Mamma's Christmas Sweet Bread ♥

Had to repost this as one of my favorite Christmas recipes...My mother used to make this bread every christmas... its like a stollen, or a panettone,  she loved making it and am glad I will have memories helping her in the kitchen. ♥

 Serves: Makes 1 – 1.5 lb loaf.
 

Ingredients ♥

• ½ cup milk (at room temperature)
• 2 eggs (at room temperature)
• ½ – 1 tsp salt (I always use less salt, so I added ½ tsp)
• 3 tbsp liquid honey
• ¼ cup butter cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2½ cups all purpose or bread flour
• 1 tbsp grated orange zest
• 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
• 1 tsp anise seeds (I left these out)
• 1 tbsp bread machine or instant yeast
• ½ cup golden raisins
• ½ cup mixed candied peel (see notes)
• ⅓ cup candied citron (see notes)
• ¼ cup silvered almonds

Instructions ♥

1. Add all of the ingredients EXCEPT for the raisins, peel, citron and almonds, to the bread machine, in the order listed above.
2. If you are baking the bread in the bread machine, select Sweet Cycle.
3. Add the raisins, peel, citron and almonds at the “add ingredient” signal. OR

I did not bake my bread in the bread machine, so I selected the “Dough” cycle. Here’s How To:

1. When the dough cycle is up, remove the dough, and knead in the raisins, cherries and almonds.
2. Then let the dough sit on a floured surface for 15 minutes, covered with a bowl.
3. After this time, split the dough into 3 pieces, and roll it out into long ropes, about 1 inch thick.
4. On a parchment lined baking sheet, braid the ropes, pinching the ends together.
5. Let it rise, in a warm place covered with a tea towel, for 30-45 minutes, or until doubled in size.
6. In the meantime preheat your oven to 350.
7. When the dough has doubled in size, you can add an egg wash to make the crust shiny. Just mix together 1 tbsp water with 1 egg yolk, and brush the surface of the bread.
8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes – until the bread sounds hollow when you tap the bottom.

Notes

Instead of the candied peel and candied citron, I added a generous ½ cup of chopped glace cherries.