Recipe - Bohemian Braid

One half cup Water
2 pack Yeast
1 One half cup Lukewarm milk
One half cup Sugar
2 teaspoon Salt
2 Eggs
One half cup Shortening
7 One half cup Flour
2 teaspoon Lemon rind grated
One fourth teaspoon Mace
1 cup Raisins
1 cup Blanched almonds
Maraschino cherries halved
Pecan halves
1 Egg yolk
1 tablespoon Water
Chopped

Mix together the water, yeast, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, half
the flour, the lemon rind, mace, raisins, and almonds. Add flour until
dough is smooth and workable. Knead on a floured board until smooth and
elastic. Put in a greased bowl, turn to coat, cover with a damp tea towel
and place in a warm spot to rise until double, about 1 One half hours. Punch
dough down. Divide in half. Set one half aside and divide the other into
4 equal parts. Shape three of the pieces into 14 inch long strands and
braid on a lightly greased cookie sheet (you may want to arrange this
diagonally. These get big!). Fasten ends together and tuck under. Take
fourth piece and divide in thirds and make a second smaller braid to go on
top of the first. Repeat with other half of dough on a second greased
cookie sheet. Cover each braid loosely with damp tea towels and let rise
for 45 minutes to an hour. For decoration, gently press halved maraschino
cherries (well rinsed) and/or pecan halves into joints of braids. Brush
loaves with a glaze made from egg yolk and 1 Tbsp water, and bake at 350
degrees for 3040 minutes, until golden brown, but not dark. When loaves
have cooled completely, mix a confectioner's sugar glaze of four Tbsp
butter, about 1/3One half cup milk, and confectioner's sugar until the
consistency is thick but will still run down the sides, and drizzle glaze
over the tops of the loaves.

Recipe By: Betty Crocker, 1956 Serving Size: 12 Preparation Time: 0:00

In my house we always had Bohemian Braid on Christmas morning. Hubby
doesn't like it because it has nuts and raisins, and prefers a particular
type of kuchen his mom used to make. ("It's an old family recipe," he told
me, so I asked his mom for it, and she pulled out one of her Woman's Day
cookbooks. . .) I'll have to track it down. It's in one pile of paper or
another. But here's the Bohemian Braid (and someday soon I'll upgrade
MasterCook and this may turn out better looking.)

* From the Polka Dot Cottage, 12018223627, NJ's BBS for Homemakers!
Posted by FAYLEN on 121195

Posted to MCRecipe Digest V1 #710 by Lisa Clarke lisa@gaf.com on Aug 1,
97