Easter Curled Braid | Traditional Portuguese Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 500 g of wheat flour
• 85 g melted butter
• 70 g of sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 Tbsp (tea) baker's yeast
• 1 Tbsp (tea) vanilla essence
• Powdered sugar for sprinkling

PREPARATION:

Cook the eggs in water, along with some onion skins, for 12 minutes, after the water starts to boil. Turn off the heat and let the eggs cool in the pan. Drain and reserve.

For the dough: in a bowl add the flour, sugar, lemon zest and mix everything. Add the warm milk, melted butter, eggs, baker's yeast and vanilla essence. Mix all the ingredients well and beat vigorously for 10 minutes, until a ball of elastic dough forms. Cover the dough and let it rise for 1 hour until it doubles in volume.

Sprinkle a work surface with flour, knead the dough and shape it into a ball. Cut the dough into 3 parts. Make three strips about 50 cm long. Gather the masses at the top, intertwine them and join the ends. Place on a tray greased with butter and sprinkled with flour. Arrange the boiled eggs in the middle of the crown. Cover and let it rise for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Brush with a beaten egg. Bake at 180ºC for around 35 minutes, until golden on the outside and cooked on the inside (use a toothpick to check). Remove from the oven and sprinkle with powdered sugar.