Stuffed Braided Loaf with 3 Fillings

Using plain flour and whole spelt flour	Using just plain wheat flour

A soft, tender braided bread filled with matcha-tahini, nutella (next time I am going to try a poppy seed filling for a better colour contrast) and cherry jam. It might look tricky and complicated to make, but it's actually very simple. Braiding and 3 different fillings help create a impressive-looking loaf that is easy to make! You can bake this with just plain wheat flour or use a mix of plain flour and whole spelt for a nuttier flavour.

Dough	Fillings
165 ml Milk 50 g Butter 350 g Plain flour (or 250 g plain flour+100 g whole spelt flour) 5 g Active dry yeast 30 g Sugar Pinch of salt 1 tsp Vanilla powder 1 Egg, medium, lightly beaten	90 g Honey tahini 1 tsp Matcha powder 75 g Cherry marmalade 90 g Nutella 1 tbsp Raw sugar for topping, optional

Warm up the milk and butter in a saucepan over low heat until the butter melted. Set aside to cool the mixture briefly.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together the flour, dried yeast, sugar, salt and vanilla powder. Add in milk-butter mixture and the egg, reserving a tablespoon for the topping. Stir at slow speed for a couple of minutes until the dough comes together. Increase the speed and knead the dough until smooth and elastic.
Turn out the dough and shape into a ball. Lightly grease the mixing bowl with a bit of olive oil. Return the dough into the bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set aside at a warm place for about 1 hour until it's double in size.
Mix the honey tahini with matcha powder until well combined. Grease a 26x12cm loaf pan and set aside.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out to a 45cmx45cm square. Divide it into 3 even pieces, 15cmx45cm. Spread each rectangle with a different filling, leaving 2cm free edge of dough free from the filling. Roll each into a log and pinch the edges together.
Braid 3 logs and form into a braided loaf by bringing two ends together under the loaf. Place it into the prepared loaf pan. Cover with towel and let rise about one hour.
Preheat oven to 190C/375F. Brush the bread with the reserved egg. Sprinkle the top with raw sugar if using.
Bake the bread in the middle of hot oven for about 30 minutes until golden-brown. Bread should have a nice hollow sound when thumped on the bottom. Cool on a rack for at least one hour before slicing.