Allerheiligenstriezel

It is the plaited one, and the article's own comparison is an unplaited cake with a similar recipe.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (milk).

Ingredients

• 600 g plain flour
• 7 g dried yeast
• 80 g sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 100 g butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 250 ml milk, warm
• 150 g raisins
• 2 tablespoons rum
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 egg, beaten, to glaze
• 2 tablespoons pearl sugar or poppy seeds

Method

1. IT IS THE PLAITED ONE, AND THE ARTICLE'S OWN COMPARISON IS AN UNPLAITED CAKE WITH A SIMILAR RECIPE. Writing about Dresden, it says the cake there is now generally called Dresdner Stollen, STOLLEN BEING AN UNPLAITED GERMAN CAKE WITH A SIMILAR RECIPE, where it used to be called Dresdner Striezel. Stollen, as on its own page, is that unplaited one, and the plait is what separates the two.
2. THE PLAIT WAS NOT ALWAYS THERE EITHER. The article's History has it that THE EARLY VERSIONS OF THIS BREAD WERE UNBRAIDED AND MADE WITH A SIMPLE DOUGH OF WHEAT, EGGS, FAT AND HONEY, and that IN LATER YEARS MORE COMPLICATED BRAIDED LOAVES BECAME CUSTOMARY.
3. AND THE PLAITING BECAME AN EXAMINABLE SKILL. In 1929 THE MASTERY OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF BRAIDING WERE ADDED TO THE BAKERS MASTER EXAMINATION REGULATIONS IN UPPER AUSTRIA, which is an Austrian rule rather than a German one, and is the clearest evidence that the braid is the point of the object.
4. THE RISE CARRIED A SUPERSTITION, which the article records: that THE LUCK OF THE FORTHCOMING YEAR DEPENDS ON THE SUCCESS OF THE PASTRY, and IF THE YEAST DID NOT WORK AND THE DOUGH DID NOT RISE, DISASTER OR DEATH WERE SUPPOSED TO FOLLOW. A sobering thing to read while proving a dough.
5. SOAK THE RAISINS IN THE RUM AND LEMON JUICE FIRST. The article names rum and lemon juice among the additions, and dry fruit in an enriched dough pulls water out of the crumb.
6. MAKE THE DOUGH SOFTER THAN A BREAD DOUGH AND KNEAD IT WELL. A plait needs gluten to hold its edges; underworked dough slumps into one mass in the oven.
7. THE FRUIT GOES IN AFTER THE FIRST RISE. Kneaded in from the start, the raisins tear the strands as you roll them.
8. ROLL THREE EVEN STRANDS, TAPERED AT BOTH ENDS, AND PLAIT FROM THE MIDDLE OUTWARDS. Plaiting from one end stretches the far end thin; from the centre, both halves match.
9. PROVE IT UNTIL IT HOLDS A FINGERPRINT, then glaze and scatter the pearl sugar or poppy seeds. Over-proved, the plait opens and the pattern is lost.
10. A HUNDRED AND EIGHTY DEGREES FOR THIRTY-FIVE MINUTES, covered with foil once it has coloured. Its name means All Saints' braid, and the article records it being given by godfathers to their godchildren on that day.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes