Tannenzopfen
Tannenzapfen, the German word for pine cone, makes the perfect design (and pun) for my festive Zopf.
I’ve used my regular Zopf recipe, made it a bit bigger, stuffed it with raisins and candied peel, and decorated it to look as though it’s fallen from a huge bready tree.
100 g raisins
1 tea bag (black, vanilla, chai, earl grey etc.)
hot water
750 g flour
18 g salt
375 ml tea and milk mixture (see below)
30 g fresh yeast, or 3 tsp dry yeast
1 egg yolk
1 tsp sugar
zest of an orange
100 g butter, soft
75 g candied peel
Glaze
1 egg, separated
pinch of sugar
First, plump your raisins. Put them in a small bowl with the tea bag and pour boiling water just to cover. Let sit for about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.
Strain the warm tea from the raisins into a liquid measuring cup and reserve the raisins. Top the tea up with milk until it equals 375 ml. Whisk in the yeast, yolk, sugar and orange zest.
Make a well in the flour and add the liquid ingredients. Stir this together until a dough starts to form, then add the butter and begin to knead it on the table. Knead for about 15-20 minutes, or until it is smooth and elastic. Alternatively, mix for about 10-15 minutes in a stand mixer with a dough hook.
Remove about 350 g of dough and set aside for the leaf decorations.
Add the raisins and candied peel to the remaining dough and knead until it is mixed in.
Place both pieces in bowls and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
Preheat your oven to 230° C / 450° F / gas mark 8.
Split the larger piece of dough into two and roll each out into a long strand. Braid. (For how to braid Zopf, see here).
Roll out the smaller piece of dough and cut out many small drops. Using a pastry brush, brush on the egg white as glue and stick the drops to the braid, starting at the bottom.
Whisk together the egg yolk and salt, then carefully brush the whole loaf.
As soon as you put the bread in the oven, turn the heat down to 200° C / 400° F / gas mark 6.
Bake for about 35-40 minutes.
The Zopf is fully baked when you tap the bottom of the bread and it sounds hollow.
In Switzerland you can buy special flour for making your Zopf called Zopfmehl / Farine pour Tresse / Farina per Treccia. This flour has spelt added to give it more protein and create its fibrous texture.
If you can’t get Zopf flour, you could try making your own, the ratio is usually 10% spelt flour and 90% wheat flour.
If you don’t have candied peel, just replace with more raisins. Or make your own, recipe here.
More seasonal baking?
Dreikönigskuchen
