Recipe: Kletzenbrot

One bite into the delicious fruit bread with the crunchy crust is enough and I'm absolutely in the mood for christmas. The typical taste of the so-called Kletzenbrot is cinnamon, oranges, nuts and dried pears (called Kletzen in German). Traditionally, the bread is only cut at Christmas eve, however who is able to wait so long? Definitely not me, and that's the reason why we already bake it at the beginning of december and enjoy it until the beginning of January. 

There are various different recipes of the Kletzenbrot. I, however, have the best recipe, because I got it from my grandmother. Last year it was the first time that we baked Kletzenbrot together and this year we did it again. And the best is: This time I can show you how it is made and can share the recipe with you!

 

Tips for the preperation 

The Kletzenbrot is made out of high quality products. The fruits should be prepared the day before, so that the taste gets more intensive while baking. When preparing the dough, keep in mind that you should have some dough left over for the crust at the end. The most important thing is that you knead the dough thoroughly toghether with the stuffing, so that the fruits and the nuts are evenly distributed. 

Ingredients for three bread loafs

Stuffing:

  • 400 g dried pears
  • 300 g raisins
  • 80 g Korinten (= dried grapes)
  • 80 g dried figs
  • 70 g candied orange peel
  • 70 g haselnuts
  • lemon peel
  • orange peel
  • cinnamon
  • grated cloves
  • cardamom
  • grated anise
  • rum

Bread dough:

  • 1,5 kg rye flour
  • 190 g wheat flour
  • 1,5 cubes yeast
  • 560 ml lukewarm water
  • 560 ml lukewarm milk
  • salt

 

Preperation:

  1. The day before: Cut the dried pears and figs in small slices and mix them with the raisins, dried grapes, candied orange peel and the hazelnuts. Moreover, add orange and lemon peel, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, anise and a splash of rum and mix everything thoroughly. Then put the stuffing at a cold place over night. 
  2. The day after: Prepare the bread dough as described above
  3. When the bread dough is ready, you can mix it with the stuffing. Mix 1 kg stuffing with 800 gramms bread dough. 
  4. Form three bread loafs with about 600 gramms from the dough. 
  1. Then you need smaller pieces of the bread dough of about 100 gramms. Knead the dough again and roll it out - this will be the crust of your bread loaf. It should be about half a centimetre thick. 
  2. Wrap the loaf into the rolled out dough so that everything is covered. Now put the bread loaf at a warm place and cover it with a cloth. Let it rest for about half an hour. 
  3. Before baking the loafs, coat the loafs with water and prick the loafs with a fork. 
  4. Preheat the ofen to 220° upper and lower heat and put the loafs on a baking tray with a cup of water on it. 
  5. After about 10 minutes reduce the temperature to 200°. After about an hour the loafs are ready. You know that the loaf is finished baking, when you knock on it. 

For me, the Kletzenbrot is best, when it's only eaten with some butter on it. When I was a child, my grandfather carved beautiful patterns into the butter. Of course, it tasted much better then.

Kristina