Old-fashioned honey lebkuchen – with a cherry on top
RECIPES, PHOTOGRAPHS, FOOD STYLING AND STYLING: ANJA DUNK
Almond and marzipan crescents – they’re absolutely nuts
“There is a wonderful German word, gemütlich, which loosely translates as ‘cosy’, although in fact it means much more… To me it means feeling at home. So wherever we are in the world, I try to make it gemütlich.”
A LITTLE ABOUT ANJA
A renaissance woman, Anja Dunk is a writer, cook, artist and photographer who has always loved cooking, eating and travelling. With a Welsh father and German mother, Anja spent time in Cameroon, Malaysia and Indonesia while growing up, but always returns to Germany and Wales for holidays.
Rosinenzopf Braided raisin bread
Makes A 30cm x 17cm loaf (20 slices)
Hands-on time 20 min, plus rising and proving
Oven
time 25-30min
MAKE AHEAD
Cool and wrap well, then the loaf will keep for 2 days – or freeze for up to 1 month. Defrost at room temperature and warm in a low oven for a few minutes to serve.
KNOW- HOW
Quark is a soft, creamy curd similar to cottage cheese. It’s popular in German cooking and can be found in larger supermarkets.
For an extra snowy touch at Christmas, you can sprinkle the top with hagelzucker (pearl sugar) before baking. If you want to sweeten and enrich the dough further, add about 50g sugar to the flour and knead in 40g butter with the quark.
Kneading the dough on a damp rather than a floured surface prevents sticking without incorporating more flour into the dough (which could dry it out).
To braid a 3-strand loaf, lay the strands alongside each other, pinch them together at one end and cross the left strand over the middle one, then the right strand over the new middle one. Continue left/right to the end.
• 450g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• 20g fresh yeast (or 10g dried yeast or 7g fast action/ instant yeast)
• 200ml tepid whole milk
• 200g quark