Onion Lover's Twist Bread

Submitted by Pabbit

"Ancient recipe. This is an involved yeast bread but it is beautiful and tasty! The filling could easily be herbs rather than onion. The paprika makes for a nice color in the filling but it could easily be omitted. Add more herbs though to absorb the butter."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 45mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Yields: 2 loaves

ingredients

• For Bread

• 1 tablespoon dry yeast
• 1⁄2 cup hot water
• 4 cups flour, divided
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 1⁄2 cup milk
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
• 1⁄4 cup margarine or 1/4 cup butter
• 1 egg

• For filling

• 1⁄4 cup melted butter or 1/4 cup margarine
• 1⁄2 cup onion, very finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese (or other grated cheese)
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds or 1 tablespoon poppy seed (I choose poppy but you could leave out seeds)
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika

directions

1. Heat oven to 350 F degrees.
2. Grease two cookie sheets.
3. In a large bowl dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup hot water (105 degrees).
4. Add 2 cups flour, the sugar, milk, salt, butter and egg, blending at low speed until moistened.
5. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed.
6. Stir in remaining flour to form a soft dough.
7. Cover and let rise in a warm and dry place until double in bulk, 45-60 minutes.
8. Combined all filling ingredients.
9. Stir down dough and divide in half.
10. Roll each half out to a 18x12" rectangle on a floured surface.
11. Cut length-wise in to three 4x18 inch strips.
12. Transfer strips to a cookie sheet.
13. Fill each strip with filling.
14. Use a brush to lightly dampen edges with water and pinched closed.
15. Braid the three strips like a pony tail, being sure to pinch ends tightly.
16. Tuck them under a bit for a beautiful loaf.
17. Repeat with second dough on a second sheet.
18. Let rise until double, about 45-60 minutes.
19. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes.
20. Brush with butter when removed from the oven for a glossy finish if desired.
21. serve warm or cold.

Reviews

[Queen of Flowers]

I was going to post this recipe as a thanks to the folks that have helped me learn to adapt this site to my needs. This is an amazing bread that lookes and tastes wonderful. We love the filling and usually triple it and add much more (at least an additional 1/4 cup) parmesan to aid in soaking up the butter to make sealing the ropes easier. It is labor intensive, but worth every minute of effort. I always use poppy seeds for the filling and baste the loaf with butter and dust with more poppy seeds after the second rise.

 

[Chef Dine]

Yay! Thanks for posting. This has been a family favorite for over 30 years! I look forward to it every year. It is sooo delicious.

 

[Nimz_]

Awesome. This was my first braided bread attempt and it turned out great, with a couple of flubs on my part. I also added the green onions (which is what I used) to the butter and microwaved them together. Bread was very tender and full of flavor. I only made 1 loaf but used all the filling and it truned out great. Thanks for a real impressive loaf of bread.

 

[Amberngriffinco]

It IS ancient, lol!!!! I have this recipe on the original card since????? DECADES?? It is soo great! I DO make it using a garlic/Sharp Cheddar in the middle though.. heavier and more fattening but totally AWESOME for Winter with soup or salad!!!!!! A+++++

 

[mianbao]

This turned out very well! I divided the dough to make three braids (330 g each), because I have a small oven. I cooked the onion a little in the microwave with the butter when melting it, just to take away some of the sharpness. I did need more filling for the three braids. The bread is light and the filling very nice. I just finished baking about half an hour ago, and am still enjoying the smell. Thank you very much for sharing this recipe with us.