Dissolve yeast in a small bowl with one third of the milk and a pinch of sugar. The yeast mixture should be foamy after 10 minutes. (If there are no bubbles, the yeast is no good and should be discarded. Start from the beginning with fresher yeast.)

Combine the remaining milk with the melted butter, add the eggs and whisk together. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook on low speed, combine the milk mixture with the yeast mixture and half of the flour mixture. Once the flour is incorporated, add the rest of the flour mixture one tablespoon at a time, continually kneading on low speed, until all of the flour is incorporated. Turn dough onto work surface and knead by hand for another 10 minutes. If the dough sticks to hands and work surface too much, knead in 1-2 handfuls of flour.

Place dough into a large greased bowl, cover with a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm place for 30-60 minutes or until doubled in size. Punch the dough down, knead it and let it rise again.

In the meantime, soak raisins in rum. After the second rise, knead the raisins into the dough. Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Roll pieces into four equally long strands (16-17 inches, 40-45 cm long). Braid the bread following the tutorial directions above, brush with egg-milk mixture and sprinkle with sliced almonds and coarse sugar. Preheat oven to 350°F (170°C) and allow the bread to rise on the counter while the oven is heating. Bake for 30 minutes.