Category:

St. Nicholas Cookies

11/24/2017

Adservice Printmarketing, The Netherlands, posted on www.stnicholascenter.org

November 28th I'm giving a presentation on Christmas baking (private event for a club) and I've been putting together my PowerPoint presentation, mostly using my own photos but occasionally making use of online images---with appropriate credit given of course! I start with the feast of St. Nicholas on December 6 and work my way all the way through Our Lady of Guadalupe, Santa Lucia Day, Christmas Eve and Day, and all the way to Epiphany. I include recipes from several cultures and traditions, with foods in honor of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the shepherds, the angels, and the Magi. Most of the material comes from my book 'Tis the Season to Be Baking, but this week I was inspired to expand my presentation to include a traditional cookie for St. Nicholas' Day called speculaas.

A version of speculaas can be found in any country where St. Nicholas is honored, but especially in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the Ukraine. They are a spiced cookie with similar flavors to gingerbread but without the molasses. They can be molded or rolled out and shaped with cookie cutters. Go to www.stnicholascenter.org for recipes, cookie cutters and other resources. (I used the recipe for "Dutch Spice Cookies"). Having cleaned out my mother's house in the past year (the one with 9,000 cookie cutters in the basement), I didn't need to shop. I had the perfect cookie mold in storage, just waiting to be used.

I bought this cookie mold for my mom while I was at school at St. Meinrad Archabbey, at their (now defunct) Abbey Press. They had some kind of yard sale, and I found this terracotta mold for all of $3.00. Based on its condition when we found it in the house, I don't think Mama ever used it so I decided that a test was in order, if for no other reason than to get some photos for my presentation. I found the recipe online at the aforementioned St. Nicholas Center and mixed up the dough in a jiffy. Some recipes call for chilled dough, others say to use the dough at room temperature--the instructions that came with the mold suggested the latter. They also said to dust the mold with flour, but flour didn't want to stick to it, so I measured out the dough (about 3 tablespoons) and rolled it in flour before putting in the mold---worked like a charm! The cookies popped out of the mold without any difficulty.

The result was three dozen of these adorable cookies which made the kitchen smell delightfully like Christmas in spite of it being the day after Thanksgiving. I don't need Black Friday to get myself into the holiday spirit! You'll have to special order the mold for yourself (some resources HERE) unless you are lucky enough to find one in an antique mall or flea market. Longaberger made one but it's too large for my taste and it's harder to get the cookie out of such a long mold.

I might also add that having experimented extensively, I think speculaas are equally delicious with cold milk, warm tea or hot coffee, but you will have decide for yourself. December 6 isn't far away--get baking!

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A grandmother's recipe, a mother's lessons, a son's love

10/10/2016

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As followers of my Facebook page are aware, my mother was recently in ICU for several days with a severe infection in her colon. She's home now and much improved, but still a bit weak. She doesn't have any dietary restrictions but doesn't quite have the appetite she usually has, which of course has us a bit concerned. So decided to make her a treat like Great-grandma Sardick would make: Austrian povitica (poh-VEE-teetz-ah). Her favorite bread baked by her favorite monk? Surely she'll have a slice or two, won't she? So I hoped, and when I told her on the phone about my plan she seemed pleased, even excited.

I am proud say that this recipe has been in my family for at least four generations. My great-grandmother, Frances Zunic Sardick, brought it to this country from Austria. You often see Croatian or Slovenian versions of this bread (usually called potica) which use ground walnuts, cream, honey, and a much sweeter dough rolled into very thin layers. They are very popular at Christmas and Easter in our area of north central Illinois, where the Slovenian Women's Union of America have an active branch (#140) and have produced a fine cookbook.

But in my family, povitica is a savory bread rather than a sweet treat, and is reserved almost exclusively for Easter, at the end of Lenten fasts and meatless meals. When my mother was a little girl, my grandmother used to make it on Good Friday to serve Saturday night. How she could stand to fry bacon and bake bread on the most important day of fast and abstinence in the church calendar, I can't imagine! She certainly made of sterner stuff than Mom and Grandpa Frankie, who would leave the house and visit every church in a 25 mile radius to escape the tempting aromas.

At least in my family's traditions, there isn't a specific dough that is required for povitica, although basic white dough is what mom always used, enough for two standard loaves of bread. Potato roll dough works well, too, which is what I used this time around. The dough is rolled out into a large rectangle, and the bacon and walnuts spread on top. A couple of tablespoons of sugar are sprinkled over the dough, and finally six beaten eggs poured over the whole mess. You can see why we usually serve this once Lent is over!

The rectangle is then jelly-rolled, formed into a double spiral, and placed in a lasagna pan, although the sweeter versions are traditionally made in a Bundt pan. As you can imagine, the resulting loaf is huge and a bit heavy and wonderful is every way. Its weight comes from the filling---the dough itself rises be a fluffy and tender contrast to the hearty bacon and walnuts. The combination of salty/savory/sweet/soft/crunchy/chewy makes eating this bread a memorable experience.

Naturally my mother made sure I was inducted into the tradition of baking povitica, and I recall her patience in teaching me to roll out such a large amount of dough. She probably rapped my knuckles with a wooden spoon for sneaking bits of bacon out of the bowl---I still can't resist a taste or two!---and kept a watchful eye as I chopped walnuts so they would be neither too large nor too small. I was dubious that the beaten eggs would stay in place as I rolled up the rectangle, but she was positive and encouraging, as all great teachers are.

Another memory of povitica I have is from my senior year of high school. Thanks to a religion class on Catholic peace and justice issues, I had become involved with Oxfam America, an organization that works to end world hunger. They had a campaign for people to fast on the Thursday before Thanksgiving and then donate the money they might have spent on food to the organization. I decided to commit myself to the fast and announced my intention at the dinner table a few days before the event.

I had intended to fast the whole day, even though I had to work at my fast-food job after school until about 10 p.m., but my mother would have none of it: "I don't want you passing out at work!" So even though it was months before Easter, my mother made a huge povitica and packed two thick slices for my lunch. I won't say I wasn't hungry at work (and that was at least part of the point of the exercise---to experience hunger as so many others do) but at least I didn't faint into a fryer.

So I set off for Peoria with povitica, potato bread and Holy Communion, to feed my mother both body and soul. When I arrived she was still in some pain and a bit tired, but was alert and cheerful as she could be under the circumstances. We visited for awhile, and then the family members who were around joined us for the prayer of anointing and the Eucharist. Shortly thereafter, my sister brought some lunch in: lovely Yukon Gold potatoes and green beans fresh from the garden. My mother looked at the plate and said, "Where's the povitica?" By the time I had cut her a slice and buttered it, she had nearly finished the potatoes and beans and was ready for her treat. She ate it in her customary lady-like fashion, and obviously relished every bite. I hope she polishes off the loaf.

On the drive back to the abbey, I was reminded of a saying of Khalil Gibran from The Prophet: "Work is love made visible." I thought of all the love my mother has shown me throughout her life, working as a single parent to put five kids through Catholic grade school and then into various colleges, all the laundry and sewing and housecleaning, all the meals prepared, often with homemade bread and an astonishing array of cookies. She made us do our share but never shirked herself, and always with the greatest love. I looked up the Gibran quote when I got home and in the same section found this gem:

"When you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God."

I didn't really need Gibran to teach me that---I had my mom as an example.

You may want to bake up some bacon and walnut love yourself, so look for the recipe for Austrian Povitica HERE.

God bless and happy baking!

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Challah Babka

8/19/2016

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Chocolate Babka. Photo by Craftsy.com

Most people only know about babka because of the episode on Seinfeld in which Jerry and Elaine miss out on the last chocolate babka and have to settle for cinnamon version, which Elaine thinks of as “the lesser babka.” Both are excellent, and I'm partial to the cinnamon variety, but the chocolate kind is what I made for my Craftsy class, so here's a description and recipe.

The word babka means “grandmother” in Polish, and may have been applied to the pastry because it was often made in a tall, fluted cylindrical pan that produced a cake shaped like a pleated skirt. Some people make it in a loaf pan or as a wreath on a sheet tray. When I make babka, I like to use a Bundt pan so the resulting loaf has a decorative shape and some height.

Challah featured prominently in my Craftsy Class---the last three lessons, actually---with "Half-Pipe Chocolate Babka" being the crown of my instruction. For my class I used a Holiday Challah dough recipe that makes a HUGE batch and has to be kneaded by hand unless you have a larger stand mixture that can manage the equivalent of three loaves of bread. Here's the recipe for a simpler dough you can make in an ordinary KitchenAid.

3¼ to 3½ cups of all-purpose flour, divided
¼ cup of granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons of salt
1 pkg. instant yeast
¾ cup warm water
2 eggs, room temp
1 egg yolk (save egg white for the glaze)
¼ cup neutrally flavored oil (canola or a very light olive oil),

Place 3 cups of flour, sugar, salt and yeast into a medium size bowl and whisk them together. Place water, eggs and egg yolk into the bowl of a stand mixer. Blend with a paddle attachment, then add flour mixture a small scoop at a time, with the mixer on medium speed. Once all the dry ingredients are incorporated thoroughly, beat in oil at a slightly higher speed into smooth.

Switch to a dough hook attachment. The remaining flour is added gradually until you have a mass of dough that pulls away from the side of the bowl. Knead with hook for 5 minutes. The dough should be smooth, elastic and a little bit sticky. Remove dough hook and cover bowl with a clean dry towel. Allow to rise for 60 to 90 minutes---a richer dough usually means a slower rise.

Lightly grease a Bundt cake pan. Roll dough out to 20” x 24”. Spread filling (recipe below) evenly over the surface, leaving the top wide edge 1” uncovered. Brush top edge lightly with water. Roll up from bottom wide edge and pinch to seal. Place the roll on a cutting board seam side up and cut down the middle with a large sharp knife or large pizza cutter. (Photo below.) Turn halves with the filling side facing upwards. Starting from the middle, twist the two side together towards one end. Repeat with other side. Carefully lift the twist into the prepared pan and arrange so it’s even. Cover and let rise for 30 to 45 minutes or until nearly doubled. Bake in a preheated 350 F. oven for 40 to 45 minutes. Interior temp of the bread should 190 F. on an instant read thermometer.

Filling
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips
⅓ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup powdered sugar
⅓ cup cocoa powder

In a small saucepan, melt butter over low heat and whisk in chocolate chips. Sift powdered sugar and cocoa powder together into the pan and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat.

Chocolate babka slice. Photo: Fr. Dominic

This has to be served on the nicest china cake plate you have, preferably one from your grandma. Seasonally decorated plates are nice, too. Some people add a little chocolate drizzle to dress it up or a light dusting of powdered sugar. But once you cut the first wedge, the interior is so beautiful you won’t care about the loaf’s surface, and the tender crumb and sweet filling don't need any additional sugar.

The filing in this oicture is almond, and you're supposed to cut all the way through at the top, but you get this idea.

I make two other versions of babka, one with a sugar and spice filling, and the other as the pinnacle of sweet bread decadence: Nutella salted caramel babka. For the spice variety, I spread melted butter over the surface of the dough, and then sprinkle on a half-cup mixture of equal parts white and brown sugar with a teaspoon of Chinese five spice (you could use just cinnamon, or pumpkin pie spice, too). In my opinion, no need for streusel, just butter and hot coffee.

For the richer version, I heat a 13 oz. jar of Nutella in the microwave for about 10 seconds, and then spread it over the rolled out dough using an offset spatula or plastic bench knife. Then I sprinkle on 5 or 6 oz. of Kraft Premium Caramel Bits (about half an 11-oz. package) and then 1/4 tsp. of kosher salt. Roll it up and continue as directed--the result is below.

Forgive me, dieters, if I have led you into temptation.

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Craftsy Shoot, Day 4

8/13/2016

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The final installment of my adventures at Craftsy in Denver CO,
taping a six part online class in baking:
"Bake Your Best: Sweet Yeast Breads, Challah and More."

The final lesson of my Craftsy class is for Holiday Challah, which includes a variation on the Challah recipe featured in my most recent book The Breadhead Bible. The only change was that I used honey instead of sugar, and light olive oil instead of canola. These ingredients are more traditional and seemed appropriate for breads that are often served for Jewish holidays like Purim and Rosh Hashanah. Read a blog I wrote about it in 2012 and find a recipe HERE.

Traditional Challah. Photo: Craftsy.com

A crown braid makes an impressive addition to the holiday table, and when I teach comparative religions I make it when we study the feast of Purim, which commemorates the courage of Queen Esther. It's also traditional for Rosh Hashanah. I don't have a photo tutorial yet, but you can see from the finished product that it's a culinary tour de force.

Crown braid, using a pattern of shaping I adapted from more traditional methods. Photo: Craftsy.com

My last recipe for the class is for Halfpipe Twist Babka. Again, I don't have a series of photos to show you, and I haven't found anything online with enough details to be helpful. I promise you, I'm not just being coy so you'll subscribe to my class! Once I get a decent set of photos, I'll share them. Here's what the finished product looks like.

Chocolate Babka Photo: Craftsy.com

Maggie, Brian, Me and Samantha in the kitchen with the fruits of our labor.

After we wrapped taping the lessons, we had to make some LTV's ("Little Tiny Videos") to be used for the title cards for each lesson, and then shoot all the still photography. The kitchen crew had been saving product all week, and had made some of their own based on my instruction, and we had a sizable collection of goodies.

There was a Saint Bede Academy alumni gathering that evening at the Craftsy headquarters, so I went straight there from the studio. After shooting pictures of the stained glass in the Denver cathedral and then lunch at Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs on Saturday with my cousin (there's a non-sequiter if ever I saw one), I flew back to Illinois.

Best. Week. Ever.

You'll be seeing more about my class and the Craftsy platform in future blogs, but for right now . . .

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Sour Cream Fastnachts for Mardi Gras

2/7/2016

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Wow, it's been quite some time since I posted---my last blog post was before Christmas and here we are about to start Lent! But before the Lenten austerities get underway, treat your family to some deliciously rich Fastnacht fritters. I may have posted this recipe before, but it's worth it share it again.

The full name for these donuts is fastnacht kuchen, “Fastnacht” being the German word for the day before Ash Wednesday. There are as many different recipes for these Shrove Tuesday donuts as there are German grandmothers (the Polish grandmas call them paczki). The majority of them are made with a yeasted dough containing mashed potatoes. I offer here a simpler recipe, easily made and best served fresh.

Depending on the date of Easter, Fat Tuesday is often on or around Valentine’s Day. Using heart shaped cookie cutters for your fastnachts is a good way to combine the two holidays. Plain granulated sugar or powdered sugar may also be used to coat them. Without a sweet topping of some kind, fastnachts can seem a little bland to the American palate, as the recipe has far less sugar than the usual sour cream donut.

Fastnachts
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 sugar
¾ tsp. ground mace or nutmeg
1 cup sour cream (room temperature)
2 eggs (room temperature)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
Vegetable oil for frying
Cinnamon sugar for topping

In a medium size bowl, combine oil, sugar, sour cream, and eggs and beat with a whisk for two minutes. In a separate bowl, sift flour and baking powder and stir until thoroughly combined. Add egg mixture and stir until just combined. With dough still in bowl, knead gently for 8 or 10 strokes. Allow dough to rest for 5 minutes. Preheat oil for frying to 350 degrees. Pat or roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to about ¼ inch thick. Cut dough into rectangles about 2” x 3” and cut a short slit down the center of each one. Fry in hot oil a few at a time, 2 minutes per side, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels, then toss in cinnamon sugar to coat. Best if served fresh and warm.

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Meet Me in St. Louis II: Resale Shop Finds and Breadhead Bookshelf

7/29/2015

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Regular readers of my bread blog and Facebook page know that I browse through flea markets and resale shops every chance I get, and this vacation is no exception. St. Louis has a large Goodwill store on Manchester Road, and I scored a pair of small appliances: two waffle irons, $6 apiece, both in excellent condition. Breadhead Breakfasts will have two or three waffle recipes in it, but I don't want them all to come from the same style of waffler. The waffles pictured above are from my current iron, which is designed to facilitate creating waffle sticks for kids to dip in their maple syrup. (My fellow monks are not given to such frivolity at the breakfast table, but the waffle iron was on sale.) One model I bought yesterday creates a pair of square Belgian waffles, the other a thinner, heart-shaped ones much like the Dutch stroopwafel. Stay tuned for photos when I get home to my kitchen.

At the "Savers"store on Watson Road I found a gently-used pizza stone for $5. New ones can cost as much as $30, so I'll be happy to give it to someone at my "Pizzas from the Garden" class at the Missouri Botanical Gardens this Saturday. I consider a pizza stone to be as essential as cookie sheets and oven mitts in my kitchen, and it's pretty tough to make a decent thin crust pizza without one. So when I see them at flea markets and garage sales I always snatch them up to give away to potential pizziaolos. One of the pizzas we'll be making this weekend is the "Four Cheese Tomato Top" from my book Thursday Night Pizza.

The other treasure I discovered was a copy of Mel London's Bread Winners (Rodale Press, 1979). Not a professional baker, London began baking bread to give as Christmas gifts and gradually developed a cadre of home bakers who traded recipes with him. He collected them into this book, which includes profiles of the bakers and over 200 recipes. Because none of the bakers are professionals, one has the sense in paging through the book that you, too, could manage Garden Cracked-Grain Bread, Cheese and Pepper Loaf, and Orange Oatmeal Muffins. There are a wide variety of recipes, with topics as diverse as sourdough, breads made with triticale, Minnesota State Fair winners, breads for camping trips and backpacking, and a fair share of ethnic breads from Indian fry bread to Panettone to fastnachts.

Bread Winners is one of my mom's favorite bread books, and I think she got me my copy at a parish used book sale. So I'm happy to get what appears to be an unused copy---the credit card receipt from 1982 was still in the book---to pass on to another Breadhead. That's what all this reporting on flea market finds is all about. Believe me, I'm not bragging on my shopping abilities---if you think I can find a bargain, you should go garage sale-ing with my sisters! But I do encourage you to keep your eyes open for unexpected treasures in ordinary places. Train your eye long enough, and you get good at finding valuable things not only in shops, but in every day life, in the people around you, and inside yourself.

God bless and happy baking---and shopping!

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Breadhead Breakfast Testing Countdown: Day 2/120

6/30/2015

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Day #2

Fine Tuning

,

The new cookbook is going to have a number of coffee cakes made with the same basic yeasted dough, a variation on my Best Ever Crescent Rolls dough. That recipe produces a soft dough which results in a tender crumb, but it's a little tricky to handle for braiding and some other kinds of shaping---notice the tear in the side of the rolled up dough pictured above, which I made yesterday morning. That sort of fussy dough can be problematic for beginning bakers and even for those with more experience. So I need to fine tune the recipe a little more.

I don't want to suggest that I'm not satisfied with the results---this Nutella-filled babka with a streusel topping turned out just fine. But it was a tad frustrating to handle and I did utter a few words that a monk ought not to use. So I'll try another batch rtomorrow with a little less liquid and see what I get.

The other recipe I made was Apricot Blossoms, which I used to call Apricot Daisy Coffee Cake, until I realized it doesn't resemble a daisy as all. The filling is pastry filling and the icing is made with powdered sugar, orange zest and juice. It's baked on a 16" pizza pan, although you could make a pair of smaller ones with a couple of 12" pans. The secretaries in the Lake Thunderbird club house office preferred these over the chocolate babka, much to my surprise.

Later in the afternoon, I did something I don't do at home very often---almost never during the school year---I took a nap. Ahhh, summer!

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Italian Onion Herb Bread

6/17/2015

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Italian Onion Herb Bread in the abbey kitchen, fresh from the oven.

Last night was the annual picnic for the Illinois Valley Herb Guild to which I belong. I heard that beer brats were going to be served, as well as tortellini, so I thought---as usual!---we needed some homemade bread to go along with such alfresco delights. I chose to make skinny loaves of Italian Onion Herb Bread, a perennial favorite here at the abbey, which could be used to house the brats or to mop up bolognese sauce.

After these beauties were out of the oven, I realized two things: 1) I needed to make sweet hot mustard as well; and 2) I had never posted the recipe for Italian Onion Herb Bread on my recipes page. The first task required some experimentation with regular yellow mustard, St. Bede honey, crushed red pepper, horseradish and garlic, and after all the multiple tastings and tweakings, I couldn't tell you the recipe if I tried. A task for another day.

But the recipe for Italian Onion Herb Bread has been duly posted on my recipes page; for a shortcut, click HERE. If you make a dozen of these beauties for a bake sale, I guarantee you'll sell every loaf. I like to make them in "W" pans (usually called "French bread pans") but you can roll out long skinny loaves and bake them on a standard sheet tray as well. Mine look like this and are made by Fox Run, but there are lots of other shapes and sizes out there: HERE's a sampling. The ones pierced with holes are more expensive but create a more crisp crust.

God bless and happy baking!

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Tsourecki: Greek Easter Bread

4/4/2015

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http://www.marthastewart.com/968095/tsoureki-greek-easter-bread

Full disclosure here: the photo to the left is NOT mine, nor did I make the bread. This is Martha Stewart's version of Greek tsourecki, a rich braided loaf traditionally made for Easter. The deep red eggs are meant to represent the blood of Christ, and many Greeks consider them an essential part of the bread. But my enthusiasm for this tradition has been dampened ever since I watched a fellow monk cut a slice THROUGH one of the eggs because he wanted a smaller portion, leaving bits of shell all over the table and in the remainder of the loaf. Besides, we get more than enough hard-boiled eggs during Easter week (more on that in my next post).

You might find it unusual that as a monk I'm not a staunch defender of culinary tradition, and in the case of tsourecki I take any number of liberties. The traditional flavorings for this Greek treat are mastic (a spice made from resin which is dried and then ground) and aromatic mahlab (made from ground seeds of a cherry native to Greece). If you want a really traditional version of this recipe, you can find it HERE.

My version of this sweet, rich bread uses orange and anise as flavorings. I omit the red eggs, but there are plenty in dough---five, to be exact, and one more used as a glaze. It also has a whole stick of butter and 3/4 cup of sugar, so it's a very rich dough. The dough is a bit sticky even after kneading, but resist the temptation to add more flour; things will get better after the first rise.

Large braided loaves are the traditional form for tsourecki, although I've seen some lovely versions in the form of a braided ring or crown (click HERE to see one). My recipe makes two large braided loaves, which may seem like a lot, but you probably have plenty of family coming over for Easter, and this bread makes outstanding French toast. You can always double wrap one for the freezer to serve on Pentecost.

The instructions will tell you to roll ropes of dough for braiding, but a slab braid like these beauties here will work just as well and be a lot easier. Not sure what a slab braid is? Click HERE for a tutorial video from my "Breadhead Minute" series sponsored by the Home Baking Association.

And here is the glorious result of all that effort. I'll be serving this lovely loaf at our reception after the Easter vigil, probably with whipped honey butter. The second loaf will be on the monastery table Easter Sunday morning.

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Hoska/Vanocka/Stricka

12/14/2014

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Several times recently I've been asked about hoska, a rich braided bread from the region now known as the Czech Republic. I must confess that I haven't made it since we taped season three in the summer of 2001! So I figured I'd better get out book three of the Breaking Bread series and try it again.

In that cookbook, I referred to the bread as vanocka, and it's also called stricka, depending on the region of eastern Europe where it's made. Like most festive winter breads, it uses dried fruit and nuts (almonds) for flavor, and every grandmother has her favorite combination, whether it's raisins and slivered almonds or candied orange peel with whole blanched almonds or any number of variations. I used candied pineapple and sliced almonds for no other reason than that's what was in the pantry!

You'd best have a big portion of your day set aside for this recipe, because the dough rises much more slowly than the usual white bread recipe. The reason for this sluggish rise is the richness of the dough. Extra eggs, a relatively large amount of sugar and a whole stick of butter make for some heavy lifting for the yeast---but resist the temptation to add more. That long slow rise also contributes to more complex flavors and better texture.

My version turned out a little too dark IMHO, because we have a commercial convection oven and you can't turn the blower off completely, which makes any bread brown faster, but especially with an egg wash. I reduced the temperature 25 degrees and loosely covered the loaf in foil, but still got a rather darker crust than I wanted. Next time I may add more water to the egg wash, put it on later or perhaps omit the glaze all together.

My recipe for a fairly standard version of hoska is HERE. Sometimes this bread is made as a single braid, a two layer braid as shown above, or even a three-layer braid as in the photo below. If you have trouble rolling out the ropes of dough the same size, try using the slab braid method described HERE.

Here's what it looks like as a triple layer braid. Click on the image to go to the original website (in Czech, I think!).

I like to serve hoska warm with a lightly sweetened honey butter, but try it plain at first so you can appreciate the blend of lemony/citrusy/spicy flavors. I might add that if you don't finish off such a large loaf right away, it makes outstanding French toast and an utterly unique bread pudding as well. You may find you like it enough to make it all year long!

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<<Previous

St. Nicholas Cookies

A grandmother's recipe, a mother's lessons, a son's love

Challah Babka

Craftsy Shoot, Day 4

Sour Cream Fastnachts for Mardi Gras

Meet Me in St. Louis II: Resale Shop Finds and Breadhead Bookshelf

Breadhead Breakfast Testing Countdown: Day 2/120

Italian Onion Herb Bread

Tsourecki: Greek Easter Bread

Hoska/Vanocka/Stricka

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