet buttery scent of the freshly baked Easter Zopf.
Ingredients
For the Easter Zopf
- 500 g plain flour
- 8 g dry yeast or 21 g fresh yeast
- 125 ml full fat milk
- 75 g sugar
- 2 eggs free range
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1 pinch of salt
- 100 g unsalted butter
- 75 g raisins
For the Glaze and topping
- 100 g icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon water
- 20 g toasted shaved almonds
Instructions
For the Easter Zopf
- Warm the milk. Place the flour in a deep bowl and make a well in the centre. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk with a teaspoon of sugar.
- Pour the milk mixture inside the well and add a bit flour from the side. Mix with a fork into a thick dough and let sit for 15 minutes.
- Add the remaining sugar, eggs, pinch of salt and the vanilla essence.
- Use an electric dough hook and knead the dough at low speed for 3 minutes. Increase the speed and add the soft butter cubes one by one. Keep kneading for another 4 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and add the raisins. Knead by hand for about 5 more minutes and place it back in the bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise in a warm spot for 45 minutes.
- Knead the dough once again and portion into 3 even balls. With your palms roll the dough into strands, about 50cm long. Lay them next to each other.
- To make the braid seperate the outer strands and lay them in a V shape. Press the ends down with your thumb securing the strands. Start from the right strand and fold it over the middle one. Now fold the left strand over the middle one. Continue folding the right strand over the middle one and then the left strand over until you come to the end. Press the end down with your thumb.
- Place the braid on a baking tray lined with baking paper and let rise under a moist cloth for another 45 minutes at a warm spot.
- The braid should be puffy now and ready to be baked. Brush with a milk and egg mixture and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 25 minutes.
- If you see the colour of the braid getting too dark during the baking process you can cover the braid with aluminium foil for the last 5 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let cool at room temperature on a cooling rack.
- Brush the braid with the lemon and sugar mixture and sprinkle with toasted shaved almonds.
For the lemon glaze
- For the glaze mix the icing sugar, lemon juice and warm water together and glaze the braid with a brush.
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