Hutzel Wecken

"A fruit-laden bread, traditional for Chanukah, from the Alsace-Lorraine region on the French/German border. Slice it thin and serve with excellent butter or a creamy cheese. Adapted from a recipe in _Quiches, Kugels and Couscous_ by Joan Nathan, as published by Caroline Russock at Serious Eats. http://bit.ly/h76Ysw"
 
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Ready In:
1hr 15mins
Ingredients:
18
Yields:
2 loaves

ingredients

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directions

  • Put pears and prunes in a small saucepan; cover by 1" with water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook 3 minutes, until soft. Drain, but reserve liquid. Combine pears and prunes with raisins, currants, figs, dates, walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds, orange zest and lemon zest. Add kirsch and toss well to combine.
  • In a small bowl, make a poolish by combining 1/2 cup of the (now cooled) fruit cooking water with the yeast, 1/2 cup flour and 2 tbsp granulated sugar. Cover and let rise 1 hour.
  • Scrape poolish into work bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook. Add the remaining flour, the remaining granulated sugar and the salt. Knead on low until combined, then add the fruit and nuts, continuing to knead on low until well-mixed. Turn out onto a heavily floured work surface and knead by hand, adding more flour as needed, until smooth and elastic; it should still be a wet, sticky dough. Place into a greased bowl, cover with plastic, and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in volume.
  • Preheat oven to 400°F Line a baking sheet with parchment or Silpat. Divide dough in half and form two balls; place on baking sheet. Let rest, uncovered, 20 minutes, or until nearly doubled in volume. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes, then lower temperature to 375F and bake another 20-25 minutes until golden brown and hollow-sounding when thumped.
  • Optional: whisk 6 tbsp confectioner's sugar with 1/2 c fruit cooking water to make a glaze. Spoon glaze over breads as soon as they come out of the oven. Cool nearly to room temperature before slicing.

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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I'm a 48 y/o gay Jewish man in the suburbs immediately north of New York City. I'm a general internist, practicing and teaching at a medical college north of NYC. I also earned a Masters in Public Health degree in 2013. After a Walt Disney World trip in Dec 2006 where I had to rent an electric scooter because I couldn't manage the walking, I decided to have gastric bypass surgery, which was done Feb 28, 2007. I lost 160 lbs (though I've gained back about 60 of that since). I can't eat as much as I used to, so I want every bite to be extra good!
 
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