We’ll start by activating the yeast. In a bowl, combine lukewarm milk, ¼ cup of sugar (reserve ¾ cup of sugar for later), and yeast. Making sure that the milk is slightly warm will ensure that the yeast activates properly.

Stir it together until the sugar and yeast dissolve. Place it in a warm place and let the yeast activate.

Next, beat eggs and the remaining ¾ cup of sugar together on high speed for 5 minutes.

Now reduce the mixer speed to low and add the yeast mixture to it, along with sea salt and vanilla extract.

Next, switch to the dough hook attachment. Stir in sifted flour, adding ½ cup at a time, for a total of four cups. Then mix in the softened butter.

As soon as the butter is mixed in, it's time to divide the dough in two. You’ll notice that the dough is not entirely done yet and it will still be pretty sticky at this point. That is absolutely okay, we will finish kneading it in a bit.

Using a silicone spatula, split the dough into equal pieces and transfer half of the dough into a medium bowl. Set it aside. We will be adding cacao and ground cinnamon to it later after we finish mixing the white dough first.

Attach the bowl back to the stand mixer. Now mix in more flour by adding ½ cup at a time, for 1 ½ cups in total. The dough should be soft and stretchy, and it should not stick to the spatula.

Transfer the white well-kneaded dough into a second large bowl greased with olive oil. Cover the bowl with plastic food wrap and place it in a warm area to rise.

Now it’s time to transfer the dough that you set aside back into the mixer bowl. Next, add ¼ cup cacao (or cocoa powder) and ¼ tsp of ground cinnamon.

Mix everything in, by adding ½ cup of flour at a time, for a total of one cup of additional flour. Keep mixing until the dough stops sticking to the side of the bowl. The dough should be stretchy and should not stick to the bowl or spatula.

Transfer the chocolate dough back into another glass bowl greased with olive oil. Place the chocolate dough next to the white dough and allow it to rise for about an hour to an hour and a half.

Towards the end of the rising time, make the eggs wash. Beat an egg with water until well combined and set aside until ready for use.

Work with one color of dough at a time. Move the white dough onto a floured surface.

Knead the dough into a ball and split the white dough in half. Keep in mind that this recipe makes 2 loaves of marbled bread.

Place the second half of the white dough back into the glass bowl and cover it again with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.

Roll the dough out into a large rectangle, about ¼" in thickness. Repeat the same steps with the chocolate dough as with the white. Roll it out into about the same size rectangle, ¼" in thickness.

Now place the chocolate dough on top of the white one. The chocolate dough will want to shrink, so you can just pinch the edges together sporadically, in multiple places. They do not have to be perfectly aligned as you will be rolling the dough out again.

Fold the dough into vertical four folds and roll the dough out again to about ½" in thickness.

As mentioned earlier, it doesn't have to be exact or perfect. That's the beauty of working with yeast dough, it will expand in size anyway to give you a beautiful, marbled effect.

Now fold that large strip of dough in half and roll it out again to about 1" in thickness throughout the entire rectangle.

Make 3 even cuts in the dough without cutting all the way through to make 3 strips for the dough to be braided.

Finally, braid the marbled dough strips and tuck in the edge under the loaf. While braiding, you may turn the strips to reveal the marbled cut sides even more, if you want to.

Now, place the marbled braid into a bread pan or baking sheet greased with butter and lined with parchment paper. Tuck in both ends underneath the braid to make sure it doesn’t unravel while baking.

Place the dough into a warm place to proof for 45 minutes. Repeat the same instructions with the second half of the dough for your second loaf of Sweet Marbled Bread.

Start by preheating the oven to 350F (180C) 30 minutes into the final proofing time.

Right before placing the bread in the oven to bake, brush both loaves of bread dough with the egg wash multiple times using a pastry brush.

Bake the bread in the preheated oven at 350F (180C) for 40 to 45 minutes. Insert a long wooden toothpick into the center of the bread to check if the bread is done. If it comes out clean, then the bread is done baking.

Remove from the oven and let the bread cool in the baking pans for about 15 minutes before transferring them onto a cooling rack to cool completely.