On the Czech Christmas table, the Czech Christmas Bread is a must. Recently, many people have given up the traditional carp main Christmas dish served by generations. Some people even stoped making Christmas cookies because they are full of white sugar and therefore unhealthy. But I haven’t heard of a Czech who would not have the Czech Christmas Bread at Christmas. My guess is that it is simply too good to ever stop longing for it once you taste it. And if you exchange the white flour for the spelt four, white powder sugar for the brown one and you make it from the natural yeast instead of the dried one, you can have not only yummier but also healthy version of the bread.

Making of the Czech Christmas bread dates back to the 13th century. It is full of almonds and raisins soaked in rum that bring the taste to a higher level. To master it you need to know a couple of things, secrets, that are not written on internet pages. As every Czech Grandma would tell you, the key to the baking success of this particular bread is to leave all necessary ingredients out in one spot in the room temperature the night before baking. Nobody knows the reason behind it but everybody accepts that as a fact; there is no need to doubt our Grandmas’ old wisdom and art. Another tricky part is to make the braided shape of it. It is a puzzle at first and it is easy to forget the method till next baking but it can be fun unwrapping the puzzle, especially with children. The shape is not some spiteful baker’s invention, it has a purpose and meaning. It should remind us of the baby Jesus in a duvet.

Ingredients

For the starter:

Take your stater out from the fridge and mix it with 200 g spelt flour and 200 g water. (You can use a starter from rye flour as well and add spelt flour to revive it.)

Leave it over night at the room temperature.

For the dough:

400 g stater (put on spoon back to the fridge for next baking)
125 g milk (room temperature)
700 g spelt flour
200 g brown sugar
3 eggs
180 g butter (room temperature)
peel of 1 lemon
7 g salt
150 g raisins soaked in rum over night
250 g almonds, peeled

Mix all ingredients except the almonds and raisins thoroughly in a compact dough. Add some more flour if the dough is too sticky. If you don’t use the stand mixer, keep folding the dough manually until it becomes smooth and shiny. Then work in it the raisins and half of the almonds.

Place in a bowl and leave for 4 or more hours until it rises. (This dough is heavy compared to bread dough so the starter has to work harder.) When risen, you can put the dough in the fridge for a couple of hours so it will be easier to work with it.

When ready, take the dough out of the bowl, weigh it and divide in 9 equal pieces.

Preheat the oven for 250 C. Place a container filled with water on the bottom of the oven.

Roll each of the 9 parts into a strand.

You have to do 3 floors of braids, the bottom part is a braid made out of 4 strands, middle part of 3 strands and the top part of 2 strands. If you dare, you can make more complicated combinations. Please watch this video to see how to make the brands from various numbers of strands:

After you build up the bread, place it on a baking sheet with baking paper.

Whisk one egg and smear the bread with it. Then cover the surface with the rest of the almonds. Let it rest for 45 more minutes. Then put it in the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 210°C. After 10 minutes lower the temperature to 190°C and after another 10 minutes lower it to 170°C and bake it for another 40-50 minutes until golden. Use a toothpick to find out whether it is done. Stick the toothpick in the dough and if it comes out clean, the bread is done.