Birthday Pretzel

About the dish

Festlig fødselsdagskringle fra kapitlet «Om brødbagning» (1900) – i praksis en julekakedeig formet som en stor kringle og pyntet med mandler og sukker. Erken viser til julekakemetoden, med den ene forskjellen at eggene tilsettes sammen med melken.

How to make it

1. 1

   Make the dough as Christmas cake

   Treat the dough as for Christmas cake: stir out the yeast, mix flour, half the butter and sugar and the cardamom, and work in the milk. Here the 2 eggs are added together with the milk. Knead in the rest of the butter and sugar, and finally the raisins and candied peel.

2. 2

   Rise

   Let the dough finish rising (to double its size).

3. 3

   Shape the pretzel

   Knead the dough on the table, roll it out into a long rope and lay it as a large pretzel on a greased sheet.

4. 4

   Proof and decorate

   Let the pretzel rise 15 minutes. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle over coarsely chopped, unblanched almonds and sugar.

5. 5

   Bake

   Bake in a moderately hot oven (approx. 190 °C (375 °F)) for ½–¾ hour (30–45 min).