In German, pigs are lucky.

To express being lucky you can say, Glück haben, to have luck, but also Schwein haben, to have pig.

Pigs have been a symbol of wealth, as well as fertility, in the German-speaking realm for centuries. Known as Säuli in Swiss German, pig-related sweets like marzipan show up to help ring in a lucky New Year.

To make 2021 extra lucky, I filled my piggy buns with lots of bacon (and a hint of caraway).

Inspiration for these lucky piggies came from one of my daughter’s Christmas present’s—the Betty Bossi children’s cookbook (my husband had the exact same version when he was a boy), though theirs sadly lacks bacon.

Needless to say, it’s a great recipe to make with kids.

My version is a less buttery (and more bacony) Zopf dough.

150 g bacon

500 g flour

12 g salt

300 ml milk, room temperature

20 g fresh yeast, or 2 tsp dry yeast

1 tbsp caraway seeds

raisins for the eyes

Glaze

1 egg yolk

pinch of salt

Cut the bacon into small pieces, then fry over medium heat until they are crispy. Set aside in the pan, retaining the fat.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the milk and yeast.

Make a well in the flour and add the liquid ingredients. Stir this together until a dough starts to form, then add the bacon (with all the rendered fat in the pan) and caraway seeds and begin to knead it on the table. Knead for about 15 minutes, or until it is smooth and elastic. Alternatively, mix for about 10 minutes in a stand mixer with a dough hook. Cover and let rise for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat your oven to 200° C / 400° F / gas mark 6.

Roll out your dough to about 1½ cm (about half an inch) and cut out 8 big circles (around 8 cm/3 inch in diameter) for the heads, and 8 small circles (around 4 cm/1 ½ inch in diameter) for the snouts. There should still be some dough left over to make the ears.

Place the big circles on a parchment-lined baking sheet, then use your fingers to press two holes in each of the small holes and place them on top of the heads to form the snouts.

Using the remaining dough, make small balls, pinching to form ears, and place on the pigs. Use the raisins to make the eyes.

Whisk together the egg and salt, then brush the dough.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until the piggies are golden.

• In Switzerland it’s easy to buy Speckwürfeli/lardons, little cubes of bacon ready for frying. You can also cut up a hunk of bacon (Speck/lard), or bacon slices (Bratspeck/lard à griller ).

• I think the caraway seeds (Kümmel in German) really make this bread, but feel free to leave them out if you’re not a fan.

• Makes 8 piggies.