apple braid

by JENNA on APRIL 19, 2011

Hi all, I’m Rachael from La Fuji Mama and am tickled to have been asked by Jenna to share one of my crazy concoctions here on Eat, Live, Run!  Jenna is very brave!  I’ve had apples on the brain lately, partially due to these three handsome little fellas sitting on my counter top waiting for me to decide what they would become.

I love a good apple pie, but wasn’t really in a pie mood.  Then, when I woke up one morning craving homemade bread, inspiration struck.  Apples + Homemade Bread = An Apple Braid!  So I sliced up the apples into pieces,

tossed them with cinnamon, sugar, and lemon juice and threw them in the oven to start cooking while I made the dough for the braid.

When the dough was ready, I rolled it out into a big rectangle, then cut each side into strips.  Next I spread the apple filling down the uncut center of the dough, and then crisscrossed the strips of dough over the filling to create a braided effect.

The finished braid went onto a baking sheet into the oven until it was a nice light golden brown.  Then I brushed a vanilla cream glaze over the hot braid and set the braid aside to finish cooling.  This was the hard part—waiting for the braid to cool.  But it’s worth the wait, because the glaze will have time to set a bit, and the filling will have time to cool so that you don’t burn your tastebuds off trying to eat a slice!