TRADITIONAL GERMAN EASTER BREAD

This rich Easter bread has a wonderful buttery eggy flavour and is slightly sweet. It goes great by itself or simply spread with some butter and jam. Our Easter breakfast is never complete without it as a beautiful centrepiece.

Easter bread is a tradition in many European countries. Very similar to Brioche, this sweetened-yeasted bread is a baked treat usually studded with raisins. In Germany it will also have almond flakes in it. It can be flavoured with lemon zest or rum, the latter being my favourite, especially when raisins are rum infused.

As Easter bread traces its origin back to Byzantium and the early Orthodox Christian church, it might as well be flavoured with mahlab, I thought. So, I have been adding this aromatic spice to the dough recently. Mahlab is the ground seed kernels of the Mahlab cherry tree. It adds a bitter note to pastries and is used extensively in Greek and middle eastern cuisine.

THINGS TO DO BEFORE MAKING THE DOUGH

• Remove eggs from your fridge and keep at room temperature for at least 4 hours.

• Keep butter at room temperature as well. Butter has to become very soft.

• Soak raisins in hot water for 10 minutes, drain and soak in rum for at least 4 hours or overnight. If you don’t like rum, skip this step. Just rinse raisins and drain before using.

• Weigh all ingredients and grease bowl before adding dough to rise.

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Dina Kohl

Traditional German Easter Bread

Soft sweet brioche for Easter

Print Recipe

Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: German

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

for the dough

• 125 ml lukewarm milk
• 100 g plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar divided
• 2 ½ teaspoons rapid-rise dry yeast
• 560 g all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons rum
• 100 g soft butter cut in pieces
• 100 g raisins washed and rinsed, soaked overnight in 1 tablespoon rum (optional)

for the egg wash

• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water

to garnish

• 1 tablespoon raisins
• 1 tablespoon almond slivers

Method

 

1. Grease a large bowl with little oil. I use sunflower oil. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Reserve.
2. Add ½ tablespoon flour to the raisins and mix to coat. Reserve.
3. In a small bowl add the milk, yeast and the one-teaspoon sugar. Mix and Cover with a saucer. Let sit until frothy, about 5-8 minutes.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook, combine the flour, 100 g sugar and salt. Add in the milk- yeast mixture, eggs, rum and butter. Beat on speed 2 for about 5 minutes until all ingredients are well combined and form a soft dough. Add the floured sultanas and beat for one minute until the sultanas are fully incorporated into the dough. The dough will be very smooth and sticky.
5. With a spatula scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl onto a slightly floured working surface. Coat the dough with little flour and knead slightly until dough becomes smooth and elastic, about 1 minutes. Place the dough in the greased bowl and cover with a clean towel. Allow to rest in a warm quiet place for at least 2 hours or until dough doubles in size.
6. Transfer the dough onto a slightly floured working surface. Deflate and form a loaf. Place onto the prepared sheet. Cover with a towel and let rest for 30 minutes.
7. Using a sharp knife score the top of the loaf in a cross-pattern shape. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with the raisins and almond shivers.
8. Preheat oven at 170°C/340°F. Bake for 30 minutes. Lower heat to 160°C/320°F and continue baking for about 15 minutes, or until nicely golden in colour. Remove from the oven and transfer onto a rack. Store in an airtight container. Tastes best when fresh. Keeps well for two days.

Notes

All images and text © Dina Bayoud Kohl