Austrian Almond Strietzel

Directions

1. Warm up the milk together with the brown sugar and the yeast and when the sugar has melted let it cool down to room temperature. Put the correct amount of butter on a small plate and let it get soft.
2. Weight the flour in a big bowl and add the mixture of milk, yeast and sugar first. When slightly blended, add the eggs, the lemon zest, the vanilla and the butter.
3. Beat it up very well with a wooden spoon, it will be a very sticky dough. When the dough starts to loosen from the bowl and get very homogeneous, you have done it correctly. This takes some time so don't get worried. The longer you beat the dough the softer it will get.
4. Now you put the bowl with the dough in a plastic bag, suck the air out and close it. Leave it on a warm spot until the dough has doubled its volume. This might take between 1 and 2 hours. I you have doubt, leave it a bit longer.
5. After the dough has raised, put it out of the bowl on a floured surface and beat it up again with your hands but don't overdo it (10 seconds). Cut the dough into 4 equal parts, respectively 12 equal parts.
6. Now take 3 parts and roll them out with your hands to a long "cylinder". All of those 3 parts should be approximately same in size and thickness. Align them next to each other and connect the 3 parts at one end. Now start to plaid those 3 parts. When finished connect them on the other end and put the plait on a baking tray with a baking sheet. You can squeeze the plait to adjust the length and thickness a little pid, but again don't overdo it. Continue with the other parts of the dough until you have 4 equal plaits.
7. When the dough plaits increased, remove the towel and beat up the extra eggs. Spread them evenly on the dough plaits. Then you can softly stick the almonds into the dough plaids.
8. That's it. Put the baking trays with the dough plaits into the oven and let them bake for about 20-25 minutes. They should get golden, brownish. You can test if they are done if you stick a thin and long knife into the plaits and when pulled out, nothing stays on the blade. Let them rest until cooled out and enjoy a perfect "Strietzel".