Mama'S Finnish Coffee Bread - cooking recipe

Ingredients

4 cups milk
1/2 lb butter
2 1/2 cups white sugar
6 beaten eggs
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon cardamom seed, crushed
5 lbs unbleached flour
3 (1/4 ounce) packages yeast, 3-4 pkg, in
1/2 cup warm water, with
1 pinch sugar
1 egg, with
sugar, small amount, for glaze

Preparation

dissolve yeast in warm -not too hot- water with a small amount of sugar to feed the yeast. in a large pot,heat milk and butter until boiling. remove from heat and cool until lukewarm. beat eggs and sugar together. add salt, cardamom, flour and yeast mixture. kmead well on a floured surface. cover and let rise til double. separate dough into halves and then separate each half into 3 loaves.(6 loaves total) separate each loaf into 3 sections. roll each section between your hands into long tubular shapes. braid the 3 sections together and tuck ends. put loaves on a greased cookie sheet. let rise double again. bake at 325 for 15 minutes. remove from oven. brush top of loaves with a beaten egg mixed with a little sugar. sprinkle sugar over egg glaze. return to oven for 15 minutes more.