Swedish Braided Bread

Ingredients

Yields 3 Breads

2 cups dairy sour cream

2 packages active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

2 eggs

6 cups (approx) all-purpose flour

2 cans apple pie filling

For Topping:

Toasted Almonds

Buttercream icing

Instructions

Heat sour cream in microwave until lukewarm. 

Add butter to the sour cream. 

(This allows the butter to soften) Dissolve yeast in warm water. 

Stir in sour cream, butter, sugar, eggs and 2 cups of the flour. 

Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn dough onto well-floured board and knead until smooth – about 10 minutes. 

Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. 

Cover, let rise in a warm place until double in size, about an hour. 

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Punch down dough; divide into 3 equal parts. 

Roll each part into rectangle and place 1/3 of the apple filling in each bread. 

Cut along the sides of the dough with scissors and pull the dough across the top of the filling to create a braided effect. 

Place on a buttered cookie sheet. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. While warm, brush with icing and sprinkle with toasted almonds.

*If doing the tea ring instead of the braid, roll the dough into a rectangle and then turn into a circle and place apples in the center of the dough. 

Wrap the ends then make cuts to show the apples.