This is a very popular spring dish in the state of Hesse.
It is a very light and satisfying dish. I had it this week and couldn't wait
to have it again the next day. Very simple, and the flavors marry perfect.
If you can't find all the 7 herbs for this feel free to just
use a few if that is all you can find.
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The One Time a Year
Saffron Easter Bread Story
From Karen Kinnane
Every year my German American Grandmother Emily and Grandfather Pete (Dutch ancestry) used to make the most wonderful Easter bread. It was a ritual which we all loved! First they went in Grandpa's old silver blue 1954 ford to Pompton Lakes to the drug store at the corner of Colfax Avenue and Wanaque Ave.
Once inside the drug store they consulted with the pharmacist in order to buy some safron which was even so long ago extremely expensive. The druggist packed up the tiny dark red shreds in a pill bottle with on old paper label on which he typed "saffron".
Home they went to the cottage in Oakland , ready to make the Easter bread. Times were hard then and could not afford much so the bread was not fancy. Since they didn't have all the other goodies that are sometimes found in Easter breads they wanted to keep it simple so the flavor of the Saffron would stand out.
Safron crocus is a tiny flower and you can raise your own saffron if you have a sunny patch in the garden, buy some of the bulbs and plant them in the fall. To harvest you get down on your hands and knees and with a tweezers you remove the tiny shreds of saffron from the flower. It takes a lot to make a couple of loaves of bread because the stamens / anthers are miniscule.
Saffron has been used since ancient times as a food, dye and medicine. The beautiful gold color has always been a symbol of wealth. It took a while to get up to Europe. Legend has it that a few crocus bulbs were carried in a fellows plants In the 15th century when sailing to England. The city of Walden in Essex became the perfect place to grow this spice so it developed quite an industry and changed their name to Saffron Walden.
It made it's way to America when some of the Anabaptists and Dunkards came to Lancaster county in Pennsylvania to escape religious persecution. That is why you see Saffron in Pennsylvania Dutch recipes.
Saffron Easter Bread
Saffron Easter bread is served in some areas of Germany. Saffron has been a symbol of gold and wealth for centuries and gives a wonderful intense flavor as well as color. Easter is a time of celebration and historically also a time of hope for a good bountiful year on the farm. Karen Kinnane's family would save and shell out money for the expensive saffron once a year, so this bread became very special. I think you will love the flavor and aroma as well as the bright color of this simple bread, that is not overly sweet or filled with goodies but wonderful with good quality butter and coffee or tea.
Joe Franklin posted this recipe on our Facebook community page, that you are all welcome to join.
About this special Easter treat Joe commented, German Easter raisin bread is not your ordinary raisin bread. It is flavored with orange and lemon zest. This is a fantastic bread to serve for Easter dinner and makes an incredible breakfast bread that can be toasted and served with butter.
My good friend Carl Crombach made this a week ago and said it was fantastic!
You can also make this like a hot cross bun for Easter
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Hefekranz, Hefezopf
(Easter Bread)
Hefekranz
Hefezopf
Hefe =yeast Kranz= wreath Zopf = braided
The Hefekranz traditon of braiding goes back many years. The braiding of bread was
perhaps started as a symbolic tradition. Though it can not be fully coroborated, Max Höfer a bread researcher says that many years ago when a husband died the wife would sacrifice her life in his honor and follow him to in the grave. Later just a women's braid went into the grave and as time passed a braided loaf of bread went into the grave.
There were many ways to make a "Hair Sacrifice" be it the shaved monks head or giving a braid as the hair was
by some cultures considered the best part of you. It was also a way of honoring someone or giving a gift to
give a braided loaf to honor the deceased. It some areas it was given as a proposal of marriage.
Since then it also has been baked for many festivals, Christtmas, New Years and of course Easter.
Easter the shape is often in a circular wreath and called Hefekranz.
Some other historians claim that it was developed by the first bakers union in Switzerland started in 1256
in the middle ages. The first recorded braided loaf was in 1430.
Regardless it is nice to carry on centuries old traditions and make a braided loaf for Easter.
It is really fairly easy.
There are many ways to decorate your loaf and you can also add different fruits or nuts.
When Grandma took a notion to bake a ham, she used generous amounts of Grandpa’s homemade wine to baste it with while it was cooking. The spicy aroma of the ham, wine, cloves, and brown sugar baking in the oven left no doubt about what was for dinner! In the old days, she’d buy a real smoked ham, with the bone in and skin on. After having the skin taken off, it was boiled to get some of the salt out of the meat, then covered with brown sugar and cloves, and baked in wine. Those hams were truly memorable!
I like to add a bit of smoke to it, not too much but a more distinct smoke that I remember
as a child.
Fran Augenstein requested this dish that she had in Germany,
and said oohhh the bread around the ham is so delicious.
It picks up the flavors and spices of a traditional roasted ham,
the cloves and the mustard as well as some of the juices.
I give a traditional German rye dough recipe, but if time is short,
you can use any dough or a store bought bread dough, and it will
still be "schmecht gut!"
A recipe book and short biography of my Grandmother Emma Block. Her recipes, culture and cooking styles that were brought over from Germany. How they evolved when she came to America in the early 1900s and settled in Portland, Oregon on the west coast of the United States. Over 100 recipes
Biography of my grandma
Emma Block From Germany with Love tells the story of my grandma, Emma Block, growing up in a little town in Baden/ Würtemberg, Germany near Heidelberg named Steinsfurt. Then at the age of 15 immigrating to the United States, taking a train with one of her sisters and brothers to Hamburg and sailing the Atlantic with other hope filled Germans wanting to make a life in the "New World". It was not easy but with good values learned in her German upbringing made a full life, had a wonderful family with lots of fun and celebration including the great German meals.
Karin Elliot born and raised in Germany
is a chef and wonderful friend giving me encouragement through the years here and donated her recipes for our newsletter. She also does wonderful volunteer work like providing meals for school children in need in Tuscon, Arizona.
Many German-Americans and German immigrants are interested in Native American items from books and movies to jewelry and arts and craft supplies. Karin will take care of you personally with her online store Native Rainbows
German Music
Through modern technology we can enjoy music from Germany at the touch of your computer, there are many venues now, Pandora, Amazon music, and Youtube is free.
I love my noise canceling headphones that are completely wireless and give incredible sound!
over 2500 perfect reviews, it is a bit of an investment but worth every penny.
Kindergarten Easter Mix
1. Ich lieb den Frühling 2. Vogelhochzeit 3. Kleine Meise 4. Häschen in der Grube 5. Alle Vögel sind schon da 6. Klein Häschen wollt spazieren gehn 7. Der Kuckuck und der Esel 8. Auf der grünen Wiese 9. Summ, summ, summ 10. Auf unsrer Wiese gehet was 11. Das Vogelhäuschen 12. Machet auf das Tor 13. Die Knospe 14. Erst kommt der Sonnenkäferpapa 15. Das Taubenhaus
Bach's Easter Oratorio, '' Kommt , Eilet und Laufet ''
This is the newsletter you are reading now, called the German Goodies Recipe Newsletter. I have been publishing this for 20 years now and we have had a lot of fun doing it.
If you enjoy the history I talk about in this newsletter you will also love the history of other dishes and foods I like to do in my
Food History Newsletter
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