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Soft and fluffy tangzhong milk bread filled with luscious lemon curd, cream cheese, and raspberries. The combination of sweetness and tartness is so refreshing and complementary.
Why you’ll love this bread!
After making some lemon curd, I decided to make some bread that I could fill with the lemon curd. The tartness of the lemon curd is just so perfect to go with the raspberries and also the creamy and slightly sweet cream cheese. All those combined, add such complexity to the overall flavor! Tangzhong bread never fails to impress me either! I just love how soft and fluffy the bread is! This bread is delicious and such a treat, but not overly sinful!
Braided Lemon Curd Raspberries Cream Cheese Bread (Tangzhong)
Ingredients
Tangzhong:
- 15 gr bread flour (12.7% protein content)
- 90 ml milk
For the dough:
- 300 gr bread flour (12.7% protein content)
- 1 ½ tsp instant yeast
- 15 gr milk powder
- 30 g sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 120 ml whole milk
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 40 gr butter softened
Egg wash:
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 tsp milk
Filling:
- 100 g cream cheese softened
- 50 g plain whole-milk Greek yogurt or use sour cream, room temperature
- 50 g sugar
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 200 g lemon curd
- 130 g Fresh raspberries
Instructions
- You can use store-bought lemon curd or homemade lemon curd. If using homemade, I recommend preparing it the day before
- Combine softened cream cheese, Greek yogurt, lemon zest, sugar, and all-purpose flour in a bowl and set aside
Prepare tangzhong:
- Place milk and the bread flour in a small saucepan. Whisk until there is no more lumps. Cook this mixture over low-medium heat until it reaches 65 C (149 F). Remove from the heat and cover with a plastic wrap, touching the tangzhong so the skin won't form. I highly suggest using this the next day instead of using it on the same day. Store this in the fridge
Prepare the dough:
- Mix tangzhong and all ingredients, except for the butter, in a mixing bowl. Use a dough hook attachment to stir it so when you turn on the machine, the flour won't fly away. Knead the dough until all the crumbly dough starts to come together into one mass, it may take about 3-5 minutes for this to happen.
- Then gradually add in the softened butter, one pat at a time. The dough turns into a sticky mess again because of the butter, just keep kneading and stop halfway and scrape the dough off the hook and bowl again and continue to knead until the butter is absorbed by the dough. Try not to add anymore flour unless your dough is really sticky and wet and won't come off the side of the bowl. You will get a shiny smooth dough that is very elastic. It may take 10-18 minutes of kneading with a machine on speed 2.
1st proofing:
- Place this dough in a lightly oiled large bowl, cover it with a clean and damp tea cloth or plastic wrap and let it rise at a warm place for about 1 hour. The dough will really puff up, may be double in size may be closed to double.
Shaping:
- Deflate the dough and knead a few times to push out all the air and round it up into a dough ball. Cover the dough with a plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes to relax the gluten so it's easier for you to roll out the dough
- Place the dough ball on top of a large piece of parchment paper that you will use to line a baking pan for baking later on. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a rectangle, about 10 x 15 inches, roughly
- Spread the cream cheese filling at the center of the rectangle, then top with the lemon curd spread, leaving about 1-inch of gap on the top and the bottom of the dough.
- Use a bench knife to cut out 1 inch of the four corners of the rectangles. This makes the ends of the braid much neater
- Top with some fresh raspberries. Then fold down the top tab. Use a bench knife to cut 1 inch crosswise strips down the length of the right section and then the left section. Make sure each section has the same amount of strips
- Grab the top strip from one side and bring it across the filling diagonally. Repeat with the top strip from the other side. So both strips crisscross each other. Continue doing so with the braiding and when you almost reaches the end with two strips left on each side, fold the bottom tab over and then continue to crisscross the last two strips
2nd proofing:
- Gently lift the parchment paper up and place the braided dough on a baking pan. Cover with a cloth and let it rise again at a warm place until puffy, about an hour or so. When you gently press on the dough, it bounces back slowly and leave a slight indentation
- 10 minutes before the end of proofing, preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C) for conventional oven, 350 F (180 C) for convection oven.
- Brush the surface of the loaf with some egg wash and sprinkle with some sesame seeds
Baking:
- Bake in the middle rack for 25-30 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer registers 190 F (88 C). The top will be golden brown
Cooling:
- Let the bread cool down for at least 15 minutes before serving. It can be served warm or at room temperature
Storage:
- Let the bread cool down completely. Because the cream cheese and lemon curd are baked with the bread, they are shelf-stable for a day or two at room temperature. Store it in air-tight container or zipper bag, push all the air out and seal the bag. For longer storage, wrap them in a foil and then put inside a freezer bag, push all the air out and seal the bag. Simply thaw before serving. If you like it warm, microwave for a few seconds just until they are warm through
RECOMMEDED TOOLS
*Nutrition facts are just estimates and calculated using online tools*
How to make braided lemon curd raspberries cream cheese bread
1. You can watch a short video on how I prepare tangzhong in case you need a visual
2. Mix tangzhong and all ingredients, except for the butter, in a mixing bowl. Use a dough hook attachment to stir it so when you turn on the machine, the flour won’t fly away. 
3. Knead the dough until all the crumbly dough starts to come together into one mass, it may take about 3-5 minutes for this to happen. 
4. Then gradually add in the softened butter, one pat at a time. The dough turns into a sticky mess again because of the butter, just keep kneading and stop halfway and scrape the dough off the hook and bowl again and continue to knead until the butter is absorbed by the dough. Try not to add anymore flour unless your dough is really sticky and wet and won’t come off the side of the bowl. You will get a shiny smooth dough that is very elastic. It may take 10-18 minutes of kneading with a machine on speed 2.
5. Place this dough in a lightly oiled large bowl, cover it with a clean and damp tea cloth or plastic wrap and let it rise at a warm place for about 1 hour. The dough will puff up, may be double in size may be close to double.
6. Deflate the dough and knead a few times to push out all the air and round it up into a dough ball. Cover the dough with a plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes to relax the gluten so it’s easier for you to roll out the dough
7. Place the dough ball on top of a large piece of parchment paper that you will use to line a baking pan for baking later on. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a rectangle, about 10 x 15 inches, roughly
8. Spread the cream cheese filling at the center of the rectangle, then top with the lemon curd spread, leaving about 1-inch of gap on the top and the bottom of the dough. Top with some fresh raspberries
9. Use a bench knife to cut out 1 inch of the four corners of the rectangles. This makes the ends of the braid much neater
10. Top with some raspberries. You can skip if you don’t want to include any fruits
11. Use a bench knife to cut 1 inch crosswise strips down the length of the right section and then the left section. Make sure each section has the same amount of strips
12. Then fold down the top tab. 
13. Grab the top strip from one side and bring it across the filling diagonally. Repeat with the top strip from the other side. So both strips crisscross each other. 
14. Continue doing so with the braiding and when you almost reach the end with two strips left on each side, fold the bottom tab over and then continue to crisscross the last two strips
15. Gently lift the parchment paper up and place the braided dough on a baking pan.
16. Cover with a cloth and let it rise again at a warm place until puffy, about an hour or so. When you gently press on the dough, it bounces back slowly and leave a slight indentation
17. 10 minutes before the end of proofing, preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C) for conventional oven, 350 F (180 C) for convection oven. Brush the surface of the loaf with some egg wash and sprinkle with some sesame seeds
18. Bake in the middle rack for 25-30 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer registers 190 F (88 C). The top will be golden brown. Let the bread cool down for at least 15 minutes before serving. It can be served warm or at room temperature
Variations for filling
You can use any fruit jam of your choice, nut spread, chocolate spread, etc, if you don’t want to use lemon curd, cream cheese, and fresh raspberries. You can also choose to use just lemon curd. This dough is a great canvas for you to turn it into a bread with sweet or savory filling.
Did you make this braided lemon curd raspberries cream cheese recipe?
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