Plaited Poppy Seed Milk Loaf

This is an impressive-looking loaf with a glossy, golden brown crust and a beautifully soft and airy interior.  Of course there is no need to bother with the plaiting if you don't want the faff but it does look great and isn't very difficult...I promise!

Ingredients

500g Strong White Flour

1 tspn Salt

250ml Milk

70ml Hot Water

1 tbsp Caster Sugar

3 tbsp Melted Butter

1 sachet (7g) Fast Action Yeast
1 Egg, beaten
1 tbsp Poppy Seeds

• Tip the flour into a large bowl and stir in the salt.
• In a measuring jug, measure the milk then the water and add the sugar, yeast and melted butter, stir to combine.
• Stirring with a fork, pour the liquid into the flour and work it together until it starts to form a dough.  With your hands now, knead the dough in the bowl to incorporate all the flour.  
• Transfer the dough to your work surface, you shouldn't need to sprinkle it with flour but do if you feel it's really sticky.  Knead the dough by stretching it out and folding it back energetically for about 10 minutes until you have a springy dough which has lost most of its stickiness.
• Lightly flour the bottom of your bowl and put the ball of dough back in, cover with cling film and leave for 1-2 hours until it's doubled in size.
• When risen take the dough out of the bowl and knead it a bit to knock out the air and incorporate any flour from the bowl.  Split the dough into three equal pieces (you can weigh it if you want to be exact) and roll each one into a long sausage shape.
• Lightly oil a baking tray and put the three long pieces of dough next to each other on it.  Squash the pieces of dough together at one end and fold under to neaten it up.  Now plait the pieces over each other and, when you get to the end, squash the remaining dough together and fold under again so you have a neat plait.
• Brush with the beaten egg and lightly cover with cling film, this needs to rise again for about an hour or until doubled in size.
• Preheat the oven to 210C (fan).  When the dough is risen again, gently brush again with the egg (the double egg wash creates the deep golden brown glossy sheen) and sprinkle with poppy seeds.  
• Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until deep golden and smelling wonderful.  Loosen the loaf underneath with a palette knife or similar (it may be sticking slightly due to the egg) and transfer carefully to a board or rack to cool.  The crust will soften as the loaf cools.