Nut and Poppy Seed Braided Loaf

Place the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center.

Warm 225 ml milk until lukewarm. Stir half of it together with the fresh yeast until smooth.

Pour the yeast milk into the well, stir it with a little flour from the edge to make a soft starter and cover. Let rise warm for about 15 minutes.

Melt the butter. Add the sugar, vanilla sugar, 1 egg, salt, the remaining milk and the melted butter to the starter.

Knead everything into a smooth, elastic yeast dough.

Cover the dough and let it rise for about 30 minutes, until noticeably increased in size.

Roast the cashews and walnuts in a dry pan. Finely chop the apricots and nuts and mix with the poppy filling, honey and 1 egg to form a filling.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface into a rectangle (approx. 40 × 50 cm). Spread the poppy filling over it, leaving about 1 cm clear around the edges.

Roll the dough up lengthwise and place it seam-side down on a baking tray lined with parchment. Cut the roll lengthwise, leaving one end uncut, twist the strands and form into a braided loaf.

Let the braided loaf rest for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven: fan 175 °C (conventional 200 °C).

Beat the egg yolk with 2 tbsp milk and brush the loaf with it.

Bake the loaf for about 35 minutes, then let cool on a wire rack.