Blueberry Vanilla Braided Loaf

So I’m back in Singapore with a full-sized kitchen. That only means one thing: bake to my heart’s content!

So week 2 of my holidays and we start off the week with this beautiful braided loaf. I made a white sandwich loaf last week and it gave me the confidence to try and enriched dough this week!

Its almost like brioche but not really and I absolutely love the braiding! The dough is so nice and soft to work with as well.

Do excuse the photos since I don’t have my camera with me.

Ingredients
1 cup milk
50g butter
1 vanilla pod or 2 tsp vanilla extract
500g plain flour
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 tsp instant yeast
2 egg yolks, save the whites for glazing
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (no need to thaw them)

Directions
1. Heat milk and butter together in a saucepan. Add vanilla and set aside until lukewarm.

2. Place flour, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Add the milk mixture and egg yolks. Using a wooden spoon, mix together until a dough forms. Turn out the dough onto a very lightly floured surface and then knead until smooth and elastic. Allow to rise in a clean bowl for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

3. Knead slightly and divide into 3 portions. Roll each into a log as long as you want to loaf to be. Flatten it out and sprinkle 1/3 of the blueberries. Roll up ensuring all blueberries are encased in the dough! Braid them together and place on a lined baking sheet to rise for 45 mins.

4. Preheat oven to 220C and glaze the loaf with the egg whites. Bake for 10 mins then reduce to 200C and bake for another 30-35 mins or until it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Whooped! Yummy bread that definitely won’t last long!

I’m planning to bake a different type of bread each week. Any suggestions for the next yeasty adventure?