Kletzenbrot

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl
• •Baking tray lined with parchment paper
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Probe thermometer (optional but helpful)

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the dried fruits

   Place the chopped dried pears, figs, raisins, dates, and candied orange peel into a large bowl. Pour over the rum or Obstler and the pear poaching liquid. Stir everything together, cover tightly with cling film, and leave at room temperature overnight, or at least eight hours. The fruit needs to drink up that liquid so it turns soft and swollen and releases its own sticky sweetness into the bowl. Don't skip this step and don't shorten it. Dry fruit in a Kletzenbrot tastes like pebbles in bread.

   If you can find whole dried pears at an Austrian or German deli, buy those and chop them yourself. They have more flavor than the pre-chopped kind. If you can't find dried pears at all, dried Bosc pear halves from health food shops work. As a last resort, use a mix of dried apricots and prunes, but know that you're making a different bread.
2. 2

   Toast the nuts

   Spread the walnuts, almonds, and pine nuts on a baking tray in a single layer. Toast them in a 160°C oven for eight to ten minutes, shaking the tray once halfway through. You want them golden and fragrant, not dark. Pine nuts go from perfect to burnt in about thirty seconds, so stay close. Let them cool, then add them to the soaked fruit along with the lemon zest. Toss everything together.

3. 3

   Make the spiced dough

   Warm the milk to about 37°C, just body temperature. Stir in the yeast and a teaspoon of the honey. Let it sit for ten minutes until it starts to foam. If it doesn't foam, your yeast is dead and you need fresh. In a large bowl, combine the rye flour, the remaining honey, all the spices, and the salt. Pour in the yeast mixture and work it into a dough. Rye dough is stickier and denser than wheat dough. It won't feel elastic the way a bread roll does. That's normal. Knead it for five minutes until it comes together into a rough, cohesive mass.

   Rye flour has less gluten than wheat, so the dough will never become smooth and stretchy. Don't keep kneading and adding flour trying to make it behave like a wheat dough. You'll end up with something far too dry. It should be sticky and a bit shaggy. Trust the rye.
4. 4

   Combine fruit and dough

   Tip the soaked fruit and nut mixture into the dough, including every drop of liquid left in the bowl. Work it all together with your hands. This takes muscle. The ratio of fruit to dough is enormous, far more filling than bread, and at first it looks like it will never hold together. Keep folding and pressing. The dough is the glue, not the star. After three or four minutes of working, you'll have a dense, heavy, fruit-studded mass that barely resembles bread dough. That's exactly right.

5. 5

   Shape the loaves

   Divide the mixture in half. With wet hands (the dough is very sticky), shape each half into a tight oval loaf about 25 centimeters long and 10 centimeters wide. Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, leaving space between them. Cover loosely with a clean tea towel and let them rest in a warm spot for one hour. They won't rise much. Kletzenbrot is a dense bread and the rye and weight of the fruit keep it from puffing up like a Semmel. A slight swell is all you're looking for.

6. 6

   Bake low and slow

   Preheat your oven to 160°C. Brush the tops of the loaves lightly with warm water. Bake for one hour and fifteen minutes. The surface should be dark brown and firm. If you tap the bottom of a loaf, it should sound hollow, though not as resonantly as a plain bread loaf would, because the inside is packed solid with fruit. The kitchen will smell like Christmas in the Alps. Remove from the oven and let the loaves cool completely on a wire rack. This takes at least two hours. Do not slice while warm or the dense interior will crumble insteadof cutting cleanly.

   Low temperature is critical. The sugar in all that dried fruit will burn at high heat, giving you a bitter crust and a raw center. 160°C gives the heat time to penetrate through to the middle of these heavy, dense loaves.
7. 7

   Wrap and mature

   Once completely cool, wrap each loaf tightly in parchment paper, then in foil. Store in a cool, dark place. Now comes the hard part: wait. Kletzenbrot needs at least three days to mature, and it's better after a week. The flavors deepen, the spices mellow, and the rum works its way through every piece of fruit and every crumb of rye. By Christmas, it will taste like it has been holding this secret for you all Advent long. Slice it thin, about half a centimeter, and serve at room temperature with butter and strong coffee.

Chef Tips

• •The dried pears are everything. If yours are rock-hard and tasteless, the bread will be too. Look for Kletzen at Austrian or German specialty shops, or order them online. Good dried pears should still be slightly pliable and smell sweet. If you can't find them, dry your own Bosc pears in a low oven (80°C for eight to ten hours). It's worth the effort.
• •Use real Obstler (Austrian fruit brandy) if you can find it. It's distilled from apples and pears and it belongs in this bread the way rum belongs in a Gugelhupf. Dark rum is a fine substitute, but the Obstler gives a cleaner, more Alpine flavor.
• •Don't overbake. The dark rye and all that fruit sugar make the crust look done before the center is set. Use a probe thermometer if you have one. The internal temperature should reach 88°C to 90°C.
• •Kletzenbrot sliced thin on a board with butter is how Austrians eat it, but I've also seen it served with a wedge of sharp Bergkäse at Advent markets. The salt and nuttiness of the cheese against the sweet, spiced bread is one of those combinations that makes you wonder why you haven't been doing it your whole life.

Advance Preparation

• •The fruit must soak overnight (at least 8 hours, up to 24 hours). Plan for this the day before you bake.
• •Kletzenbrot needs a minimum of 3 days to mature after baking. A full week is better. Baking on December 17th or 18th gives it the right window for Christmas Day.
• •Wrapped tightly in parchment and foil, Kletzenbrot keeps for 4 to 6 weeks in a cool pantry. It will still be good in late January if it lasts that long.
• •Kletzenbrot makes an excellent gift. Wrap in parchment, tie with kitchen string, and include a note telling the recipient to wait three days before slicing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 90g)