Cocoa Braided Sweet Bread

Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of sugar into the lukewarm milk, crumble in the yeast, and set aside to activate (approx. 5-10 minutes).

Sift the flours into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the granulated sugar, salt, soft butter, egg yolk, water (200-250 ml), vanilla sugar, then the grated lemon zest, and finally the activated yeast. Knead the dough by hand or with a machine. If the dough is too sticky, you can add a little more flour; if it's too dry, you can loosen it with a little milk.

Cover the kneaded dough with a clean kitchen towel and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size (30-45 minutes).