With the ease of frozen bread dough, this simple, easy mock braid looks complicated enough to impress anyone. The center has a rich, lemon curd and cream cheese filling wrapped in braided sweet bread.
¾cuplemon curd(see notes for recipe, or use prepared)
Egg Wash
1egg, beaten lightly
2teaspoonswater
Instructions
Prepare the braided bread with filling
Prepare the filling by mixing the cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, lemon juice, lemon zest, and flour in a small bowl. Stir until smooth.
Roll room temperature dough into a rectangle shape about 9” by 12.” Using a bench scraper or ruler, make 2 equal indentations down the dough lengthwise in about 3” apart (see photos). The middle section is where you will evenly spread the cheese filling, leaving 1” spacing without cheese filling at the top and bottom.
Using your ruler and bench scraper or knife, make 1” indentation strips down the two sides next to the filling. Notch out the corners (as shown) above the first strip on all four sides. Top with the lemon curd, smoothing it level.
Braid the bread loaf
To make the braids, fold down the top flap up over the filling. Then, take the top right strip, and bring it over to the center of the filing at an angle and lightly press down. Do the same with the left side in a crisscross, repeating the process until you get close to the bottom of the cream cheese bread braid. Fold up the bottom tab, and cross the last strips under the bread loaf.Fold up the bottom tab, and cross the last strips under the bread loaf.
Lightly cover the sweet bread braid and let rise until puffy. This will take about 45 minutes.
Baking the loaf
Preheat your oven to 375ºF. In a small bowl, mix the egg with 2 teaspoons of water, then brush egg wash on top of the bread braid. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
To make your own lemon curd, I recommend this Easy Lemon Curd recipe.This recipe was adapted from King Arthur Flour's Lemon Braided Bread recipe.