German Osterbrot - Osterfladen
from https://alltastesgerman.com/

Osterbrot, also known as Osterfladen in the South of Germany is a traditional German Easter bread made of yeast dough. The delicious bread is eaten during the Easter holidays for breakfast or as a dessert. It is a soft, fluffy and very tasty and has a filling of raisins and other dried fruit.

Easter bread belongs to every breakfast and coffee hour in Germany during the Easter season. Records show that Osterfladen, sometimes also called Osterfleck, is the oldest known Easter pastry. Baked with dried fruit and nuts, the loaves were baked as early as the Middle Ages. In many Catholic parishes, Easter bread is one of the gifts blessed in front of the altar during Easter services.

Traditionally the recipe calls for raisins, candied lemon and candied orange peel. Try your favorite dried fruit combinations or simply stick to raisins. Chocolate chips and nuts are other options.

FMM: I made this for Easter one year using currants and dried apricots. It was taking forever to rise, so I added a tablespoon of yeast that I bloomed in slightly less than 1/4 cup water, and added it in along with 1/4 cup more flour. The dough rose better then. There is a lot of sugar in this recipe, plus the fruits, and the alcohol from the fruits and the vanilla, and maybe this was slowing it down. Maybe this is why they add the fruit after the first rise. I added it before proofing; it's just easier to mix in. Plus, sweet breads do need more yeast to get a good rise. I was surprised by both the large amount of sugar and the small amount of yeast in the recipe.

I got 4 smaller breads from 1/2 recipe, about the size for 2 people. In the picture, hers look flatter. Mine puffed right up, and the outside of the bread is very soft, as is the inside. The almonds do not stay very well and I was not very fond of of the lemon frosting - it had mellowed the day after making them (I flavored the icing for two breads with almond flavoring and liked it better). I would like more accent on the almond flavor of the bread given that almonds are sprinkled on top. I read, in a couple of places, that the dome-shaped loaf is glazed with apricot jam and sprinkled with slivered almonds. I'm sure there are many variations of the bread. The crumb of the bread is quite nice, though. After the first day of eating it, I toasted it.

Dough
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar [most recipes use less sugar]
1 tbsp. yeast [use a full packet of yeast, 2 1/4 T.]
1 1/2 cups milk lukewarm
1 tbsp. vanilla sugar or 1 tsp. vanilla extract
7 tbsp. butter soft
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs

Filling
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup candied citrus peel or chopped dried apricots [some recipes add lemon or orange zest instead, or almonds, or both]
4 tbsp. brown rum or hot water

Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
4-5 tsp. lemon or orange juice
4 tbsp. almond slices

Add flour to a large bowl and form a well in the middle of the flour. Add yeast, a couple of tablespoons of sugar and 1/4 cup lukewarm milk to the well. Stir mixture while incorporating a little bit of flour from the rim of the well.

[I assume this is to allow the yeast to bloom. Make a little hole or well in the flour and let the yeast bloom there. I like to get my yeast going in a separate glass measuring cup to make sure it is good. I did not have good luck blooming the yeast in a little of the milk. Use warm water, which has been heated to no more than 110F, and add a sprinkling of sugar to give it some food to feed on. Subtract the amount of water used frrom the amount of milk in the recipe.]

Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel or lid and allow to sit for about 20 minutes. Cover the well with some flour before you add the remaining ingredients.

[Add the rest of the ingredients. I made 1/2 recipe and had to add 1/2 cup flour more to get a dough that could be kneaded, and I let the dough sit for a few minutes so the flour could absorb some of the liquid. It is a very soft dough.]

Knead on low for about 3-5 minutes and on medium-high for another 5-8 minutes until a smooth dough forms.

Cover the bowl and allow the dough to raise for about 60-90 minutes.

In the meantime, place raisins into a small bowl and cover with rum or hot water and allow to sit for at least 30 minutes, then drain them well [I add the rum with the fruit. There is not that much left, and I chop them before soaking in rum]. Finely chop candied citrus peel or apricots.

Place the dough on a slightly floured working space and knead while incorporating the raisins and the candied citrus peel or dried apricots evenly into the dough.

Divide the dough into 8 equal sized pieces. Shape each piece to a ball and place onto a slightly floured area. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for about 30 minutes.

Slash the bread four times in a cross pattern. Place on with parchment paper lined baking sheets. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to raise for about 15-30 minutes.

Bake in a to 350 °F preheated oven for about 20 - 25 minutes.

In the meantime, add lemon or orange juice to the powdered sugar to a thick glaze.

Remove the bread from the oven, spread generously with the glaze and sprinkle with some sliced almonds.

Servings 8