Stir lemon juice into milk and let sit for 5-10 minutes to make sour milk.
Place sour milk, egg, and softened butter into bread machine pan.
Add flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda into pan, completely covering wet ingredients.
Add yeast to the top of the ingredients.
Place in bread machine and set to form dough. Run the full dough cycle. When the dough cycle is complete, move on to forming the braids.
Forming the Braid
Divide dough into two sections. Recipe will make two braided sweet breads.
Use a rolling pin to roll each dough section into a large rectangle approximately ¼" thick.
Score the rectangle twice vertically to delineate three sections. Slice diagonal 1" strips down the outer 2 thirds.
Spread ½-1 cup of apricot jam to cover the center third of the dough.
Starting at the top, and working left to right and top to bottom, criss cross the side strips over the center and filling to form the braided bread.
Transfer braided bread to a baking sheet and cover with dish cloth. Repeat for second section of dough. Place the two baking sheets in a draft free location and allow dough to rise (approximately 45 minutes - 1 hour.)
When dough is puffy nearly doubled in thickness, bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until bread is golden brown. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before icing.
Whisk together butter, almond extract, and powdered sugar. Gradually incorporate pineapple juice unitl you've ahieved a good pourable consistency. Whisk until completely smooth and drizzle over the top of the bread. Sprinkle with sliced almonds. Slice each bread loaf into 10 pieces and serve immediately.
Wrap in plastic wrap and store in a cool location - if you have any leftovers, that is.