Whisk the yeast, warm water and honey until combined, let rest for 10 minutes.

Mix the butter, sugar, egg yolks, milk and yeast mixture together in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment.

Change to the hook attachment and add the flour and salt. Mix until a uniform dough has formed.

Roll into a ball and place into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap.

Let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and roll back into a ball, this time allowing it to rise for 30 minutes.

Take the dough out and divide into 3 even pieces (preferably use a scale to weigh out the 3 pieces of dough).

Mix each piece into a ball, and then roll out into a long strand. They should be approximately 32-36 inches long and about 3/4 in thick in diameter.

1. This part is a little difficult if you don’t have a lot of experience with bread making and dough. You want to use both hands to roll it out thinner and thinner, resisting the urge to “pull” it to make it longer. Rolling it out with your hands is key to getting more uniform strands.

Once you have your three strands, braid them into one long braid. Once you have braided them, connect the end of one braid to the start of the other in an oval shape. The connections will never be perfect but don’t stress about it too much, do your best to tuck the connected parts towards the bottom of the braid.

1. If you have never braided before, look up videos on how to do so. The easiset approach is to lay out your three strands in front of you, so you have a top, a middle, and a bottom strand. Then, bring the bottom on top of the middle strand, which makes the bottom strand become your middle strand. Now bring the top strand on top of your new middle strand, thus becoming the new middle strand. You basically repeat this process, tightening your braid as you go and see necessary. I always like to remember, top over middle, bottom over middle, and repeat until done.

Brush your completed braid crown with egg wash. Let rest in a cookie sheet covered for 30 minutes. I use a second cookie sheet to cover it.

Preheat your oven to 375F. Right before going into the oven, give your dough a second brush of egg wash, and top generously with your sliced almonds. Bake for 30 minutes (and up to 45 minutes) until the loaf looks golden brown.

Let rest, and enjoy!