Zopf - Berne bread in Hamelmann Hearth Bread and Flatbread Discuss Zopf - Berne bread in Hamelmann in the Brick Oven Cooking forums; Zopf (translates simply as "braid") is the traditional Swiss bread for Sunday breakfast. Its eaten everywhere, so I don't know ...

[Frances]

Zopf (translates simply as "braid") is the traditional Swiss bread for Sunday breakfast. Its eaten everywhere, so I don't know why Hamelmann calls it Berne bread. Whenever you invite people over for brunch in Switzerland, someone is bound to offer to bring a homemade Zopf. And in actual fact, I have never ever made one. Until now .

I can tell you, it gave me quite a subversive thrill to follow a recipe out of an American bread book to bake my fist traditional Swiss Zopf. The only changes I made were to leave out the sugar and use a slightly darker flour than usual.

It worked out really well! Even the braiding (after some practice with playdough). Oh yes, and I about triplled the rising times. I went for the overnight refrigerated rise, only it turned out to be an overnight refrigerated stay just the same.

The result does taste just like a Swiss Zopf, very soft and rich. Good recipe. Cool!

[nodoubt68]

Wow Frances !! Your loaf looks yummy, you just made me hungry lol.....
Hope you enjoyed munching that one down...

[egalecki]

That is a beautiful loaf!!!

[Tim F]

Looks great! How much do you let it rise before braiding the sections?

[Dutchoven]

Good job Frances!
As far as the overnight proofing goes...some formulas just kind of do that...what you have to remember is that the enzymes and maltase are doing their job still and when those yeasts wake up...even if it is in the oven...they have loads of stuff to eat...and they usually have so much that some is left over accounting for the difference in color for most fridge proofed loaves...can see the blistering on the surface that is usually the result of the overnight fridge proof...
Did you use a basic egg wash on those before baking...or was it some other sort of concoction?...some formulas for Challah call for the eggs to be beaten with oil and some with water...others?
Anyway, another great job as far as I am concerned!
Best
Dutch

[Frances]

Originally Posted by Tim F

Looks great! How much do you let it rise before braiding the sections?

That would have been the overnight bulk rise. I made the dough around 5 in the evening, then one hour rise outside before putting it in the fridge. I braided the bread next morning and baked it around four in the afternoon. The egg wash was either the whole egg, or just egg yolk - I can't remember which.


Dutch, I'm still sort of sidling up to the idea of an overnight rise being worth it, even if you can't see any difference in the dough. You're right of course, you can certainly taste the difference, but I'm still opening the fridge in the morning going, "blast, it didn't work again!"

[Frances]

I've been experimenting with different Zopf recipes from time to time. The Hamelmann one is very nice, but I found it a little bit too rich compared with what I'm used to. I had the best results with a mixture between his version and the one out of my old Swiss school cook book:

500g of flour (I use a darkish flour)
1 packet of yeast
10 g salt
50 g melted butter
300 g milk
1 egg

Mix into a dough, let it rise for three or four hours (or overnight in the fridge) cut into four pieces, braid, let it rise for another hour or two (depending on how warm it happens to be), wash with eggyolk and bake until done.... today it took 18 minutes at about 280 C, but I usually bake it for longer at a lower temp.

[BrianShaw]

Originally Posted by Frances

The Hamelmann one is very nice, but I found it a little bit too rich compared with what I'm used to.

This is an interesting comment. (Pardon me for going tangental to the intent of the thread.) I'm starting to notice the same as I work with new/different recipes for brioche-style breads and pastries. Some of the cookbook authors seem to have "over-riched" things over the years. They sometimes don't taste like what I'm used to and I often alter these recipes to "lean them out".

[Frances]

And at the same time a lot of store-bought breads seem to use less and less real butter, replacing it with disgusting artificial substances instead....