Confetti Fiesta Braids

From: Taste of Home -February & March 2011 Rise time included in Prep time.

• Ready In: 3 hrs 25 mins
• Yields: 20 slices each loaf

Ingredients

• 5 1⁄2-6 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1  cup cornmeal
• 2 (1/4ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1  tablespoon sugar
• 2  teaspoons salt
• 1  cup buttermilk
• 1⁄2 cup butter, cubed
• 1⁄2 cup onion, finely chopped
• 2  eggs
• 1 1⁄2 cups  shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 (8 1/4ounce) can  cream-style corn
• 1⁄2 cup  sweet red peppers, yellow peppers and or   orange pepper
• 1⁄4 cup  jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 1⁄2 cups butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease two baking sheets.
3. In a large bowl, mix 4 cups flour, cornmeal, yeast, sugar and salt.
4. In a small saucepan, heat the buttermilk, butter and onion to 120 degrees-130 degrees. Add to dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Add eggs; beat until smooth. Stir in cheese, corn and peppers. Stir in enough remaining flour to form stiff dough.
5. Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes. Put dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
6. Shaping dough for braid:
7. Punch dough down. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; and divide dough in half (now you have two halves of dough). Now take one of those halves and divide it into two portions so that one portions is twice the size of the other; shape the larger portion into three 16-in. ropes. Arrange ropes lengthwise on the floured surface, not touching. Now starting in the middle, loosely bring the left rope under the center rope. Bring the right rope under the new center rope and repeat until you reach the end. Press ends and tuck under. Place on a greased baking sheet.
8. Now shape smaller portion into three 10-in. ropes. Arrange ropes lengthwise on the floured surface, not touching. Braid (as direction given for larger portion, above.) Press ends and tuck under. Brush the underside of this braid with water and place ontop of the larger braid (centered). Cover loaf and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
9. Shape the other half of dough.
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Brush with melted butter. Cool on wire racks.
11. Makes 2 loaves.
12. Refrigerate leftovers.