In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Then add in the butter and rub it with your fingers or mixer until all the flour mixture is coated with the butter.

In another bowl, mix together the persimmon, egg and milk. Then add it in the flour mixture and knead it by hand or machine until the dough starts to form.

If the dough feels dry, add in some more milk. If it fees too sticky, add in flour a tablespoon at a time.

The dough should be sticky to the touch, so if you stick your finger in the dough, it should stick to it—-but the you should be able to rub off the sticky dough off your finger with minimal rubbing. (you can check this best soft burger buns recipe for photos of forming this dough).

Knead the dough for just a couple of minutes and place it in an oiled bowl room temperature for up to 2 hours or in the fridge for up to 2 days.

In the meantime prepare the filling: Pulse the hazelnuts to the size of coarse sand, add in the raisins and pulse until the mixture is like coarse crumbly sand. Then add in the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and water. Pule just a couple of times until it looks like a paste with crunch pieces of nuts and raisins.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 9inch by 15 inch and spread the filling all over. If the filling is too dry, add in another teaspoon of water.

Start rolling out the dough into a cylinder from the shortest side (so your cylinder will be 9 inch long).

Take a knife and cut slice the cylinder lengthwise giving you 2 strips 9 inch long each. You’ll notice the filling will be exposed once you cut the dough, keep the strips in a way that the filling is always facing up.

Punch the tops of the 2 strips together joining them into one (keeping the filling facing up always). And start braiding the strips together in a 2 strand braid ( always keeping the filling facing up) and then time the bottom ends of the braid together.

Lift up the braided dough and place it in a parchment lined loaf pan (with the filling always facing up again) and tuck in the edges so it fits comfortably.

Cover the dough with plastic and let it rise another hour before baking where the dough will puff up.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Place the loaf in the oven and bake for 20 mins until the tops are golden brown, then drop the oven temperature to 350, tent the top of the loaf with foil to cover it up (without squishing it) and continue baking until the bread is cooked through and registers 200 degrees in the centre using a meat thermometer ( about 20-30 mins more). Cool down for an hour, slice and serve.