recipe every Sunday of the year for the release 
Dear Friends gourmet
this recipe is for those who love to party on Sunday not only as Lord's Day, but also as a time of family celebration. If you want to venture into the preparation of this bread, Swiss know that ingest a large dose of butter. Are you ready?!
ZOPF (from the German Braid)
1kg flour
a pinch of salt
pint of milk
125 g of butter
a cube of 25 g of yeast
a spoonful of sugar
a yolk 'egg
Take a large bowl where you turn over the flour with the salt at the same time dissolve the yeast in a bowl. To dissolve just mash with a spoon and mix it with sugar, will be a miraculous chemical reaction that will transform the cube into a fragrant brown liquid, add it, then, the flour, mix well. Pour the milk into a saucepan and place over low heat to warm it up by adding the butter. Once the butter has melted, turn off the heat and let the milk cool a little. When you mix the rest must be warm otherwise kills the yeast and your Zopf not inflate properly! At this point you have to mix, knead and knead again. More mix and will be more your soft Zopf. To verify that you have done a good job, take the dough and cut it in half with a knife in the middle there will be bubbles, a sign that the game is rising. If all goes well, cover the bowl containing the dough with a damp cloth with hot water and let it near the heater (if it's winter) for a couple of hours to rise, otherwise continue to mix vigorously. Speaking of strength, the Swiss tradition has it that at this stage to take the ball of bread and tossed on the table (I do not know what mysterious reason). My brother has done this with a little 'too much force, breaking our marble table .. then measured the energy, which can be dangerous! The next phase is the most complex, it comes to making a braid with four arms, I'll leave to your imagination because it is virtually impossible to explain. Still, you must divide the risen dough into two (or three) if you decide to make a braid. If you want to make fun of the nice men of bread, which are traditionally made for December 6, the feast of St. Nicholas, divide the dough at least 1 kg in eight parts. Eyes and noses, buttons and belts can make them with raisins and almonds!! When you are satisfied with your artwork, all with the brush the egg yolk and bake: If you did the pseudo braid, cook for about an hour at a temperature between 180 ° and 200 ° C, but if you did the men , but it fits the same temperature for no longer than half an hour! To give you an idea of \u200b\u200bhow efficient the Swiss bakers, I am attaching a video!
Have fun and see you soon
Cristina
Ps forgot ... the bread is eaten at breakfast on Sunday with butter and jam or honey!
