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Lemon Bread Breakfast Braid
Lemon bread breakfast braid is a rich, tangy coffee cake similar to Danish but without all of the turns and chilling time. Use prepared lemon curd or make your own.
Prep Time
2
hours
hours
15
minutes
minutes
Cook Time
30
minutes
minutes
Total Time
2
hours
hours
45
minutes
minutes
Servings
2
loaves/24 servings
Calories
Author
Marye Audet-White
Ingredients
Sponge
¾
cup
warm water
2
teaspoons
sugar
1
tablespoon
active dry yeast
½
cup
unbleached all-purpose flour
Dough
The sponge
¾
cup
plain or vanilla yogurt
½
cup
unsalted butter
, softened
2
large eggs
, beaten
½
cup
sugar
2
teaspoons
salt
2
teaspoons
vanilla
5
cups
unbleached all purpose flour
Egg Wash
2
egg yolks
1
tablespoon
heavy
cream
Sugar for sprinkling on braid
Cream Cheese Filling
⅔
cup
cream
cheese
¼
cup
sugar
¼
cup
sour
cream
2
teaspoons
fresh lemon juice
¼
cup
unbleached
, all-purpose flour.
½
cup
lemon curd
(I used Meyer Lemons)
Instructions
Sponge
Combine the ingredients for the sponge in a bowl.
Whisk together and cover with plastic wrap.
Set aside for 10 minutes
Dough
In the bowl of your mixer combine the sponge, yogurt, butter, eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla.
Add the flour and mix until a dough is formed.
Knead with your mixer on speed 2 about 5 minutes or so.
Add more flour as needed to make a smooth dough.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl, oil the top, cover with a tea towel and let rise until double – about 1 to 1 ½ hours.
Deflate the dough gently.
Divide it into two equal parts.
Roll out the first part into a 10 x 15 inch rectangle.
Filling
Combine all the filling ingredients except the lemon curd in a bowl.
Mixt until smooth.
Set aside.
Assembly and Baking
Place the rectangle on parchment.
Lightly press the back of a butter knife into the dough marking it vertically into three equal parts.
Spread the middle section with half the
cream
cheese and then top with half the lemon curd.
Cut 1 inch crosswise strips down each of the outside sections. Make sure you have an equal number of strips on each side.
Lift on of the dough strips and gently bring it across the filling diagonally.
Repeat on the other side do that the strips cross each other.
Continue down the braid alternating strips.
Repeat for second loaf.
Cover with a tea towel and let rise for 45 minutes to an hour – until puffy and doubled.
Preheat the oven to 375F.
Beat
the egg yolk with the
cream
.
Brush the egg mixture lightly over the loaves.
Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until done.
Let cool to room temperature before serving.