From My Kitchen To Yours – keeping our heritage alive!
Nothing beats the smell of freshly baked bread. Sink your teeth into a slice of warm bread covered with a generous layer of butter. Imagine… Now stop imagining and bake one today. It’s not difficult, in fact this recipe of my mom is very easy to follow. The result are better still if you have an electric mixer to do all the kneading 😉

I remember my mom turning 2.5kg of flour into stunning bread of all types every Sunday. She would start mid morning after the lunch prep been done and that’s cooking away to on side. By 3pm the afternoon our home will be filled with the lovely smell of baking bread.

Come supper time it will be served with polony, spiced beef, cheese or left over chicken roast of lunch time. Good memories to last a life time and which I’m now trying to recreate with my family.

Here is our recipe for an egg loaf which is a soft and tasty  braided loaf of home-made bread. This recipe make one large loaf or 2 small ones.

Ingredients:

4 cups cake flour / plain

2 tsp  sugar

1 tsp  salt

3 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp  oil

1 cup lukewarm milk

2 large eggs, beaten

1 packet instant yeast (7g)

For the topping:

1 egg, beaten

Sesame or poppy seeds

Method:

Combine the flour, salt, sugar in a large bowl. Add yeast.

Melt the butter, add the oil, stir in the beaten eggs.

Add the milk to the butter and eggs mixture.

Now add the liquid to the dry ingredients. Mix until combined, then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 15-20 minutes until soft and elastic. (the dough should not stick to your hands). If you have a large electric mixer you may use it with the dough hooks to help ease the process of kneading.

Grease the mixing bowl slightly and return the dough into the bowl. Cover the bowl with oiled plastic wrap. Leave to rise for about 60 -90 minutes until well risen and at least double in size.

Grease a large baking tin with butter

Gently  punch the dough down, form into shape and place into baking tin.

Or braid the dough as follows:

After punching down the dough divide it into 3 equal pieces. Roll each of the 3 pieces of fought between your hands making 3 ropes. Line it side by six on a floured surface.

With the 3 ropes of dough lined up, begin the braid at the centre. Braid loosely from centre to end from both sides. Pinch and tuck in the ends.

Transfer the braided loaf gently into the greased baking tin.

Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm, draft free area for 30 minutes or until double in size.

Brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional)

Bake on middle shelf of oven at 200° Celsius  for 35-45 minutes or until the bread is golden brown. Remove loaf from the tin and let it cool on a cooling rack before slicing.

Makes 1 large or 2 smaller loaves.

© Cape Malay Cooking & Other Delights

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Follow my tutorial below for flop proof egg loaves…