County Fair Bread

Total Time: 4 hrs Preparation Time: 3 hrs Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 5 cups all-purpose flour or 5 cups unbleached hard-wheat flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten with
• 1 tablespoon water
• sesame seeds

Recipe

• 1 in a large mixing bowl combine 1 cup of the flour, sugar, salt, and dry yeast.
• 2 heat the milk and butter in a pan just until the milk is warm.
• 3 the butter does not need to melt.
• 4 add the eggs and the warm milk mixture to the flour mixture.
• 5 mix very well until thoroughly moistened, and beat with a wooden spoon for about 5 minutes.
• 6 stir in the remaining flour to form a stiff dough.
• 7 turn out on a floured board, and knead the dough until it is quite smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
• 8 work into a ball, place in a buttered bowl, and turn to coat with butter on all sides.
• 9 cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until light and doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hrs.
• 10 punch the dough down and divide into six equal portions.
• 11 roll each of these portions into a thin cylinder about 8 to 10 inches long.
• 12 take three strips and braid them together.
• 13 place the braid on a baking sheet, which should be buttered or sprinkled with cornmeal.
• 14 braid the remaining three strips and place about six inches away from the other loaf.
• 15 for a more spectacular loaf, make a braid of three large strips and then a braid of three smaller strips, and put one on top of the other.
• 16 cover the loaves and let rise in a warm, draft-free space until doubled in bulk, which will take another 1 1/2 hrs.
• 17 brush with the egg white and water, sprinkle lavishly with sesame seeds.
• 18 if you've made two smaller loaves, bake in a preheated 375 f oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.
• 19 the single, larger loaf will need a good hour in the oven.