Zopf is a traditional Swiss breakfast bread we enjoy making anytime! It's a 2-3 hour process that is well worth the work and the wait.
To give you a little background as to why this bread is so very important to me, I need to tell you about my Swiss father. He is a very European person. That sounds odd, I know. If you haven't even been to Europe, go. Now, Stop reading, pack your bags, grab your passport, and get out of here! There is no place on earth as stubbornly, traditionally, beautiful as Europe. The air is cleaner, the food is richer, the people are more alive then we in the USA will ever be! Don't believe me? Go there! See it, live it, believe it! You will never want to leave and if you do, you will always want to go back. But, I digress. Back to my supremely Swiss father...
My father is a stubborn, hard headed, tight on the purse strings, outdoors everyday, (did I say stubborn? I did, but it bares repeating!), sometimes are to understand, spiritual/ religious looney bin, loving, looks like a hippy, man in his 60s. Good description? Maybe. I could have put stubborn a few more times. He's always tan, year round. He walks and does yoga every morning. He doesn't own a microwave, and never has. He had a dishwasher for 20 years and only used it to store pots in. His house is covered in the most ridiculous stucco. The upper half looks like a castle and the bottom half is plain white. I have no idea why. Never have. He has long hair... partly. :) He's balding in a very endearing sort of way... only on the top of his head. He has always, always, always had a beard. I have only ever seen my father's chin in old photos from Switzerland, where he grew up. His mother, my grandmother, taught him to bake. She would make his birthday cake every year and would hide a crown in one of the slices. The child that found the crown would be the king of the day... she always made sure he found it. :) She also taught him to bake Zopf. The beautiful, rich, buttery breakfast loaf.
One of my earliest childhood memories is making Zopf with my dad. We would start in the morning and be devouring the loaf by afternoon. I remember the huge wooden mixing bowl, weighing the ingredients because the recipe was in metric, and making the well. That was my job. I got to scoop the flour to the sides of the bowl to make the perfect well in the middle. Oh and the yeast! If you bake, you know, there is nothing as wonderful as the smell of blooming yeast! Add to that the incredible aroma of melting butter and warm milk, and you know why I love this bread. It smells like the feeling of being wrapped in a huge, fresh out of the dryer, quilt and being held in your parent's lap. That's Zopf to me. It smells like home.
Now my children help me make the bread. They get to make the well in the flour and watch the yeast bloom. My daughter begs to stir it and both of them must have a ball of dough to play with after it rises. Just like how my dad and I could never wait for the bread to cool before cutting off a piece, my children love it straight out of the oven too. Now, it's your turn to try this most amazing, positively perfect, can't wait to eat it, loaf!
Enjoy!
First things first, gather all of the ingredients before you start.
It's so much easier to have it all right there than to run
around, searching, while the yeast blooms. :)
Start by preheating your oven to 350 F. Get a small mixing bowl and whisk together your warm water, yeast, and sugar. Set this aside to bloom.
While the yeast is working its magic, sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and create a well in the middle, (or ask the kids to this)! Sprinkle the salt all the way around the edges being careful not to get any into the well.
Now get your favorite cast iron egg pan, (any pan will do, I just love my cast iron a bit to much. Or, if you like you may use the microwave. I warn you though, the flavor will not be as good if you.) and melt the butter. Don't let it get to hot though, it will separate. It tastes okay either way, but it won't combine as easily.
Is the yeast bloomed now? Give it a quick stir and pour it into the well. Add 1 or 2 large eggs. I like to use two for a richer, creamier bread, but one works alright too. Pour in the melted butter and warm milk and stir the wet ingredients in the well. Don't mix in the flour yet, just the wet stuff! Set this aside for 10 minutes to let the yeast get really fluffy!
Now for the fun to begin! While stirring the wet stuff together, start to scrape away a little flour from the sides and mix it in. *Note! You WILL have to add more flour to create a dough! There is no perfect amount. You will know when it's right.* When all the flour is incorporated, you should have a beautiful, lumpy dough.
Clear a space and flour it, it's time for being kneady! (LOL! I have always wanted to say that!) Your dough will be fluffy so don't flatten it by kneading to much. We're just making it smooth and stretchy. 3-5 minutes should do.
Scrape out your mixing bowl and add a little flour to the bottom. Turn off the oven! Set your dough in the bowl and put it on top of the stove, with a damp cloth on top, to rise. The warmth from the oven will keep it happy enough. It will double in size when it's done rising. (About 45 minutes to an hour.)
Now that's bigger and fluffier, it's time to braid it!
Beat an egg yolk to use on top of the loaf.
Transfer the braid onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Paint the yolk on it and set it in a cool place to rise for the second time. (About 15-20 minutes.) Turn your oven back on to 350 F.
Pop that gorgeous, braided loaf in the oven for 25-35 minutes. It will be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
This is where I tell you to wait for it to cool before you slice into it....
just eat it! Spread some butter and jam on it and ENJOY!!!
Zopf
A Traditional Swiss Breakfast Bread
Ingredients:
2 cups All Purpose, unbleached flour
1 cup warm water
1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons melted butter
½ cup warm milk (almond milk works well)
3 eggs ( 2 in the bread, 1 for the top)
Pinch of salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Set aside to bloom.
Sift flour into a large mixing bowl and create a well in the middle. Sprinkle the salt all the way around the edges being careful not to get any into the well.
Add yeast, melted butter, warm milk, and eggs into the well. Stir to combine, without mixing the flour into it. Set aside for 10 minutes to let yeast rise.
Scrape away a little flour, at a time, from the sides and mix in. Add more flour, as needed, to create a dough.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes.
Turn off oven.
Put dough back into mixing bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise, on top of the hot oven, for 45-60 minutes. Dough will double in size.
Separate dough into two equal parts and roll them out to 24 inches long. Lay one roll across your surface, horizontally, with the other roll on top of it to make an X. Pull the top half of the top roll down and under the left half of the bottom roll. Braid together in a 4 strand braid. Tuck ends under and pinch together to seal.
Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.
Brush one beaten egg yolk on top of the braid, covering as much as possible.
Turn oven back on to 350 F.
Set aside, in a cool place, for a second rise.
Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown and a hollow sound is produced when the bread it tapped on the bottom.
Let cool. Enjoy!
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Copyright Mae Collier 2016