Update: I made this a different way recently and it makes a flavorful substitute. Caramelize about 2 large chopped onions in oil and butter. Add some salt and dried garlic flakes and cook until fragrant. Add dried rosemary and simmer a few more minutes. Cool. When the dough is ready, smooth it out on the baking sheet into a rectangle. Smooth on the onion mixture and roll up. Roll that dough in the rest of the onion mixture. Cut the long roll in two. Let them rise about 15 minutes. Brush with whisked raw egg and bake longer than the usual 17-18 minutes. The onion mixture makes the dough more wet.
Place 3 Tbsp. olive oil and 4-1/2 Tbsp. milk in the bread pan of the bread maker.
Add 1 cup ricotta cheese* and 1 egg plus 1 yolk.
Top with 3 cups of bread flour, 1 Tbsp. of sugar, 1-1/2 tsp. of salt and 2-1/4 tsp. of yeast. (I have a special spoon for the yeast that measures 2-1/4 tsp. exactly.)
Set your bread machine to dough (OR if you do this hours in advance, time it to within 1 hour of baking.**) After it has risen in the machine, take it out, knead it down and shape into the braid or rolls. Let it rise, brush with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake 25 minutes in a 350 degree conventional oven or 17-18 minutes on convection bake. You can tell if it is done when the areas between the braids are a bit puffed out and baked (not doughy).
Serve with butter mixed with honey or maple syrup. Or just plain.
*Sometimes the ricotta is too thick - I often use 7/8 cup ricotta and 1/8 cup milk for a lighter bread.
**Sometimes it can be a bit confusing if you have a bread machine that does not allow you to delay the start. If you do, when you are timing your dough and using a bake cycle that includes the baking time Set on a bake cycle. For example, if a bake cycle mixes, rises and cooks in 3-1/2 hours you'll need to get your dough our 1-1/2 hours BEFORE the completion. If you are setting your dough up at 8 am in the morning to be finished rising (ready for the second rise and bake) at 6 pm, you'll want to delay your bread machine two hours more. Not a ten hour delay, but twelve (or two hours more.)
Note: The Breville Bread Machine does let you delay the start of every cycle! Yay for Breville.
