Homemade, dough from breadmaker: Lemon Cheese Braid

Today I challenged myself a little bit with filled bread. I said "challenge," but you'll see it's nothing challenging though. Just try to sound it louder, LOL. Since my kitchen is very narrow, a bread maker is my saver always whenever it comes to make a dough. 

OMG I love this bread so much and, it turns out perfect for the first attempt. Let me introduce you to my little cuties now. Here come the slices: 

Okie, the breadmaker and also my hero today is BLACK&DECKER Automatic Breadmaker. I actually borrow it from my mommy though. You can have a look at its appearance here.

This breadmaker is very convenient with many enclosed recipes. I just picked the DOUGH program and followed its ingredient list to make my dough. If you want some clues on the recipe, please read below. The red texts are actually my own customization. My bad habit is that I never follow any recipe fully from top to toe. That's why to me, it is always like playing a game when I'm in the kitchen with a baking battle. Actually, there is a reason behind the scene though. Since my most concern is to reduce the grease/fat and sugar, my eyes always scanned well and my hand always twisted on those in ingredient list. 

Here is the recipe:

Best ever sweet dough

½ cup sour cream

3 large eggs, at room temperature

6 tbsp. granulated sugar è Used 4 ½ tbsp. brown sugar

6 tbsp. unsalted butter or margarine, cut into small pieces è Used 4 ½ tbsp. unsalted margarine

¾ tsp. salt

4 ¼ cups bread flour      è Used nearly 4 cups all purpose flour

3 tsp. active dry or bread machine yeast              è Used 3 tsp. instant dry yeast
¾ tsp. baking powder

1.  Measure ingredients into bread pan in the order listed
2. Insert bread pan securely into unit; close lid. Plug unit into wall outlet
3. Select Dough setting
4. Press Start button
5. The Complete Signal will sound when bread is done
6. Using pot holders, remove bread pan from the unit and turn dough out onto lightly floured surface
7. Invert large mixing bowl over dough and let rest for 10 minutes
8. Shape into your favorite coffee cake or dinner rolls

Lemon Cheese Braid:

1. Prepare filling: in bowl, cream together 1 cup creamy cottage cheese ½ cup of regular cream cheese, 3 tbsp. granulated sugar 2 tbsp. brown sugar, 1 tbsp. flour. Stir in 1 egg yolk, 1 tbsp. sour cream, 1 tsp. grated lemon peel and 1 tbsp. lemon juice.Customization: added 2 tbsp. ground almond, 1 tbsp. cinnamon powder, 3 tbsp. frozen blue berries, 1/4 cup  leftover mozzarella cheese from my homemade pizza last night. 
2. Divide dough in half. Roll out half on lightly greased baking sheet to 9x16-inch rectangle.
3. Spread half of the filling down centre third of oblong. Cut 16 slits in dough along each side of filling making strips about 1-inch wide. Fold strips at an angle across filling, alternating from side to side.
4. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled in size (about 45 minutes).
5. Customization: leave one egg in room temperature, split and keep the yolk.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 375°F until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
   Customization: Bake in preheated oven at 375°F around 10 minutes. Mix the egg yolk well and spread it slightly on the bread surfaces. Put the bread loaves back into the oven and bake for 10 more minutes. Check regularly to find the good cooked status (depend on oven variation)
7. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.
   Customization: Sprinkle pearl sugar or icing sugar or unsweetened shredded coconut on top of the loaves. I used coconut. 
8. If desired, combine 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 1 tsp. grated lemon peel and about 1 tbsp. lemon juice. Frost cooled cake.

Oh boys, want to know how my "babies" look like? No more waiting, here they are!

(before baking)

(before baking, top-down view)

(after baking, top-down view)

(look inside)

Yummy yummy yummy, excited? Yes, I'm excited, LOL. It's called AWESOME!