Braided Onion Garlic Bread

Ingredients

 * 2 cups all-purpose flour
 * 2/3 oz. active dry yeast
 * 2 tablespoons warm milk
 * 1/2 cup warm water
 * 1 tablespoon sugar
 * 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
 * 1 tablespoon salt
 * 1 medium onion, diced
 * 3 cloves garlic, minced

Direct​ions
Pour flour into bowl and make a well in the center; crumble yeast into well. Add milk, water, oil, sugar, and salt. Knead until blended. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled. Punch down the dough! (Or, less violently, fold in half and gently knead 2-3 times.)

Sautee the onions and garlic in butter over medium heat. On lightly floured surface, knead onion/garlic mixture into dough until evenly distributed, or 5-10 minutes. Cover and let rise in warm place for 15-20 minutes.

Separate dough into 3 roughly equal parts. Roll each section of dough into a long rope shape. Squash the ends to each other and braid the dough together into one loaf. Place on greased cookie sheet. Cover and let rise for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle with water. Bake at 350˚ F for 25 minutes until golden brown.

Tips and Hints

 * "Warm" water and milk means heated to 120-130˚ F. If the liquids are too hot (over 140˚ F), the yeast will die. If they are too cool, the yeast won't activate properly.
 * "Let rise until doubled" - The time it takes to double in volume will depend a little bit on the temperature in your kitchen (or wherever you let it rise). I used to have problems with this in the winter time, so I had to turn my oven to the warm setting, turn it off and let it cool for a while, then let the dough rise in the slightly warmed oven. My rule of thumb: make a pencil mark on the outside of the bowl at the top of the dough and make another mark to indicate where you want it to rise to. I estimate that it will take about 1-2 hours. Check up on it every 30 minutes or so.
 * If you like to use a lot of butter when you sautee vegetables (like me), use 2 tablespoons of oil in the dough mixture. If you go light on the butter, use 3 tablespoons.