Chai Tea Bread

I love chai tea and thought I would try incorporating it into a bread recipe. This is a bread machine recipe. I ran it on the Dough cycle and then braided and baked the bread in the oven.

Ingredients

• 1 cup 2% milk
• 3 chai tea bags (such as Oregon Chai®), divided
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 egg, separated
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 0.3333333333333333 cup white sugar
• 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
• 0.5 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon white decorator sugar, or to taste

Steps

1. Heat milk in the microwave for 1 minute. Steep 1 tea bag in the warm milk for 7 to 10 minutes. Whisk contents of the remaining tea bags into flour.
2. Pour milk into a bread machine, discarding tea bag. Add egg yolk, butter, flour, sugar, yeast, and salt, in that order. Run Dough cycle.
3. Remove dough from the machine after the cycle is done, about 90 minutes. Place on a floured surface and punch down gently. Divide dough into 3 equal parts and braid together. Tuck ends under.
4. Place the braided loaf on a greased baking pan and cover loosely with a towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
6. Whisk egg white with water to make egg wash. Brush egg wash over the loaf. Sprinkle decorator sugar on top.
7. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes.