Hefezopf (German Sweet Bread)

A Hefezopf, with a slice cut off and lying in front of it on a white dish towel next to a small white bowl of strawberry jam with a spoon in it.

5 from 6 votes

Hefezopf (German Sweet Bread)

This Hefezopf, also known as German Sweet Bread or Osterbrot in Germany, is one of my favorite recipes to bake for Easter but it tastes great all year round!

Prep Time2

Cook Time25

Total Time2 25

Course: Bread

Cuisine: Holiday

Servings: slices

Author: Julia Foerster

Equipment

Stand Mixer

Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream (reserve 2 Tbsp for brushing)
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla sugar
1 Tbsp lemon zest
3 large eggs

Cups - Metric

Instructions

Heat up the heavy cream until lukewarm, be careful if the cream is too hot the yeast won't rise.
Pour lukewarm cream into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Sprinkle yeast and 1 tsp sugar on top of the milk. Give it a stir with a spoon and allow to sit for 5 minutes. The mixture should be frothy after 5 minutes. If that isn't the case, start over with new yeast.
With the stand mixer running on low speed, add flour, sugar, vanilla extract, lemon zest, 2 eggs and 1 egg white. Save the egg yolk for brushing the bread before baking.
Knead for 5 minutes until a soft and only slightly sticky dough forms that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is too sticky to handle, add a little bit more flour, start with 1 Tbsp.
Form the dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl. Turn the dough to coat all sides and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in a warm environment to rise until doubled, about 1-2 hours.
Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Shortly knead the dough to release the air bubbles. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and shape each of them into a 12-inch long rope. Grease a baking pan (or line it with parchment paper) and place the ropes side by side.
Punch the upper ends of the ropes together. You have rope 1,2,3 and 4. We start with rope 4 and place it over rope 3, under rope 2 and over rope 1. Now you repeat this with rope 3: Over rope 2, under rope 1 and over rope 4. Repeat this process until all the ropes are braided together. Punch the ends of the bread together.
Cover the bread with cling film and let it rise in a warm environment while you preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
Combine the remaining egg yolk and 2 tbsp heavy cream and brush the bread with it. Bake it for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer the bread to a cooling rack.

Notes

- Freezing: You can freeze this bread. See the instructions below.
- Activating the yeast: Make sure the cream has the right temperature before adding the yeast. An instant-read thermometer is super helpful! The target temperature is about 100 degrees F.
- Serving: Serve this bread with butter and jam or spread Nutella on it - so delicious!
- Add-ins: If you want to make raisin bread you can add 1 cup of raisins after the first rise to the dough and gently knead them into the dough. Candied citrus peel also makes a delicious addition.
- Toppings: Top the bread with coarse sugar or sliced almonds before baking.
- Similar bread: This bread is similar to Challah but Challah is usually parve which means it doesn’t contain dairy and is made with water instead of dairy products like milk, butter, or cream. Brioche and other enriched European bread like this Easter bread contain butter and milk or cream. But Challah becomes quite similar when you use a less traditional recipe with milk in it.

Nutrition