How to Make Braided Bread - Braiding Homemade Bread

You can use basically any white bread recipe from your bread machine manual, however, recipes that include eggs work best because the dough is more elastic. Your manual should include some bread recipes and you may find a braided bread dough recipe there, or use ingredients for a large or extra large loaf. The recipe you use doesn't have to be a dough recipe; you can use the same ingredients from a baked-in-the-machine bread recipe and use the dough setting for your machine.

Once you've found a good recipe, measure carefully and insert all the ingredients into the breadmaker pan in the order listed. This is very important for the kneading and dough to come out right.

Once all ingredients are in, replace the breadmaker pan into its proper position in the machine, select the dough setting or input the dough setting number as per your manual. Note the time - most bread machines will show a digital readout of time remaining. This way you'll know when you have to listen for the dough cycle to be finished.

The dough setting will mix the ingredients, knead the dough and allow sufficient periods of rest for the yeast to work properly. When the cycle is finished, the dough will be ready for shaping.