Chessiecat's Houska Recipe

(Developed after much kitchen testing and reviewing of 5 different Houska recipes)

Warm milk, butter, and the rest of the sugar in a pan while stirring just till the butter melts. Let cool to lukewarm. While it's cooling, mix yeast in warm water with 1 tsp of the sugar and let sit for 5 min. Mix 1 C of the flour with the salt in a large bowl. Mix in milk, yeast, eggs, and raisins. Continue to add flour 1/2 C at a time while mixing, eventually mixing with your hands as it becomes doughy. Turn the dough out on a floured board and knead, adding flour as necessary to prevent stickiness, for 10 min. Put back in bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours. A good way to make a warm place is to turn your oven on the lowest setting for 10 minutes and then turn it off (do that before you put the dough in). Punch down and divide dough in three balls. Take each ball one at a time and divide into thirds; roll the thirds out by hand into strands and braid the strands together into a thick, loaf-shaped braid, pinching the ends under. Place each braid into a greased loaf pan. Tuck in any raisins that are on the outside of the braid since they will turn black while cooking otherwise. Repeat with other half of dough. Cover pans (I use a dishtowel), set in warm place, let rise about an hour till the dough is level with the tops of the pans. Paint the tops with the egg white for a glossy bread, and sprinkle tops with almonds. Cook at 350 for 30-35 min, till a rich golden brown and hollow sounding when knocked on. This recipe makes two large loaves, or 3-4 small ones, though best success has been reported with 3, by Master Houska Tester Ted Prewitt. Here is a picture Ted took of two of his masterpieces (the one on the right was made in a pan, the other, free-form on a cookie sheet):