Zopf.. Züpfe.. Swiss Style or Fribourg Style.

Ingredients

• 500 grams of Zopf flour (95% White flour: 5%spelt flour max 90%:10%). Use cake flour for a lighter Zopf (Has more protein, less gluten)You can mix normal flour with maisflour to get a similar result (flour95%:5%mais)
• 65 grams of butter
• 6 grams salt (Add last to the mixture after 3 minutes of mixing
• 300 Ml full fat milk
• 10 grams of sugar
• 26 grams of fresh yeast around 8 grams of dry yeast
• 1 Egg yolk and a dough brush
• preheated oven at 190 degrees celcius
• Optional: 0.25g of Safran to make the Fribourg varition of the Zopf. I love this one!
Another idea. Add 150 grams of fried speck or bacon to the bread. Add less salt if you do this. Or 150 grams of soaked raisins. Play around have fun! Thinking of orange zest, vanilla, lime... Delicious

Preparation

1Melt the butter. Add the cold milk. The mixture should have a temperature of a round 35 degrees. Add the crumbled yeast and the sugar mix well. And set aside.

2Mix this togehter with the flour with a dough hook for 10 minutes until gluten have formed and you have a clean dough ball. Set aside and cover with a damp towel. Leave for around 30 - 45 minutes.Ideally 90 minutes. Good bread takes time :)

3Put on a light floured surface and make to even "sausages" and make the Zopf. Dread them together one side over the over from both sides. Important make the Zopf on the baking sheet (Use a silikon matt or bakingpaper). Proof the bread for another 30 - 45 minutes. Use the egg yolk to cover the Zopf with a brush (Thin coat). Put in the pre heated oven for around 30 - 31 minutes if using a wetter variant of the dough add 2 more minutes. Watch it grow and turn golden brown. Put on a coolingrack. Resist slicing untill completely cooled. Bake it on a steel baking sheet to get a better bottom crust!

Note that in Switzerland you can buy special "Zopf flour" which is 90% wheat white flour with 10% spelt. You can easily make this yourself.

Tip:  Even better to add the salt last when all is mixed together. When letting the yeast do its job put it in the oven at 40 degrees. Those little fellows will work faster.  Happy yeast produces delicious bread. When "building" the Zopf ensure the dough is smooth (reproof if neede. Important the 2 dough sausages are as smooth as possible, therwise you get a cracked appearance in the oven. When in the oven keep looking at the coloring. You want a light brown crust. Here is a good video to show you how to fold a Zopf. (Make a cross on the table of the 2 sausages. Left over right, top and bottom and repeat. Close together and fold the end gently under the Zopf.

Super Tip: To make a lighter and flufier Zopf replace 5% of the dough with Tangzhong. Take 20 grams of flour out of the recipe and mix will 100 grams of water (1:5 ratio) and heat to 65 degrees (Important!!) Use a maximum of 10% of the recipe flour for this 20 grams out of max 30 grams  is recommended. No more.  Not warmer. Let this cool and mix into the wet ingredients. This will result in a lighter Zopf and it will keep longer up to 3 days longer. Remember to deduct the flour used from the recommended amount. Make this one day before. Leave at least 6 hoursi nthe fridge and and when using let it get to room temperature 1 hour in advance and incoroporate into the dough after 3 minutes of mixing togehter. Another tip :): If you do not have milk. Mix 30 grams of mascarpone with 250 ml luke warm water to get to 300 Ml of liquid. Mix well. Alternatively use 25 ML of cream and 275 Ml of water . Mix well. Or increase 20 grams of butter and 300 ml water. The result will vary a little but still very tasty! When using this add 1 - 2 minutes to the standard baking time.