It just won't be complete without it

Those of you who know me, know that I love bread. Fresh white, still warm from the oven, with loads of real butter; crusty brown with cheese; stale, so that I can use it for bread-and-butter pudding; white or brown, toasted, with marmalade; eggs and soldiers. There is something comforting, homely and wholesome about bread. More so than anything else, in my (not so) humble opinion.

Breakfast, and dinner, just wouldn't be complete without it.

Throughout Europe, you can find festive loafs for all kinds of occasions. Pretzels (Germany) were traditionally eaten at New Year; the dough would contain lemon peel, cut into three even pieces and braided and then shaped into a pretzel shape and baked (no salt on top). Braid (Switzerland), traditionally eaten at breakfast on festive days; cut into two even pieces for a 4-part braid. Easter Bread (Finland), as the name suggests, eaten at Easter; the dough is made with condensed milk and contains dried fruit, citrus peel,

cardamom and almonds and is baked in an enamelled pan. Vasilopita (Greece), traditionally eaten on the first day of the year to celebrate St Basilius; a golden or silver coin is baked inside the dough (whoever finds it will have a year of good fortune). All Souls 'Braid' (Bavarian), eaten on All Hallow's Eve; the dough is cut into thirty-six pieces and shaped into a complex braid before being baked.

This is just a very, very, very small selection and if I were to look at the various 'plain' breads I could fill three posts with just the variations of breads within Germany, where every region has its own breads.

In Germany and the 'low countries' it is traditional to eat Stollen at Christmas and Easter. The bread is chock-full of dried fruits, candied peel, almond paste and wears a pretty coat of icing sugar and slightly browned almond slivers. (As breads go, you could go worse.)

The tradition of eating Stollen at Christmas dates back to the 1400s; it was created for the first time in 1427 at the Saxon Royal Court in Dresden and was made with flour, yeast, oil and water, the result was a 'bread' that was very hard and rather tasteless. In those days the Advent season was one of fasting and bakers were not allowed to use butter. That changed in 1490,

when Pope Innocent VIII allowed the Prince Elector Ernst, his family and household to use butter. If other people wanted to use butter, they could do so but had to pay an annual fee (this fee was used to build the Freiberg Minster. When Saxony became Protestant the ban on butter was lifted. Over the years the hard, tasteless 'bread' evolved into a lighter, sweeter cake with richer ingredients such as almond paste and dried fruits. But the traditional Stollen that is still baked in Dresden is not as light, airy and sweet as copies that are now made the world over.

It is best to bake the bread a couple of days in advance as the flavours will mature a bit and the bread will get slightly denser. Good (finger thick) slices, served with real butter and a slice of good cheese (optional). Grilling or toasting the bread works a treat as the sugar in the almond paste will start to caramelise.

And so, as promised in my blog on 27 October: Tradition, here is the recipe for this tasty bread.

Christmas Stollen

Ingredients:

• 4 teaspoons dried yeast (20 gram) (you can use fresh yeast, you will need about 50 gram)
• 350 millilitre warm milk (45ºC)
• 2 large eggs
• 150 gram icing sugar
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 150 gram unsalted butter, softened
• 700 gram bread flour
• 150 gram sultanas
• 150 gram glacé cherries (quartered)
• 150 gram raisins
• 200 gram mixed candied citrus peel, chopped small
• 400 gram almond paste

Decoration

• icing sugar to dust
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon, mixed in with the icing sugar (optional)
• toasted almond slivers for garnish (optional)

Method:

1. Add the yeast to the warm milk and leave until it becomes 'creamy', about 10 minutes (if you are using fresh yeast, crumble the yeast into the milk and leave until dissolved)
2. In a separate bowl, mix the dried fruit, candied peel (recipe here) and glacé cherries
3. In a large bowl, mix the yeast mixture with the eggs, icing sugar, salt, butter and three quarters of the flour and mix thoroughly
4. In small quantities, start adding the rest of the flour and knead this into the dough
5. As soon as the dough comes together into a ball and is releasing from the sides of the bowl, turn it out onto a lightly flour work surface and knead in the mixed dried fruits
• Keep kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes
6. Oil a large bowl, put the dough in the bowl and turn it around a couple of times to cover it in the oil, cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave the dough to prove, in a warm and draft-free space, until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour
   
• Grease a baking sheet, ready for when the bread is shaped
7. Take the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly work surface and beat it back, form the dough into a big square
8. Form the almond paste (recipe here) into a roll and put this in the middle of the dough (see right)
9. Fold one half of the dough over the almond paste and press the seam down (traditional, see below for photo)
10. Place the loaf onto the baking sheet, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise until doubled in size, about 40 minutes
11. Preheat the oven to 180ºC
12. Put the baking sheet (with the loaf) into the oven and bake for 10 minutes
13. Lower the temperature to 150ºC and bake for a further 30-40 minutes until the bread is a lovely dark golden colour
14. As soon as the bread is out of the oven, brush with a little melted butter and sprinkle the toasted almond slivers over the (now) sticky bread
15. Leave the bread to cool on a rack
16. Sift the icing sugar (mix in the cinnamon, if using) over the cooled down bread

Variations:

• You can change the taste of the bread by adjusting the quantities of dried fruit, candied peel and glacé cherries to your own taste
• For a fruity burst, replace the raisins with 150 gram dried cranberries
• You can add dried apple and/or pear, replacing the glacé cherries
• For a slightly more 'adult' version, try soaking the dried fruit in either rum or brandy
• Leave the fruit to soak as long as possible, preferably over night, but for a minimum of 1 hour
• drain any leftover liquid off the fruit and add it to the milk in step 3
• If you don't want to use alcohol for soaking the fruit, try using tea but do not use the leftover liquid in the dough
• You can add 2 teaspoons of your favourite 'Christmas' spice(mix), such as cinnamon, to the flour
• Mix even quantities of ground cinnamon, ground ginger and ground nutmeg and about half the used quantity of ground cloves and add two teaspoons of this mix to the flour (I usually make a larger quantity and use this to bake spiced Christmas cookies and spiced Christmas Wreaths)
• If you want to use star anise, add two stars to a pan with 350 millilitre cold milk and slowly bring to a simmer, leave to cool to 45ºC. Remove the stars before you add the yeast (step 1)
• You could use the Stollen as a centre piece on the table:
• Once you have reached step 9, place the 'loaf' inside a greased 'turban' mold and follow the rest of the steps

• After the bread has cooled down and has been dusted with the icing sugar, place on a large serving platter and place a candle in the centre of the bread

As they say in Germany:

Gutten Appetit

or, in English

Enjoy

Tradition

The dictionary states "tradition: a belief, principle, or way of acting that people in a particular society or group have continued to follow for a long time, or all of these beliefs, etc. in a particular society or group".

Traditions come and go, change over time or our understanding of traditions change. Family traditions disappear as families move on, national and even international traditions are forgotten or are adapted to fit cultural and religious beliefs.

My family had a tradition: we celebrated St Nicholas, on December 5 or 6; gifts for all, sometimes accompanied by (funny) riddles or puzzles and at least one per person had an indicative poem. Christmas, however, was an individual family feast. A, real, tree (with real candles and a bucket of water), scrumptious food but only one present; my grandfather used to buy a book for each of his children and grandchildren at Christmas. A tradition I still, very much, appreciate but that has petered out as the family moved on.

Christmas itself is one of those international traditions that has changed over time and our understanding of it has changed dramatically over the centuries. Who, for instance, knew that it has its roots firmly in Roman times as Saturnalia, later used by the Christians to 'convert' Pagans. Or that the oh so popular term 'Xmas' is based on the Greek for Christ: 'Xristos'. Did you know that the modern-day Santa Claus was 'born' in 1931? Nicolas was born in Parara, Turkey (270-345 AD) and later became Bishop of Myra. He didn't become a Saint until the 18-hundreds. In 1087 his remains were brought to Bari, Italy, where he replaced Pasqua Epiphania (the Grandmother) and became the giver of gifts and a cult was formed. This cult was adopted by German and Celtic pagans and Nicolas merged with the Norse god Woden. Nicolas shed his Mediterranean appearance, grew a long white beard, mounted a flying horse and rescheduled his flight from Autumn to December, whilst donning some heavy winter clothing. The Catholic Church adopted the Nicolas cult and moved his flight and giving of gifts from December 6 to 25 to bring it in line with Saturnalia.

Then, in 1809, Washington Irving wrote a satire of Dutch culture (Knickerbocker History) which featured Nicolas using his Dutch name Sinterklaas or Santa Claus. In 1822, Dr Clement Moore based his 'Twas the night before Christmas' on Irving's work and gave Santa Claus his eight reindeer. Thomas Nast, a Bavarian illustrator, (almost) completed Santa's picture by giving him a home on the North pole, filling his workshop with elves and his list of naughty and nice children. And then, in 1931, Coca-Cola contracted Swedish artist Haddon Sundblom to create a coke drinking Santa. Sundblom modeled his version of Santa on a friend with a cheerful, chubby face and donned him in a fur-trimmed, Coca-Cola red, suit: Santa was born, a blend of Christian crusader, pagan god, and commercial idol.

My all-time favourite 'snack' at Sinterklaas and Christmas is an almond paste filled stave or wreath: moorish and sweet almond paste encased in puff pastry, decorated with (very seventies) glacé cherries or whole almonds.

Christmas Wreath

 (not for decoration)

Ingredients:

Almond paste

250 gram ground almonds

• 250 gram granulated sugar
• 2 whole eggs, lightly beaten
• zest of 1 lemon
• 5 teaspoons lemon juice

Method:
Almond paste

1. Add the ground almonds and sugar to a food mixer and give it a quick mix
2. Turn the mix into a bowl and add the eggs, lemon zest and juice
3. Give it a quick mix to form a paste

Wrap the paste in cling film and leave to rest. The longer it gets to rest the better developed the flavour will be and the paste can be made several weeks in advance and kept in the fridge.

When you are ready to make the wreaths:

Make puff pastry (see here for ingredients and method), you will need approximately one-third of the recipe, and leave to rest in the fridge (I find it easier to make the recipe as is and just divide it into three, even, pieces). You can, of course, also use ready-made puff pastry, or even rough-puff pastry.

Method:
Christmas wreath

1. Separate one egg and loosely whisk the egg white
2. Beat the egg yolk with a little milk
3. Roll the puff pastry out to approx. 1.5 cm thick, 10 cm wide and 64 cm long
4. Straighten the short sides with a knife
5. Take the almond paste and form this into a roll slightly shorter than the length of the pastry
6. Place the role of almond paste in the middle of the pastry so that the edge of the roll is flush with the pastry
7. Fold one of the long edges of the pastry loosely over the almond paste
8. Brush the other edge with the beaten egg white and fold it over the first layer and gently press the two layers together
9. Gently push the edge of the pastry with the almond paste into the pastry without the paste, make sure the stuffing fits well, to form a circle (the wreath)
10. 'Glue' the seam with a bit off the egg white
11. Place the wreath, seam side down, on a wet baking tray (re-shape if necessary)
12. Brush the wreath with the beaten egg yolk and let it rest for 30 minutes in the fridge to firm up
13. Preheat the oven to 200ºC
14. Brush the wreath again and place in the bottom of the oven
15. Bake in 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown and cooked, do not open the oven door during the first 15 minutes of baking
16. Release the wreath from the tray and leave to cool

Traditionally, the wreath is decorated with glacé cherries or whole white almonds but you could decorate it with little stars, bells and holly leaves made out of marzipan or chocolate.

Variation:

1. If you have made your own puff pastry:
• After resting for the last time (after turn 6), divide the pastry into three even pieces by eye and cut one-third off (wrap the largest part back in cling film and put it back into the fridge)
1. Roll the dough out in one direction (do not roll out the sides) into an elongated rectangle. Remember to flour as you roll when you feel the dough is sticking to your work surface, otherwise the butter will peep out of the dough and your layers will be ruined. Also, if butter does leak out of the dough, then put it back in the fridge
2. Brush off the excess flour and sprinkle the top with ½ to 1 tablespoon cinnamon or mixed spice
3. Fold the rectangle into thirds, brushing off the excess flour and sprinkling with cinnamon or mixed spice as you go
• The pastry will be slightly drier when baked
4. Wrap the pastry in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes
5. Repeat this one more time
6. After the (in total) eighth turn, follow the recipe as above for the Christmas wreath
2. If you use ready-made puff pastry:
1. Roll the puff pastry out to approx. 1.5 cm thick, 10 cm wide and 64 cm long and straighten the short sides with a knife
2. (Sprinkle the pastry with 1 tablespoon cinnamon or mixed spice)
3. Follow the recipe as above for the Christmas wreath
3. If you use rough-puff pastry:
1. Mix 1 tablespoon cinnamon or mixed spice in with the flour and make the pastry as usual
2. Roll out the pastry and follow the recipe as above for the Christmas wreath

Other uses for the almond paste are:

1. Spread evenly underneath the apples in an apple pie (recipe to follow soon) (also very nice in a pear tart)
2. Place dots of the paste on top of any fruit pie or tart, this way the paste will become slightly crunchy and caramelised
3. Almond paste is essential in the making of traditional 'Stollen', a fruit 'bread' eaten at Christmas and Easter in The Netherlands and Germanic countries. I will put up a recipe very soon, as Christmas is only 58 days away, but here is a photo:

As they say in The Netherlands:

Veel plezier en eet smakelijk

Or, in English,

Have fun and enjoy