Ingredients: |
Ingredients: VANOCKA [vah-notch-ka], braided Czech Christmas bread. The night before, cover the raisins in dark rum and let stand.
You will need:
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup lukewarm milk, plus a tiny bit for glaze
1 ½ pkgs. (not more) active dry yeast
½ lb raisins (or less or more, depending on your taste; I use a mixture of dark and golden raisins)
Dark rum
½ lb blanched slivered almonds
1 cup butter
½ cup granulated sugar
3 eggs plus 1 yolk
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. grated lemon rind
Confectioner’s sugar for serving
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Directions: |
Directions:1. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and let stand for 5 minutes. Add 1-cup flour and 2 tbsp of the sugar; cover and let rest until light and foamy.
2. Meanwhile, cover the raisins (& apricots) in dark rum and let stand (can be done a day ahead).
4. In a large bowl, beat the butter with all the remaining sugar until soft and fluffy; gradually beat in two eggs and one yolk. Add the salt and the lemon rind. To this add the sponge and enough flour to make an elastic dough (it will be a little sticky).
5. Gather dough in a ball, cover the bowl and put in a warm place to rise, about 45 minutes. It should be soft and no longer very elastic when it’s ready.
6. Preheat oven to 350º.
7. Strain the raisins (and apricots) and toss them in a shallow bowl of flour until coated. Take out the dough from its rising bowl (it will deflate some, don’t worry about that), knead in the raisins and more flour to make it un-sticky; knead a few times.
8. Divide into nine equal parts. Put some parchment paper on a baking sheet and place it with the short side in front of you. Roll out each chunk of dough into a “snake” about 12 inches long; start with just four.
9. Now take the four snakes and lay them lengthwise on the sheet. Pinch their top ends together and start braiding. (If you know how to make a four-strand braid, great; if not, it’s really easy – try it with some strings first if you’re not sure. What you do is this: Take the leftmost snake and lay it over the one to the right, then under the next one and again over the one at the end.
10. Repeat with the snake that is now the leftmost strand: over, under, and over the rightmost strand. Repeat until you are at the end) Pinch the ends together and tuck under. Don’t worry if it’s not perfectly even, and make sure to push back any raisins that might pop out.
11. With a French pastry pin or the side of your palm make a deep depression (a sort of “ditch”) along the middle of the finished braid – that’s where the next braid will go. Take the next three snakes, pinch their ends together and tuck under the top of the four-strand braid. Now braid the three strands, pinch their bottom ends together again and tuck under. Again, make a “ditch” along the middle for the top braid. Make a two-strand braid of the final two snakes and place them on top of the other two braids, again tucking the ends under.
12. You can secure the braids in place by a few toothpicks, which can be easily removed after baking. (The top braid sometimes likes to slide off to one side)
13. Beat the remaining egg with a bit of milk to make a glaze. Brush the entire surface of the Vanocka with the glaze and dot with the slivered almonds (personally I not so much “dot” as cover the Vanocka with the almonds, they are delicious as they toast); make them stick by pressing on them a little bit.
14. Bake in the middle of the oven at 350º for about 50-60 minutes. Caution! The Vanocka will rise in the oven and expand by roughly half of its original volume. When done, the surface should be golden-brown; if you are getting the feeling that the almonds are too toasted while the center isn't done yet (test with a skewer), cover the surface with aluminum foil towards the end of baking.
15. Cool on a wire rack. When cool, serve fairly thin slices (about half an inch) sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar. It’s traditionally eaten for breakfast with tea or coffee, as well as with afternoon tea.
16. This Vanocka is a BIG one and braiding nine smaller pieces of dough can be tough. You could try a (wimpy) two-layered one made with just five strands (3+2) if this giant is too much for you. However, I find that it takes two people only about three days to eat the whole thing; my family used to make three for the six of us. But then again, we eat a lot. Merry Christmas! |
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Notes: |
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Notes: Traditional Czechoslovakian Christmas Bread
For centuries, Czechs have enjoyed the Christmas treat Vanocka, which means bakers have labored to make the sweet, fruity bread for just as many centuries. Radio Prague's Eric Martin found out just how difficult the bread is to make.
"The thing that's time consuming is preparing the raisins and apricots, and soaking them in the hot brandy. And you do that the day before. I mean, it's time consuming in terms of the length of time (that it adds to the process). It doesn't take long to do. But it's best if you let the first mixture sit overnight so they absorb all the alcohol. It's delicious and full of fruit.
It's sweet, but it's naturally sweet. There's very little sugar in it. It's just the fruit and the alcohol sweetening it. So the flavor is great.
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