Swiss Sunday Bread (“Zopf”)

I was born and raised in Switzerland and this is a recipe for a traditional bread called ‘Zopf’, that is reserved for special occasions. It is a soft bread, made with milk as well as butter and egg, similar to a French brioche or the traditional Challah bread. You could use this recipe to make cinnamon rolls or Kanelbulle as they are called in Sweden. When it comes to shaping, the variations are endless, especially if you involve children, and give them raisins, sunflower or pumpkins seeds etc, the possibilities for all sorts of creations will have no limits.

Ingredients

300ml of warm milk

1 tablespoon of yeast

1 table spoon of sugar

500 g of flour

1 flat tablespoon of salt

50 g melted butter (not hot)

1 well-beaten egg

Mix the yeast and sugar with the warm milk and wait a few minutes. Add 400g of flour, putting the remaining 100g aside, mix really well, and let rest it for 30 minutes. This part of the process gives the yeast and flour a chance to bind and the gluten to be released before the salt is added.

Add the melted butter, well-beaten egg and salt, mix well and then add the remaining 100g flour. Take the mixture out of the bowl and knead with gusto on a floured surface for at least five minutes, by a ‘push down and fold over’ method. Really give it heaps! The dough will become elastic and smooth. Give it a rest for five minutes and do another few minutes.

Let it rise for at least 1–2 hours until doubled in size. Punch down and shape; plaiting or whatever creation you’d like to make, Easter bunnies or wherever your creativity takes you. Involve children and add raisins, sunflower or pumpkins seeds as deocrations and you shall see!

Glaze with a beaten egg, and let rise for another 30 minutes. Bake in a pre-heated oven (180–200oC) for 30–40 minutes, depending on the size of your creation.

Shaping it into a plait:

Or shaping it into an Easter bunny by rolling in into a ‘sausage’ and then use scissors to make a cut at one end for the ears. Use a tiny amount of dough for a nose, add some raisins as eyes and spaghetti for whiskers. Happy Easter!