Dutch Treats. William Woys Weaver

guests. In private households, as part of the Christmas celebration for example, the dough was baked as dinner rolls, one per guest. Or, in families that owned fine cake molds, the bread would be baked Gugelhupf-style, in an elaborate heirloom mold brought out once a year for this sort of special occasion. I have baked the bread in a rare Schtriezel mold, since the braided shape is an old one associated with festive baking. The beauty of saffron bread lies in its seemingly infinite adaptability to meet the needs of many types of special situations. One thing for certain, the bread must be bright yellow, which means no holding back on the saffron!

      Finally, a word about the recipe at hand: after viewing hundreds of saffron bread recipes, I settled on Henrietta Pelz’s, as adapted from the 1835 edition of her Schlessisches Kochbuch (Silesian Cookbook). This is not a Silesian recipe, rather a fairly standard version of saffron bread found in German cookbooks dating from the Renaissance onwards. But it works and works well.

       Yield: 16 to 24 servings

       1 tablespoon dry active yeast

       2 cups (250ml) warm whole milk (98F/37C)

       1½ cups (375ml) warm spring water

       ½ teaspoon ground saffron

       8 cups (1 kilo) organic bread flour

       4 large eggs

       1 cup (250g) sugar

       8 tablespoons (125g) unsalted soft butter

       1 teaspoon salt

       2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg, or more to taste

       ½ cup (75g) Zante currants

       ½ cup (100g) dried green seedless grapes

      Proof the yeast in the warm milk. Once the yeast is foaming, combine it with the warm water in which the saffron has been infused for at least 30 minutes. Place 3 cups (375g) flour in a deep work bowl, then make a valley in the center and add the proofed yeast mixture. Stir to form thin batter. Cover and let rise in a warm place until the batter forms bubbles on the surface. Once covered with bubbles, in a separate bowl, beat the eggs until lemon color and frothy. Add the sugar and beat until creamy, then add the butter, salt and nutmeg. Sift in 4 cups (500g) and work into sticky dough. Cover and let the dough double in bulk. Knock down, and work in the fruit adding only enough extra flour so that the dough does not stick to the fingers.

      Form the dough into dinner rolls or fill two earthenware molds, greased and well dusted, with cake crumbs (see note). Whatever your choice, allow the dough to recover 30 minutes before baking. Bake in an oven preheated to 375F (190C), but the length of time can vary with size: for small rolls, 25 minutes, for bread baked in cake molds, 45 to 50 minutes.

      Note: Stale sponge cake or angel cake crumbs are ideal for this purpose. Lacking those options, use unflavored bread crumbs or unsalted cracker crumbs.

Stollen and Strietzel

       Schtolle un Schtrietzel

      These festive breads are two differently shaped versions of the same thing. The Pennsylvania Dutch prefer to use the term Schtrietzel, because the bread is generally baked in the shape of a braid, which is the original medieval meaning of the word (some food historians believe that the braid is symbolic of a head of spelt). Meanwhile, a less common name found in old cookbooks is Zopp, which means a pigtail, again in reference to the shape. Unlike stollen, which is mostly associated with Christmas, Schtrietzel was originally associated with All Saints (November 1), and since that was also New Year’s on the old Celtic calendar, under Christianity it gradually moved over to Christmas and New Year’s, and even Easter, thus becoming the iconic festive bread for several different calendrical feast days. On the other hand, Stollen is the Saxon German term for the same type of bread baked plain in an oblong, almond-shaped loaf. The stollen shape was mostly sold by bakeries, since they were often owned by immigrant German bakers. Thus, the two forms existed side by side in most parts of the Dutch Country.

      Our basic recipe has been supplied by my late Lancaster County friend Ivan Glick (1927-2010) who was well-known for his extraordinary breads and baked goods. Ivan lived in an eighteenth-century log house built by my Weaver ancestors and baked in his mother’s old wood-fired stove. He preferred to make Schtrietzel, because that is how his Amish grandmother made it. So if you too prefer to make Schtriezel, simply divide the batch of dough into three long pieces of equal size and braid them together. Let the braid recover for about 25 minutes and then bake according to the stollen instructions below (or use the Saffron Bread recipe, if you prefer a richer yellow cake). Schtriezel is only lightly powdered with confectioner’s sugar or not at all; some families scatter poppy seeds over the top before baking. It is considered rich enough without sugar icing. Since the flavor of stollen improves a week or so after it is made, plan ahead to have it on hand in time for Christmas. It also stores for a long time and can be frozen as well.

       Stollen

       Yield: Serves about 20 to 25 when sliced

       1 tablespoon dry active yeast

       2 cups (500ml) warm whole milk (98F/37C)

       8 tablespoons (125ml) melted unsalted butter

       ½ cup (125g) sugar

       1 teaspoon salt

       8 cups (1 kilo) bread flour

       2 teaspoons ground mace

       1 cup (150g) Zante currants

       1 cup (200g) raisins or sultanas

       ½ cup (60g) blanched slivered almonds

      Proof the yeast in the warm milk. Once it is actively foaming, add the melted butter, sugar and salt. Sift 4 cups (500g) of flour into a deep work bowl and make a valley in the center of the flour. Add the yeast mixture and stir to create thick batter. Cover and let the batter proof in a warm place until covered with bubbles.

      Stir down. Sift together the remaining flour and mace, then sift this over the currants, raisins and almonds. Add this to the batter and knead well until it no longer sticks to the fingers, adding more flour if necessary. Form the loaf into the shape of an almond and lay it on a bread peel dusted with flour. To create the distinctive stollen shape with one side higher than the other, lay a heavy glass or marble rolling pin lengthwise on the left hand half of the loaf – this will create a long dent or “valley.” Cover and allow the loaf to recover in a warm place for about 40 to 45 minutes.

      When ready to bake, heat the oven to 375F (190C), uncover the loaf and remove the rolling pin. Slide the loaf onto a baking sheet or large pizza tin and bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until it taps hollow on the bottom. Brush with melted butter as soon as it comes from the oven. When cool, coat liberally with confectioner’s sugar flavored with ground cinnamon or cassia.

Sugar Buns or Kissing Buns

       Zuckerweck odder Kimmichweck

      We have based this recipe on one preserved by Lebanon County furniture maker Peter Ranck (1770-1851).