I had combined two different recipes to make this bread. It turned out to be surprisingly good. My husband couldn’t stop nibbling on them. He kept on telling me how delicious it is, so I have to save this one for him.
The first part is the dough recipe. You can use it also for wonderful dinner rolls.

Ingredients:
· 1 cup warm water (110 degrees)    一杯温水
· 1 cup warm milk   一杯温牛奶
· 2 egg   两个鸡蛋
· 1/2 cup butter, softened   半杯牛油，室温放软
· 2/3 cup white sugar   2/3杯白糖
· 1 ½ tsp salt   一茶勺半盐
· 7 cups all-purpose flour  七杯面粉
· 1 package active dry yeast ( This is a double recipe of the original one, but I didn’t double the yeast)

Fillings:
· ½ cup butter, melted
· Brown sugar,
· Cinnamon
· raisins

Directions:

Place water, milk, sugar and yeast in a bowl, wait until the yeast becomes foamy, mix in egg and softened butter.

In another bowl, mix flour and salt. Stir the flour mix to the yeast mix, knead the dough until smooth, cover and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk. Punch the dough down and let it rise the second time.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth. Take ½ of dough, divide into three parts. Roll each part into a long rectangle ( about 8-inch wide).

Brush melted butter over each rectangle to cover, sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon, add raisins on top.

Roll each rectangle of dough into a long rope. Braid ropes together and seal ends. Place braid on a long cookie sheet, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk.

Repeat above procedure with other half of dough.

Brush tops with left over melted butter. Back in a preheated oven at 375F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.