Austrian 'Striezel' or Hefezopf¹ as it is called in Germany, is a sweet bread that is usually made on certain holidays. Its origins are probably in pagan times and the custom of making offerings to the gods on special days.

In Austria Striezel is available in supermarkets throughout the year but people make it themselves and eat it especially at Easter, All Hallows and Christmas. Usually Striezel is eaten with butter and/or jam, but at Easter the sweet bread is enjoyed also with various cold roast pork, ham, cheese, pickles, eggs and grated horseradish.

Ingredients

• 500g (17oz) flour
• 50g (2oz) warm, melted butter
• 50g (2oz) sugar
• 25g (1oz) dried yeast
• 250ml (9oz) warm milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 pinch of salt
• grated lemon peel
• some vanilla sugar or vanilla essence
• rum

optional:

raisins

coarse sugar

Method

Mix flour, lemon, yeast, sugar, salt and vanilla sugar. Put it on a table like a ring with a hole in the middle and put eggs, rum, butter and some milk into the hole, then mix it from inside to outside. Add as much milk as needed to knead a soft but not sticky dough. You can add raisins if you like. Let it rest for 15-20 minutes at a warm place and cover the dough with a dishcloth for that duration.

Knead the dough again and then devide it into 3-6 parts of the same size. Each part should be formed to a longish shape with the ends being thinner than the middle part. The parts are braided to a plait, how many strands are used depends on the skill of the cook. The ends of the strands should be well attached to each other. The easiest way to make a Striezel is to make two plaits with 3 strands each and then put one on top of the other to get one big bread, but you can also make smaller ones with only 3 strands without putting them together. Put the plaits on a baking tray with paper and let it rest for another hour at a warm place.

Let it bake in a pre-heated oven at about 170°-180°C for about half an hour or until the Striezel is light brown. Let some sugar dissolve in a bit of milk and spread it over the warm Striezel, if you put coarse sugar on it in the process he sugar will stick on top of the bread.