Hi Rita, it sounds to me like you may want to allow the dough to rise a bit longer after you have shaped it. My concern is that such a short (15 minute) rise will result in a dough that is likely to strain and distort when it hits the heat of the oven and rises rapidly, especially because the hydration of this dough is rather low (49%). A stiff dough that hasn't been allowed to rise and ferment sufficiently before baking is more likely to rip and burst at the seams during baking. Scoring the bread aggressively may alleviate some of the ripping, but it doesn't sound like this was part of your design plan. It would be helpful if you have a chance to experiment a few times and perhaps consider upping the hydration of your preferment to 300g of water, which will give your dough a softer, more supple consistency. The hydration percentage of this dough would be about 62%. You might not want to go quite that high with the hydration, but a little more water could be helpful. You will likely want the braid and the symbols to be affixed to the dough at the time of shaping. I would then be sure the dough rises well before baking. If the symbols are also made of dough and you want to prevent them from rising too much, you could form them and affix them closer to baking time (your egg wash may help here). Check out this blog post for some tips on applying stencils.  If, on the other hand, you are aiming for a stiff dough that rises minimally in the oven, you could keep the dough consistency as is, but consider reducing the yeast amount somewhat. It's hard for me to predict exactly how your dough will perform, so I encourage you to experiment as much as possible before the final bake. 

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