Lemon & Poppy Seed Plait - Bread Challenge No. 12

I flicked through the telly channels this week and came across an episode of last years 'Great British Bake Off' featuring bread making. Of course I 'flicked' no further and sat myself down to watch it with great interest. As the contestants made their show stoppers at the end of the episode I heard one of them say Lemon & Poppy Seed amongst their bread flavours and I thought how nice that sounded so I decided that would be my next recipe to try, and, because I want to challenge myself decided that this bread would be in the form of a plait.
I used my basic loaf ingredients with the addition of poppy seeds, lemon zest and lemon juice and took a chance that all would turn out well!

Ingredients:
500g Strong White Bread Flour
1 1/2Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Sugar
25g Butter, cubed
1 Tsp Fast Action Yeast
2 Tsp Poppy Seeds
2 Lemons, zest and juice
7 Floz Lukewarm Water
For The Top:
1 Egg White
1 Tbsp Water
2 Tsp Poppy Seeds

Method:
Place in a bowl the flour,salt and sugar and rub in the butter with your fingertips. Add the yeast,poppy seeds and lemon zest.
Add the juice from the lemons to the water and add to the bowl of dry ingredients. Mix together to form a dough. Turn on to a lightly floured board and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth. Return to the bowl, cover with clingfilm and put in a warm place to rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.
When risen, punch back and turn out onto a board and knead for a couple of minutes then divided into 3 equal pieces.
Stretch and roll each piece, lay beside each other and plait. Cant plait? Basically it's over one and under the other repeatedly!

Tuck in the ends, cover and leave to rise for a further hour.

Before baking, mix the egg white and water together and brush over the top of the loaf and sprinkle the poppy seeds on top. Bake at 200C .for about 20-25 mins.

The smell of lemon from the oven as the bread baked was lovely and I'm pleased to say, when eaten, the lemon flavour isnt over powering and the poppy seeds give a lovely texture. Would certainly recommend this one!!