Swabian Wreath

500g flour

20g yeast

80g sugar

250ml milk (lukewarm)

100g Butter

pinch of salt

1 – 2 eggs

lemon zest or aniseed

Filling: 3 Tbs. melted butter to spread, 80g sugar blended with cinnamon, 50 – 100g raisins, 50 – 100g minced hazelnuts

Put the flour in a bowl, leaving a small hole in the middle. Add crumbled yeast together with 1 teaspoon of sugar and some warm milk into the hole and blend to make a pre-ferment. Cover the bowl and put it to a warm place. Allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes. Little by little, add the rest of the milk with the warm butter, sugar, salt, eggs and lemon zest. Knead the dough until it doesn’t stick to the side of the bowl anymore. Allow to rise for 30 more minutes. Roll out the dough to finger thickness in the shape of a rectangle. Spread the melted butter, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and spread the raisins and minced hazelnuts. Roll up from the broadside and cut open lengthwise using a knife. Twist both halves together leaving the cutting surface upward. Bake in a round cake pan or simply twist and bake a normal wreath. Baking time: 40 minutes at 175 – 200 degrees Celsius. Spread sugar icing on the hot wreath.