If we reduced Pennsylvania Dutch farmhouse culture to one iconic dish, it would be sauerkraut without a question; yet eye-catching, delicious-tasting breads also define the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch table, with their remarkable range of festive shapes and flavors. During the colonial period, Pennsylvania became the breadbasket of the English colonies. The main growers of that wheat were the Pennsylvania Dutch. They measured their wealth in bushels of wheat, they paid bills with it, and their bread baking was legendary. Any farmhouse worthy of the name possessed a beehive bake oven in the yard not far from the kitchen door. It was the weekly task of the mistress of the household to bake bread, pies and cakes – often on a massive scale. Baking was generally undertaken on Fridays so that there would be plenty to eat for Sunday dinner. However, when the holidays drew near or a wedding loomed on the calendar, the baking frenzy went into high gear, usually with the help of relatives or friends from the neighborhood. The most traditional of these specialty items demanded their own shape, flavor and story. That is the subject of the chapter at hand.
The original Pennsylvania Dutch term for cake was Siesser Brod (sweetened bread), which in local parlance among the non-Dutch became “cake bread.” Siesser Brod implied that the Fordeeg (foundation dough) was bread dough, the very same used for making common loaf bread, except that the foundation dough was then elaborated with any number of additional ingredients, such as eggs, honey, sugar, spices, saffron or dried fruit. These dressed-up breads took many forms, perhaps the oldest and most classic being Schtrietzel, which was a loaf of bread shaped like a braid, or as some culinary historians would suggest, a head of grain. Regardless of the symbolic meaning, these were special occasion foods and some were only made once a year. Many did not contain much honey or sugar since they were meant to be toasted and eaten with jam – the classic spread being Quince Honey (Qwiddehunnich) as presented on page 11. One of the basic recipes in this category, which became a fixture of many Sunday dinners, is so-called Dutch Bread, in some respects a study in simplicity because it is not very rich in terms of ingredients. Our heirloom recipe was preserved by Anna Bertolet Hunter (1869-1946) of Reading, Pennsylvania. The Bertolets are one of the oldest and most distinguished Pennsylvania Dutch families in Berks County and have always been at the forefront when it comes to preserving local culture.
Aside from farmhouse baking, there are period records from before the Civil War of bakeries in large towns that specialized in festive breads like the New Year’s Pretzel, large gingerbread figures and Hutzelbrodt – since these breads require an oversized oven. In rural areas, this task sometimes fell to local taverns, which possessed the bake-oven capacity and turnover of customers to generate extra money from seasonal sales. It was also common for people in the neighborhood to pitch in to help the taverns during the busy holidays – and get paid with Christmas baked goods in return for the work.
One of the earliest historical recipes for Siesser Brod surfaced in the 1813 account book of Lebanon County furniture maker Peter Ranck (1770-1851), who must have acquired auxiliary training in baking. Ranck called his recipe Zuckerweck (sugar buns) because he shaped the bread into small rolls for Christmas or New Year’s. In short, the same foundation dough was used to make Dutch Cake (Pennsylvania Dutch Gugelhupf), New Year’s Boys, Lebanon Rusks and Christmas dinner rolls called “Kissing Buns” (Kimmichweck).
Gingerbread mold depicting New Year’s Pretzel, Schtrietzel and Kissing Buns
The kissing buns acquired their name because they consisted of two round buns baked side-by-side so that they would “kiss” and stick together – they were sent to the table in pairs as shown in the old gingerbread mold above.
Plain bread rolls made in the same shape with the best sort of wheat flour were called wedding rolls because they were expensive and were only served on high occasions of that nature – of course the kissing bread was also symbolic of the wedding couple and the work cut out for them on their honeymoon. The earliest known Pennsylvania Dutch image of these kissing buns appeared in a carving on the 1745 case clock of Lancaster bread baker Andreas Beyerle. Thus, while the written record in cookbooks may be skimpy, other types of evidence attest to the important place such festive breads once held in traditional Pennsylvania Dutch culture. For this chapter, I have selected several iconic breads representing the major calendar events in the year.
This fulsome old-time recipe came to light in an 1856 Hagerstown almanac published in German for the Pennsylvania Dutch community living in western Maryland. Fall schnitzing parties were at one time a focal point of Pennsylvania Dutch country life. The abundance of apples in fall invited creative ways to use them. Mealy apples that were not fit for schnitzing were peeled and cooked down for apple sauce or apple butter. The cores and parings were boiled to make a “tea” that was also used in apple butter production or employed as part of the liquid starter for apple bread, one of the festive foods served when entire neighborhoods gathered in a local farmhouse to pare and slice apples for drying. While many hands lightened the burden of work, flasks of apple jack and rye whiskey and romantic rendezvous in the haymow more or less defined the evening.
Apple Bread is also one of the basic doughs used to make Christmas Hutzelbrod (page 12). While definitely spectacular as toast liberally spread with apple butter and rich, fragrant, melting Amish Roll Butter, the delicate fruit flavor of apple bread also complements the wonderful array of dried fruits stuffed inside this holiday treat. As a variation to our recipe below, you can add chopped apple, peach or pear Schnitz to the sponge right before adding the flour. If you want to try your hand at baking this bread the old way by proofing it in traditional rye straw baskets, refer to the special instructions in the sidebar.
Peach Schnitz
3 cups (750ml) lukewarm apple puree (or warm unsweetened apple sauce)
7 to 7½ cups (940g) bread flour
1 cup (250ml) apple “tea” (see note)
1 tablespoon (15g) sugar
½ ounce (15g) dry active yeast
1 tablespoon (15g) plus 1½ teaspoon salt
Milk Glaze:
1 tablespoon (15g) unsalted soft butter
1 tablespoon (15ml) whole milk
Combine 3 cups (750ml) lukewarm apple puree with 3 cups (375g) bread flour and 1 tablespoon (15g) salt. Proof the yeast in the lukewarm apple water sweetened with 1 tablespoon (15g) sugar. Once the yeast is foaming vigorously, add it to the apple sponge. Cover and set away in a warm place until double in bulk and forming bubbles on the surface. Then stir down, add the remaining 1½ teaspoon of salt and approximately 4½ cups (565g) of the remaining bread flour and chopped dried fruit (optional). Use only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the fingers. Knead 5 to 10 minutes or until the dough becomes soft and spongy.
Divide the dough into two equal portions. Knead these again and shape into loaves. Place the loaves in two well-greased bread pans and cover (traditional loaves were raised in round rye straw baskets and turned out to bake, like French boules – see photo opposite and sidebar instructions). Set aside and let the bread raise above the tops of the bread pans or baskets, the higher the better. Preheat the oven to 450F (235C). Bake the bread at this temperature for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400F (205C) and bake for another 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 375F (190C) and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the bread taps hollow on the bottom. As soon as the bread comes from the oven, remove it from the pans, combine the soft butter and milk until creamy, then brush the crust (in former times this was done with a piece of flannel or a goose feather). Otherwise, brush the crust with cold apple water or with cold applejack. Let the bread cool before slicing.
Note: The tea is made by boiling the cores and skins for about 30 minutes. Clear, unsweetened apple juice may be used as a substitute.
Special Instructions for Baking in Rye Straw Baskets
Traditional Pennsylvania Dutch farmhouse bread was proofed in rye straw baskets which gave the loaves their distinctive round shape and basket pattern in the crust. Rye straw baskets are still available from several basket makers in the region. To use them the old way, dust the interiors liberally with GMO-free roasted cornmeal, then place a large ball of dough in each basket (we used one large basket for the photograph). Cover the basket and set it in a warm place. When the dough has risen above the top of the basket, turn it out onto a baking sheet or pizza tin, let it recover for about 15 minutes and then bake as instructed in the recipe. Do not brush the bread with the creamed butter mixture or cold apple water if you want the loaf to retain its rustic dusted-with-flour appearance. Otherwise, while the bread is still hot from the oven, quickly brush off the cornmeal and apply the basting mixture as directed.
Apple Bread (Schmitzing Bread)
During the holidays years ago these dumplings were fairly common in Pennsylvania Dutch bakeries and farm markets, where they were sold under the local name fresh rusk. The dumplings do make excellent rusks because they dry out after a day or two, which is why they are best fresh from the oven. The unused dumplings were usually recycled in some manner, often sliced and baked in puddings or in a fruit Schlupper (see chapter xx). These particular dumplings are not extremely sweet because they were intended to be eaten with sauce or stewed fruit – such as peaches stewed with dried sour cherries, or currants when in season. In fact, the beaten egg and sugar topping can be omitted because the dumplings are just as good plain. This same basic dough recipe also can be used for making a braided Aniskranz (anise-flavored wreath bread) or it can be baked in a Bundt mold. Excellent when served with tea or coffee or with sweet wine.
Yield: Approximately 20 Servings
½ cup (125ml) whole milk
¼ ounce (7g) yeast
6 ounces (185g) unsalted butter
4 ounces (125g) sugar
4 large eggs
6 ¼ cups (815g) bread flour
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1½ teaspoons ground cardamom
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon anise seeds (or more to taste)
Topping:
1 beaten egg white
1 tablespoon (15g) vanilla sugar
1 tablespoon sliced almonds or chopped hickory nuts
Scald the milk and cool to lukewarm. Proof the yeast in it. Cream the butter and sugar and set aside. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until lemon color, then combine with the proofed yeast. Add this to the reserved butter-and-sugar mixture. Sift together the flour and spices, then gradually sift in the flour to form soft dough; use only enough flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the fingers. Knead 10 minutes, then cover and let the dough rise in a warm place until double in bulk. Knock down and roll out in a rectangle ½ inch (1.25cm) thick. Scatter the anise seed and grated lemon over this, then fold the dough over twice and knead well until pliant. Form into 20 2-ounce (60g) balls and set them in a buttered Schales pan (see glossary, page 163) or in a shallow cake tin of similar proportions to rise in a warm place. Or roll into a wreath or circle and cover. Let the dough recover for 25 minutes. Brush with an egg white beaten until forming stiff peaks and scatter liberally with vanilla sugar and almonds (optional). Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in an oven preheated to 375F (190C). Or bake in a Bundt mold well greased and dusted with bread or cake crumbs for the same period of time. It should tap hollow when done.
Depending on which farmer you ask, Buhnedaag (Bean Day) is either June 4 or June 5 (St. Boniface Day). This is the critical date on the Pennsylvania Dutch garden calendar by which time most pole beans and lima beans should be in the ground if they are to produce seed for the next season. This is also the date when kitchen gardeners should start planting bush beans in 2-week successions so that there will be a fresh crop right up until frost. With so much hinging on this important date, we would have thought that some entrepreneurial Dutchman would have come up with a Bean Planting Festival, but the truth of the matter is, at that time of year everyone in the Dutch Country is too busy in the garden to bother with such distractions.
Just the same, Bean Day has its advocates, not to mention its unofficial herb: Buhnegreidel (“bean plant”), otherwise known as summer savory. Eating beans with summer savory is an old-time preventive remedy for gas (you know the kind we mean), so it is not surprising that it also figures in Bean Day Bread. That said, some cooks prefer to add sage (or a combination of sage and savory), while others add calendula petals for good luck, calendulas being the Dutch national flower. No one knows exactly when Bean Day was first observed, although we suspect it existed in many tentative and perhaps purely pragmatic forms until the 1840s, when Pennsylvania Dutch soldiers brought back black beans from the Mexican War.
Mexican Black Turtle Beans were suddenly touted as the next best thing to turtle soup (only if you add enough Madeira!), and while black beans were not exactly a Pennsylvania Dutch ideal – they preferred white, brown or speckled varieties, since bread made with black beans looks like rye bread – thus a good idea was born. I have taken it a little further by adding garlic and sunflower seeds. I have baked the loaf shown in the picture in a traditional square bride cake tin. More on bride cake tins on page 18. Otherwise, this recipe will make two loaves when baked in bread pans.
Yield: 2 loaves
1⅓ cups (8 ounces/250g) black beans
1½ tablespoons grated unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup (250ml) strong black coffee
½ ounce (15g) dry active yeast
1 cup (250ml) lukewarm milk or potato water
2 tablespoons (30ml) walnut oil or vegetable oil
5 cups (625g) bread flour (more or less)
1½ teaspoons minced garlic
1½ tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons (50g) toasted sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons (5g) fresh summer savory leaves, or 1½ tablespoons dry thyme leaves
Cook the beans in 1½ cups (375ml) water until tender. Then puree the beans with the cooking liquid. Put this in a deep work bowl. Grate the chocolate, then dissolve it in the hot coffee. Add this to the bean puree. Proof the yeast in lukewarm milk or potato water. Once the yeast is actively foaming, add it to the bean mixture. Whisk to create a smooth batter, add the oil, then sift in 3 cups (375g) of flour. Cover with a damp cloth and let the sponge rise until double in bulk.
Once risen and developing bubbles on top, stir down and add the garlic, salt, sunflower seeds, savory and about 2 cups (250g) of flour – only enough so that when kneaded, the dough no longer adheres to the hands. It is important to keep the dough as soft and pliant as possible. Knead for about 5 minutes, dusting the hands with flour, then cover and let the dough rise again until about double in bulk.
Knock down, form into loaves and lay them in greased bread pans measuring 4 by 11 inches (10 by 28 cm). Cover again. Once the dough has recovered and risen to within 1 inch (2.5cm) of the top of the loaf pans, set the bread in the middle of the oven, preheated to 450F (230C) Bake 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 400F (200C). Bake another 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350F (180C) and continue to bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the bread taps done. Brush with ice water as soon as the bread comes from the oven. Cool on racks.
There is no precise English word for Semmel. The German word derives from Latin similia which originally meant the finest grade of wheat flour. Today Semmel applies mostly to fine dinner rolls or to dainty breads made from the best sort of wheat. Those rolls are the equivalent to what the medieval English called manchets; the inner crumbs of these rolls are still prized as something superior to common bread crumbs. The crumbs are even sold commercially in Germany under the name Semmelmehl. However, dinner rolls in Pennsylvania Dutch are called Weck, so there is no ambiguity as to what is meant by Butter Semmels: they are miniature envelopes designed to hold a host of fillings and thus closely resemble Jewish Hamantaschen made at Purim. The two are probably related through a common medieval ancestor.
In her narrative cookbook Mary at the Farm (1916), author Edith Thomas was meticulous in including a recipe for Butter Semmels, knowing as she did how important they were in Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine. She obtained her working recipe from her Quaker friend Mary Lippincott, whose husband was part owner of an iron foundry in Lehigh County. This little bit of recipe sleuthing revealed two important points about Butter Semmels: they were definitely a feature of upper class Pennsylvania Dutch entertaining and they were especially popular among the Moravians as one of several foods served during the holiday season, when they threw open their homes to display Putz, elaborately constructed scenes depicting the Christmas story.
We shall pass over the Butter Semmels filled with duck liver or minced smoked pheasant and concentrate on the species made for dessert. They can be filled with little scoops of ground nuts and sugar, almond paste, dried fruit or jam. I have left them plain, although Quince Honey (see opposite page) or raspberry jam flavored with rosewater can turn these happy pastries into true food memories.
Yield: 5 to 6 dozen
½ ounce (15g) dry active yeast
1 cup (250ml) lukewarm potato water (98F/37C)
¾ cup (185g) unsalted butter and lard (half and half), or all butter
2 cups (400g) warm mashed potatoes
1 cup (175g) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon (15g) salt
2 large eggs
7 cups (875g) organic bread flour
Melted unsalted butter
Superfine sugar
Proof the yeast in the potato water. While the yeast is proofing, whip the butter and lard into the warm mashed potatoes. Then add the sugar and salt. Once the potatoes are tepid, beat the eggs until lemon-color and frothy, and fold them into the potato mixture. Add the proofed yeast, then sift in 2 cups (250g) of flour.
Butter Semmels
Work this into soft dough, cover and let it double in bulk (about 5 hours). Then gradually sift in the remaining flour, only enough to make the dough stiff so that it does not stick to the hands. Knead well until it becomes soft and tacky.
Flour your work surface and rolling pin, then roll out pieces of dough into sheets ½ inch (1.25cm) thick. Cut the dough into 2-inch (5cm) squares. Take the corners of each square and fold them toward the center, envelope fashion. Pinch the tips together tightly – otherwise, they will pop open when during baking. Dot the pinch with butter and pinch again. Set the Semmels on greased baking sheets to recover.
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Once the dough has risen, bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes – 18 minutes seems to be a reliable average. Remove from the oven, and while still hot, brush the Semmels with melted butter and then dust them with superfine sugar (caster sugar) or a mix of sugar and cinnamon.
Note: This same dough can be used for making Fastnachts (page 69), decorative New Year’s Pretzels (page 22), and New Year’s Boys (page 21). Butter Semmels were also made for Valentine’s parties, but instead of a fruit or jam filling, motto papers were placed inside. Motto papers are like the little sayings placed inside Chinese fortune cookies, except that the theme of the mottos always dealt with love or romance.
Quiddehunnich
Anyone who undertakes a cursory glance through the cookbooks printed in nineteenth-century Pennsylvania soon realizes that quince honey stands out as a common culinary theme, whether the book was published in Erie, Meadville, Greensburg, Lancaster or Easton. Through state fairs and multitudes of blue ribbons, the Pennsylvania Dutch love of quince honey spread all across Pennsylvania regardless of cultural boundaries; every fundraising cookbook before 1920 with a church connection seems to feature at least one version of this classic regional confection.
For the record, quince honey is not literally honey and making it is not as simple as following a recipe for jam because the success of the endeavor hangs, not surprisingly, on the condition of the fresh fruit. Classic quince honey is quince jam (quince cooked in sugar) reduced to a smooth spread with a flavor that cannot be described easily because you must begin with tree-ripe fruit. You will know they are ripe if you can smell their perfume, which will fill an entire room with the fragrance of sweet peas, vanilla and orchids. It is that ethereal quality that must be captured in the jam. So, in order to make this recipe worthwhile, select at market only those quince that remind you of perfume. You can make quince water by boiling the cores and skins 30 minutes in spring water until gray and slimy. You can then use this “tea” as pectin for other preserve recipes. Meanwhile, I have tested quince honey several times and suggest making it this way (see note below):
Yield: 8½ cups (2¼ liters)
2 pounds (1 kg) cooked pureed quince
2 cups (500ml) quince water (see note below)
¼ cup (65ml) fresh lemon juice
1 box Sure-Jell
5½ cups (1.375kg) sugar
Put the pureed quince, quince water, lemon juice and Sure-Jell in a deep preserving pan and bring to a full boil over a high heat. Add the sugar. Bring to a rolling boil and boil for one minute. Remove from the heat and transfer to hot sanitized jars.
Note: While I do not prefer Sure-Jell because of the overabundance of sugar it requires, nonetheless, the recipe will work as directed and it will not disappoint. I suggest doing it this way first, then once perfected, you may want to explore other pectin sources. That said, this jam will jell without Sure-Jell as long as you use the pectin tea, but cooking time will depend on the state of the fruit, a thing we cannot measure or predict in printed recipes, although 20 minutes of steady boiling should do it.
Hutzelbrod is one of the forgotten culinary classics of the Dutch Country. The name derives from Hutzle, a term for dried fruit but especially for dried plums or pears, one of the main ingredients. There was a time when you could find these wonderful fruit-filled breads in nearly every county town during the holiday season. Today, only a few families still make them. Part of the reason is that they require advance planning and two days of preparation.
The earliest recorded Pennsylvania Dutch recipe for this Christmas treat appeared in Der Amerikanische Bauer [The American Farmer], a Harrisburg farm journal published in the 1850s. It is unusual to find any sort of recipes for Hutzelbrod, because the ingredients were quite variable and the bread part could consist of a wide variety of doughs, although basic sourdough bread was the predominant choice. In general, since the commercial loaves were large, often measuring 40 inches (100cm) in length, Hutzelbrod was considered a baker’s showpiece, much like New Year’s pretzels – not to mention that bakeries owned ovens large enough to accommodate breads that size. In farmhouse cookery, the loaves were prepared somewhat smaller, ranging from 12 to 20 inches (30cm to 50cm). The 1850s recipe I consulted did not provide suggestions for dough other than bread dough, but it was absolutely clear about the filling. For the dough, I suggest using yeast-raised butter crust (page 112) because it is easy to handle and bakes a beautiful golden color. If you choose to use the apple bread recipe (page 3), cut the quantity in half and start the dough the night before, since it takes longer to rise.
Yield: One 20-inch (50cm) loaf, or two 10-inch (25cm) loaves
½ cup (50g) dried pears, chopped into pea-size pieces
½ cup (40g) apple schnitz, chopped into pea-size pieces
¼ cup (50g) candied citron, chopped
¼ cup (50g) whole golden raisins
⅓ cup (35g) slivered almonds
½ cup (125g) sugar
½ cup (125g) apple jack or pear brandy
1 batch yeast-raised butter crust (page 112)
Honey crumbs (see sidebar)
Topping:
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon (30ml) milk
Candied angelica as decoration after baking
The day before you plan to bake, combine the chopped dried fruit, citron, raisins, almonds, sugar and wine. Cover and set aside to marinate 24 hours. The next day, drain the fruit mixture of all excess liquid and set aside. The excess liquid can be added to mincemeat pies or used as basting liquid for your Christmas turkey or goose.
Prepare the yeast-raised butter crust according to the directions on page 112. Cover and let the dough proof until double in bulk.
While the dough is proofing, make the honey crumbs as directed in the sidebar.
Once the dough has doubled in bulk, knock down and roll out in a rectangle 12 inches (30cm) wide and 20 inches (50cm) long. Trim off irregular edges for use as ornamentation. Spread the drained, reserved fruit mixture over the rectangle of dough, then scatter the crumbs evenly over this. Roll up as tightly as possible, taking care to fold under the ends and pinch the seams closed. Ornament the loaf with strips of dough reserved for that purpose and little rings for the candied angelica (refer to the photograph). Set the bread on a large greased baking sheet, preferably one with raised sides in case the loaf leaks liquid from the fruit during baking (this saves cleaning the oven).
Cover and set aside in a warm place to rise (at least 40 minutes). While the bread is recovering, preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Brush the loaf with a mixture of 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon (15ml) of milk. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until the bread taps hollow. Once the bread is cool, insert pieces of candied angelica in the small rings ornamenting the top.
Honey Crumbs
½ cup (125g) sugar
2 tablespoons (30g) cold, unsalted butter
¼ cup (65ml) honey
½ cup (125g) flour
1 tablespoon (5g) ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground star anise
1 teaspoon anise seed (optional)
Using two forks or a pastry cutter, rub the ingredients together in a work bowl to form large, coarse crumbs. Do not handle. Keep the crumbs cool until needed. Use a spoon to scatter the crumbs over the fruit as directed in the recipe.
These simple breakfast rolls are sometimes called cinnamon buns but they are not the same thing as Philadelphia sticky buns; rather, they are coils of slightly crisp-crusted “snails” perfect for that morning wake-up call or afternoon coffee break. Our recipe has been adapted from the original of Lancaster Mennonite Della C. Diffenbaugh (1875-1948). It is plain, the way Mennonites make the rolls, and thankfully not overly sweet. For a change of pace, use the poppy seed filling for the Easter Cake on page 47. The amount given for that cake will also make enough to fill these rolls, and the Pennsylvania Dutch name then changes to Mohnschnecke (poppy seed snails).
Yield: 18 to 20 rolls
2 tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons (30g) sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (250ml) hot milk
½ oz. (15g) dry active yeast
½ cup (125ml) lukewarm milk (98F/37C)
2 large eggs
5 cups (625g) bread flour
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 oz. (65g) soft unsalted butter
4 oz. (125g) brown sugar
Dissolve the butter, sugar and salt in the hot milk. Proof the yeast in the lukewarm milk. In a separate work bowl, beat the eggs until lemon color and frothy. When the hot milk is tepid, beat it into the eggs, then add the proofed yeast. Sift in 2½ cups (315g) of flour and work into a soft sponge. Cover and set aside to rise in a warm place until double in bulk.
Once the dough had doubled in bulk, work in the remaining flour and knead until soft and spongy. Roll out the dough on a clean work surface to form a large rectangle ½ inch (1.25cm) thick. Make a paste by creaming together the cinnamon, soft butter and brown sugar, then spreading this evenly over the dough. Starting on the long side of the rectangle, roll up the dough to create a long coil; slice the roll into 1-inch thick (2.5cm) pieces. Lay the slices slice side down in greased baking tins so that they barely touch. Cover and let the dough rise for about 30 minutes or until puffy.
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) and bake the rolls for 25 minutes. Cool on racks and serve with strong black coffee.
This iconic Pennsylvania Dutch recipe was preserved by Anna Bertolet Hunter (1869-1946) of Reading. Mrs. Hunter and her son, Wellington, were deeply involved in organizing the Bertolet Family Association; she more or less took charge of the women’s committee, which handled the refreshments for the various reunions. Her heirloom Dutch Bread was first served at a reunion held at Mineral Springs Park in Reading on August 5, 1900 and at many Bertolet family events thereafter. Like the Gerhart’s Reunion Cake on page 42, Pennsylvania Dutch heritage was thus verified through the medium of food.
Recommended utensils: two 8 to 9 inch (20 to 23cm) cake tins at least 2 ½ inches (6 cm) deep.
Yield: Approximately 20 to 30 servings
Crumb Topping:
½ cup (60g) pastry flour
3 tablespoons (45g) cold unsalted butter
3 tablespoons (45g) sugar
Bread Ingredients:
8 tablespoons (125g) unsalted butter
¾ cup (185g) sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (100g) mashed potatoes
1 cup (250ml) whole milk
1½ teaspoons (about 15g) dry active yeast
1 cup (250ml) lukewarm milk or potato water
2 large eggs
4 to 5 cups (500g to 625g) bread flour
Before starting the bread, make the crumb topping by rubbing together the flour, butter and sugar until they form evenly sized crumbs. Set aside.
Put the butter, sugar, salt and mashed potatoes in a deep work bowl. Scald the milk and pour it boiling hot over these ingredients. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and all the sugar is dissolved. While this is cooling, proof the yeast in the lukewarm milk or potato water. Once it is foaming vigorously, combine with the milk mixture. Beat the eggs until frothy and lemon color, then add them to the liquid ingredients.
Sift the flour into the liquid mixture one cup at a time, stirring as you sift, until thick, sticky dough is formed. Cover and set aside in a warm place to triple in bulk.
Stir down with a spoon. Grease the cake pans and dust with bread crumbs. Divide the dough into two equal parts and spoon or ladle it into the cake pans. Sprinkle the prepared crumbs over the top. Set aside in a warm place until the dough rises to the top of the cake tin. While the dough is recovering, preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Once the dough has reached a height of no less than 2½ inches (6 cm), bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until the breads tap done in the center. Cool on racks before removing from the baking tins. Do not slice while hot. Serve at room temperature.
Watch Point: If the dough is not allowed to triple in bulk in the first rising and double in bulk in the second, it will not bake properly and the centers will fall when taken from the oven. The first and second risings may require as long as 2 hours or more, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
Lamb-shaped breads baked specifically for Easter have long been popular in the Dutch Country. They were often placed in a basket surrounded by elaborately decorated Easter eggs near the altar in churches or featured as the centerpiece of Easter displays in bakeshop windows. Some of the oldest surviving earthenware bread molds from the 1700s are devoted to Easter Lambs and today they are greatly prized by collectors and museums. The general custom was to use any one of the yeast-raised doughs that also stood service for Christmas or New Year’s specialties. Thus, there was no particular traditional recipe associated with Easter Lambs; you used whatever sweetened bread recipe was part of your own family tradition. On that point, six recipes in this chapter can be used successfully to make an Easter Lamb: Apple Bread, Baked Anise Dumplings, Lebanon Rusk, New Year’s Boys and New Year’s Pretzel. The Dutch Cake recipe in the cake chapter will also work perfectly, since it takes easily to elaborate shapes. Full batches of these recipes will make two or three lambs, or even more, depending on the size of your molds. For certain, you cannot make an Easter Lamb without a mold, so a few words about what sort of mold to use.
Aside from recent aluminum and glass copies, the most popular molds today are the now-heirloom cast iron lamb molds formerly made by the Griswold Manufacturing Company (1865-1957) of Erie, Pennsylvania. These molds are commonly listed for sale on eBay or stocked at antiques malls, and if they are authentic will bear the manufacturer’s number 866. Griswold molds are sturdy and were cast from high quality Minnesota iron. They will produce lambs about 10 inches (25cm) long. The firm also published a pamphlet recipe for making a lamb with their mold, but it is not a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch recipe. In fact, Griswold instructed its users to cover the lamb with shredded coconut to resemble wool. Pennsylvania Dutch Easter lambs were considered bread, so they were rarely decorated or iced. And since the lamb was a symbol of Christ, this bread was treated with a certain amount of religious reverence.
Baking a lamb in an antique earthenware mold like the one in the illustration is not recommended. These valuable and irreplaceable molds crack easily (no steam vents), and if the dough expands too much the mold will separate during baking and create a seam line all the way around the lamb; this is unsightly and must be trimmed off with sharp scissors right after the lamb comes from the oven. Reproduction earthenware molds are attractive but invite a similar problem, and in any case they must first be seasoned by boiling in water for about 50 minutes with two or three squeezed lemons – the more lemons the better. The acid tempers the glaze and clay body to help prevent cracking. Repeated use of a mold is the only way to learn exactly how much dough is required to fill the mold perfectly during baking. I recommend making your first few trials with plain bread dough. Weigh the amount of dough that was successful and file that figure with your recipe so that there is no guesswork the next time you bake. Also, be certain that there is ample dough in the area around the head; this is often the part of the lamb that causes the most problems for beginners.
Cast iron molds are better than other materials because they are heavy and can be sealed shut with metal clamps, thus assuring that no dough escapes. Iron molds must also be seasoned and that is done exactly like seasoning an iron skillet. The Griswold molds also have handles on both ends; this makes moving the mold in and out of the oven much easier – butter from the enriched bread dough can make the molds slippery, especially the glazed earthenware ones.
Whichever dough you use, it should be given its final proofing in a mold previously greased and dusted with flour. Baking is done while the mold is on its side, one half serving as a “lid.” The baking temperature and time will be approximately the same as those given for each of the seven recommended doughs in their respective recipes, provided you position the mold on a middle rack in your oven. Keep in mind that cast iron tends to bake hot, so you may want to check on the lamb 10 minutes before it is done. Once fully baked, remove the lamb from the mold and cool it on a rack. It can be stored or frozen like common bread.
Throughout the greater Delaware Valley there are two traditional types of rusk: the dry twice-baked rusk or Zwieback and the so-called “fresh” rusk, which is not baked a second time, and which is treated as a tea cake or something special to be eaten with coffee. It was either sliced and toasted or crumbled into the coffee to make “coffee soup.” This latter type was quite popular among the Quakers, who may have contributed to its wide dissemination. The dough is similar (if not exactly the same) as the foundation dough used to make Philadelphia-style sticky buns. After baking the crumb is extremely light and will dry out easily, which is one reason the Dutch liked to add potatoes (this extended shelf life).
There were also two distinctly different ways of baking rusks: professional bakeries preferred to prepare them in tall, square tins called bride cake pans, which resulted in rusks at least 4 inches (10cm) in height. This is the type of rusk sold by Harrisburg baker Henry Becker in 1852 under the name Lebanon Rusk, one of the earliest known references to the term. Bakeries like Becker’s probably favored this tin because bride cakes (a type of fruit cake), square loaves of bread, buns, and of course rusks, could be baked in them, thus reducing the need to invest in an array of specialized utensils. I have chosen this route in the baking instructions below, but you can also follow what was known as the “farmhouse style” by baking the rusks in shallow rusk pans like the one in the picture. This pan was common in farmhouse cookery because it was merely an adaptive reuse of a rectangular dripping pan. Indeed, rusk pans and dripping pans were functionally interchangeable.
Regardless of shape the most famous Pennsylvania Dutch fresh rusks are called Lebanon Rusks, mainly because they were popularized by Church of the Brethren women from Lebanon County via The Inglenook, their widely read household magazine. Just the same, there is no evidence that potato rusks (like “Lebanon” bologna) were actually invented in Lebanon. In fact, our recipe traces to Lizzie S. Risser (1880-1950) of Elizabethtown, in Lancaster County.
¼ ounce (7.5g) dry active yeast
1 cup (250ml) lukewarm potato water (98F/37C)
1 cup (200g) warm mashed potatoes
4 ounces (125g) unsalted butter
1 cup (250g) superfine sugar (also called caster sugar)
3 large eggs
5½ cups (690g) bread flour 1 egg white
Vanilla sugar
Proof the yeast in the potato water. Once the yeast is foaming vigorously, combine this with the mashed potatoes and whip smooth. Cream the butter and sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until lemon color and frothy, then combine with the creamed butter and sugar. Add this to the mashed potatoes and beat vigorously. Gradually sift in 4 cups (500g) of flour and work the batter into soft, sticky dough. Cover and allow to double in bulk in a warm place (1 ½ to 2 ½ hours, depending on the weather). Knock down and gently knead in the remaining 1 ½ cups (190g) of flour.
Butter the hands and mold out 30 balls of dough, each weighing 2 ounces (60g). Place the balls close together and evenly spaced in two greased spring-form cake pans without center tubes – the dough balls must “kiss” in all directions. Keep in mind that when baked in cake tins rusks rise up very high, so the pans must be at least 4 inches (10cm) deep; otherwise, the dough will overflow. Cover and allow the dough to rise again until over double in bulk (roughly 1 hour or more) or until the rusks reach the rim of the cake tin or rusk pan (if you are using one).
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Beat the egg white until stiff and forming peaks, then brush it over the surface of the rusks. Sprinkle with vanilla sugar (or lacking that, granulated sugar). Then bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, if you prefer a dark crust. If you prefer a lighter crust, preheat the oven to 325F (165C) and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Once the rusks are done and tap hollow, remove from the oven and cake tins and cool on racks. Sprinkle again with sugar “to fill the valleys with snow,” as an old cook once told me. Best when served the same day they are baked.
The Traditional Rusk Pan
Fresh rusks, Schnecken – even Philadelphia Sticky Buns – were commonly baked in a specific type of pan called a rusk pan. The standard dimensions were 7½ by 16½ by 2 inches (19 by 41 by 5 cm). The best sorts were made of heavy gauge Russia iron, an imported metal with a bluish-gray tinge on the surface. Antique rusk pans are now extremely rare, because once their usefulness as baking utensils passed, they could be sold for good money as scrap metal. The rusks in the photograph on the previous page have been baked in a traditional pan dating from the 1860s.
Just as Christmas had its Mummeli (breads shaped like little men), New Year’s featured its own special bread made from similar dough (or you can use the dough for Butter Semmels, page 9). These distinctive rolls or buns were produced mostly by small-town bakers for Silvester Night Balls (December 31st) held in local hotels and taverns, and one of them always contained a lucky coin. A huge eight-foot deep brick bake oven for making just such large-batch pastries survived well into the 1960s at the historic 1840s Quentin House Hotel in Quentin, near Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
We know from the field work of late Pennsylvania Dutch folklorist Alfred L. Shoemaker that due to their connection with Silvester Night (New Year’s Eve), the rolls were also called Silvester Buns (Silvesterweck), although the rural Dutch seem to have preferred the more euphemistic Neijohrsbuwe (New Year’s Boys) in reference to the fact that the rolls have knobs or “heads” on the opposite ends, one for the old year and one for the new. This two-headed design appears to be traditional; however, the manner in which the rolls were decorated was a matter of personal fancy: some people preferred the so-called “two-headed fish” design shown in the picture. Others braided them to resemble heads of wheat or ornamented them with stars, swirling hex signs, or three X’s. Dr. Shoemaker also discovered that New Year’s Boys were given out to Belschnicklers when they went mumming house to house on Second Christmas (December 26). Otherwise, cookies and sweet pretzels were distributed instead like the orange pretzels on page 75.
Our original recipe comes from Fannie Coble (1870-1954) of Elizabethtown in Lancaster County. If you have leftover Neijohrsbuwe you can always slice them, dip them in beaten eggs and cook like French toast.
Yield: Six 7-inch (18cm) “Boys”
1 cup (225g) warm mashed potatoes
1 cup (250g) light brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
½ ounce (15g) dry active yeast
1 cup lukewarm potato water or milk
6 tablespoons (90g) melted butter
2 large eggs
5 cups (625g) bread flour
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons (30ml) milk
Beat the mashed potatoes and sugar together to form a smooth batter. Add the salt and set aside. Proof the yeast in the potato water or milk, and once it is foaming vigorously, add it to the mashed potato mixture. Then sift in 1½ cups (190g) of flour to make a sponge. Cover and set in a warm place to double in bulk. Once double in bulk, stir down and add the melted butter. Beat the eggs until lemon color and frothy and add them to the sponge. Gradually sift in the remaining flour one cup at a time, kneading as you add until a soft spongy dough forms that no longer sticks to the fingers.
Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and shape each piece to form a small oblong roll with knobs or “heads” on each end (see picture). Using sharp scissors or a knife, cut three X marks on the body of each roll (or create a design of your own), and set them on a greased baking sheet to rise. Cover with a cloth and let the rolls recover for about 20 to 25 minutes. While they are rising, preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Before putting the rolls in the oven, make a wash with one egg yolk and 2 tablespoons (30ml) of milk. Take a soft brush and paint each loaf with this mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 35 minutes or until they tap done. Cool on racks.
The pretzel is imbued with a great deal of colorful folklore in Pennsylvania Dutch culture, not surprising given the pretzel’s ancient origins. When there was fog on the Blue Hills of Pennsylvania, parents used to tell their children that rabbits were baking pretzels in the woods; the fog was the smoke from their tiny ovens. Pretzels made from the flour of freshly harvested grain were called “rabbit pretzels,” since the rabbit was a euphemism for spirits in the wheat, especially from the last sheaf of wheat taken from the field. The list of similar beliefs is long and fascinating, which is perhaps why pretzels were thought to bring good luck (touched by the rabbit’s paw?) and to make excellent gifts for important turning points on the calendar.
For this reason, very large and highly ornamental pretzels were traditionally given as gifts for New Year’s Eve, or presented to children on their first birthday. They were also exhibited during parades and at county fairs under the category of trophy breads, large display pieces with elaborate designs. These pretzels were made of sweetened bread and sometimes filled with nuts and dried fruit. They were also called “potato pretzels” by some Dutch, because the dough used for making them was based on a potato sponge. Our recipe, which was made for Christmas bazaars by Laura Schadler Stofflet (1863-1916) of Fogelsville, Pennsylvania, will produce two large pretzels. You will need an oversized pizza tin to accommodate each pretzel, or two shallow cake tins measuring at least 14 inches (35cm) in diameter. Furthermore, the most traditional decorative design was to ornament the pretzel with three smaller pretzels and three braids representing heads of wheat. Once on display, the pretzels were often additionally decorated with real heads of wheat, barley or spelt, pinecones, and even evergreens; some people added a large bow.
Since the dough used in these pretzels puffs considerably during baking, the trick is to keep the dough on the lean side; otherwise, the pretzel will run together and lose its shape in the oven. Like mastering the Easter Lamb, a few practice runs will be necessary before you get the hang of it, so do not try an elaborate design until you have determined the right combination of baking tin and the quirks of your oven: if there is a hot spot, the pretzel may bake lopsided. Just the same, no matter how it may turn out the first time, Mrs. Stoffelt’s pretzel recipe will taste just fine. Incidentally, potato water in the ingredient list is water in which potatoes have been boiled. Always save it for your baking needs – you can even freeze it for later use.
Yield: Approximately two 14-inch (35cm) pretzels
½ ounce (15g) dry active yeast
1 cup (250ml) lukewarm potato water (98F/37C)
4 tablespoons (60g) unsalted butter
1 cup (170g) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon (15g) sea salt
1 cup (250ml) milk
1 cup (200g) mashed potatoes
7 cups (875g) bread flour
Glaze for Each Pretzel:
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon (15ml) cream
1 tablespoon (15g) superfine sugar
Proof the yeast in the lukewarm potato water. In a deep work bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Beat the eggs until light and frothy, dissolve the salt in the milk, and add this to the eggs. Add the egg mixture to the butter and sugar, stir well, then stir in the mashed potatoes. Sift in 3 cups (375g) of flour to create a soft sponge. Cover and proof overnight in a warm place until double in bulk.
The next day, stir down and sift in the remaining flour, working batter into soft, pliant dough. Knead for about 10 minutes, then cover and allow the dough to proof until double in bulk. Knock down and divide the dough into two equal portions, each weighing about 2 pounds (1 kg). Trim off excess dough and reserve this for ornamenting the pretzels.
To make a pretzel, take one portion of the dough and roll it out to form a rope about 40 inches (100cm) long. The rope should be thicker in the middle than on the ends. Twist this into a pretzel shape and lay it on your baking tin. Take some of the excess dough and make braids or coils – or roll out some of it as thin as possible with a rolling pin and cut out leaves, petals for flowers, or any fanciful figures you like, and attach them to the pretzel with lightly beaten egg white. Once the design is in place, cover and let the pretzel rise for about 25 to 30 minutes, depending on the warmth of the kitchen.
While the pretzel is rising, preheat the oven to 375F (190C). For each pretzel, beat together the egg yolk, cream and sugar and brush the surface with this. Then bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until fully risen and turning golden brown. Cool on a rack. Repeat this with the other portion of dough unless your oven is large enough to accommodate both pretzels at once.
When the Pennsylvania Dutch first settled in America, the traditional wedding cake among Pennsylvania’s Quaker colonials was a type of old English bread flavored with saffron. Throughout Europe, saffron bread in one form or another served as the symbolic luxury food for weddings, funerals, Christmas feasting, New Year’s and Easter. The Pennsylvania Dutch – coming as they did from many different parts of German-speaking Europe – also brought their own regional interpretations of this once widespread tradition. For this reason, very early on in the colonial period, saffron bread came to represent a fusion of diverse culinary customs best expressed by the iconic saffron-flavored Schwenkfelder Wedding Cake, which now appears in almost every cookbook claiming to be Pennsylvania Dutch (by virtue of its long-time acceptance in regional cuisine).
For weddings, saffron bread was baked in small round loaves for easier distribution among the 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.
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.
We have based this recipe on one preserved by Lebanon County furniture maker Peter Ranck (1770-1851). His recipe created a Fordeeg (foundation dough) that could then be shaped and baked in any number of ways. Aside from using it for large-scale Dutch Cakes, which were sometimes baked in huge cake pans, another popular form was to make Turkey Buns. These were miniature cakes baked in Turk’s Head molds often no more than six inches (15cm) in diameter. Many Pennsylvania Dutch households possessed these little molds, if for no other reason than for using up excess cake batter that might not all fit in a larger cake pan. Bakers often owned sets so that they could make Turkey Buns in batches, and one way to serve them was to soak them in rum: the Pennsylvania Dutch equivalent of Baba au Rhum.
Sugar buns were somewhat different. They were meant to be eaten as finger food (like Fastnachts) and were actually placed on the table like dinner rolls, which in the old days meant laying them on the table cloth right beside the dinner plate. Thus, they became the “bread” for the special occasion.
Yield: 10 pairs (20 buns)
½ ounce (15g) dry active yeast
2 cups (500ml) lukewarm whole milk (98F/37C)
5 cups (625g) bread flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon (5g) freshly grated nutmeg
8 ounces (250g) unsalted butter
1 cup (250g) light brown sugar
½ cup (125ml) rosewater
2 tablespoons (30ml) honey
Coarse sugar (sand sugar or crystal sugar)
Proof the yeast in the milk. While the yeast is proofing, sift together the flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside. Cream the butter and sugar, then combine this with the proofed yeast and rosewater. Make a valley in the center of the sifted flour and add the butter mixture. Work to form soft, pliant dough. Dust a clean work surface with flour and knead the dough until spongy (about 5 to 8 minutes). Cover and set aside to double in bulk. Knock down and divide the dough into 4-ounce (125g) balls. Set the balls side by side in pairs on ungreased baking sheets. Cover and let the buns rise 20 to 25 minutes.
While the dough is recovering, preheat the oven to 350F (180C). After the buns have risen again, bake them in the preheated oven for approximately 30 minutes or until they tap hollow on the bottom.
While the buns are baking, dissolve the honey in 2 tablespoons (30ml) of hot water. As the buns come out of the oven, immediately brush them with the honey mixture and then scatter sugar over them. Cool on racks.
