4 women, 1 mission

bread

Rosi and Heidi in the kitchen at the Printschler farm in Einöde, "Zsommlatzln" fruit mixture and rye bread dough.

(Bild: Evelyn Hronek)

Raisins, rum and cane: baking day for the Gegendtal Kletzenbrot quartet Elfriede Wind, Elfriede Berger, Heidi Gailer and Rosi Walch from the Goldhauben traditional costume group Treffen!

The quartet baked 50 Striezel Kletzenbrot for the Advent bazaar at the end of the Treffen Culture Weeks. Elfriede Wind, Elfriede Berger, Heidi Gailer and Rosi Walch from the Treffen Goldhauben traditional costume group have been a well-coordinated team for more than 40 years.

"Most of the work is picking the nuts and shredding and chopping them for the fruit mixture," says Elfriede Wind, chairwoman of the association. 

What is Kletzen?

Kletzenbrot is one of the oldest Christmas cakes. The word Kletzen for dried pears comes from the Bavarian-Austrian Kleuzen for splitting, as larger pears are split for drying.

While the quartet sits and works together in the kitchen at Elfriede Berger's Printschler farm, Heidi tells a joke or two. "In between there's the quality test: We taste. I always gain weight during the preparation time," reveals Elfriede Wind.

"I have to eat the Stingl von de Feig'n, they're very hard", Heidi knows. "Don't cut it too small, you should still be able to recognize the fruit when you cut it," warns Elfriede Wind.

Once the fruit mixture is ready and has had a night to soak, the ladies fortify themselves with sausages.

The next day, Heidi spreads the bread dough on the pasta board and Rosi spreads the juicy fruit mixture on top. "So, now tuama zsommlatzln", Heidi explains the kneading of the bread dough and fruit mixture. Then the women turn it into Striezeln, which are baked in the oven at around 170 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes.

"That's a lot of work! You almost break out in a sweat! But it's a treat," emphasizes Heidi.

Kletzenbrot

Ingredients:

500 g Kletzen

170 g figs

80 g apricots

80 g dried plums

130 g raisins

200 g walnuts

50 g peeled almonds

80 g hazelnuts

1 teaspoon gingerbread spice

grated zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon, alternatively 1 level teaspoon each of orange and lemon concentrate

100 g sugar

80 ml rum

1 tsp cinnamon

Bread dough

Preparation:

Soak the pears and steam until not too soft. Roughly chop the figs, apricots and dried plums. Add the raisins, walnuts, peeled almonds, hazelnuts (roast in the oven at 150° and peel), cinnamon, gingerbread spice, grated zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon, sugar, rum, approx. 80 ml of the pear cooking water. Mix everything well and leave to infuse overnight.

Prepare the bread dough from rye flour, sourdough (e.g. from a health food store), yeast, water and a little salt - leave to rise well. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Roll out 1.10 kg of bread dough, fold in 70 dag of bread dough and knead well. Shape 3 parts into Striezeln and leave to rise. Brush with water before baking, reduce the baking temperature to 170° after 10 minutes (45-60 minutes).

Recipe from the cheerful quartet from the Goldhauben traditional costume group Treffen

"Cutting the cake is a surprise every year," says Elfriede Wind. And this year too, nuts and fruit appear in the slices and the Kletzenbrot made by the cheerful quartet is a treat for the taste buds!