Swedish Braided Bread

Photo: flickr user stevendepolo

Ingredients

1/2 cup melted butter

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups hot milk

1 pkg. dry yeast

1 egg, well beaten

1 teaspoon almond extract

7 cups white flour

Preparation

Mix the butter, sugar, salt, and hot milk in large bowl and let cool to lukewarm. Stir the yeast into 1/4 cup warm water and let stand for 5 minutes to dissolve. Add dissolved yeast, egg, almond extract, and 3 cups flour and mix vigorously. Add 3 more cups flour and mix well. Turn out onto a lightly floured board, knead for a minute or two, and let rise for 10 minutes.

Add the remaining flour only if dough is too sticky. Resume kneading until smooth and elastic. Put dough in a large, buttered bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk. Punch it down, knead it for a minute or two and divide it into 6 equal pieces. Stretch and roll each piece with your hand until you have 6 long rolls of uniform size.

Make 2 braids, pinching the 3 pieces of dough firmly together at the ends. Place them on buttered cookie sheets, cover, and let rise to about double in bulk. Brush with 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon cold water. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

OPTIONAL: Sprinkle, before baking, with blanched, chopped almonds.