Braided bread loaf stuffed with chicken and peppers

Add the sugar, yeast, vitamin C powder and salt to the bread flour and mix the dry ingredients well.

Make a well, add the water, milk, eggs and melted butter and mix with a spatula, then by hand, until a soft, wet, sticky dough forms.

Knead on a well-floured surface about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, sprinkling a little flour if it gets sticky. It should stretch a while before breaking.

Grease a bowl with butter and turn the dough in it so it does not stick or form a crust. Cover with plastic wrap and proof in a warm place about an hour, until almost three times its size.

Dice the bell peppers and the other vegetables; mix all-purpose flour with water to thicken the filling, a little water first to break the lumps.

Heat a little oil in a pan and cook the vegetables and ginger until the peppers wilt.

Add the chicken, breaking it into bits and shredding it in the pot. Season with black pepper, salt and curry powder.

After about 5 minutes of cooking, stir in the flour mixture until thick: moist but not wet, or the bread will be soggy, and not dry.

Turn the risen dough onto a floured surface and divide into four equal parts.

Roll each piece to about a quarter inch thick or a little less, so the filled loaf bakes through before it burns. Lift onto parchment paper.

Spread a generous amount of filling down the middle.

With a pizza cutter or knife, cut both sides into strips about half an inch wide, the same number on each side.

Fold the top over the filling, then cross strips from alternate sides over the filling to the bottom; fold the leftover dough up, criss-cross the remaining strips and pinch to seal.

Lift by the parchment into the baking pan, cover with plastic wrap and rise in a warm place 30 minutes.

Bake at 350, rotating the bread partway so it bakes evenly.

Test with a skewer; a little wet from the filling is fine, but if sticky, bake a little more.

While hot, brush with butter for a soft, shiny crust. Cool before cutting.