Striezel is an Austrian braided yeast bread that is traditionally eaten on holidays and special occasions, like Easter and All Saints’ Day (November 1st). Baking a homemade Striezel is a bit labor-intensive but it is such a treat for you and the whole family.
I have no self-control whatsoever around a freshly-baked, homemade Striezel. The scent of Striezel baking is what makes Easter for me so by the time it comes out of the oven there’s no stopping this carb lover from cutting into the warm bread, so fluffy and soft, spreading it with butter, and gobbling away.
If you’ve never worked with yeast doughs before, have no fear! The dough hook of your stand mixer does most of the work. There is, however, something that can go wrong with this recipe: that your dough doesn’t rise. There are two things you can do to prevent that.
- Make sure your yeast is fresh. Either buy fresh yeast (in cake form) or use dry yeast and check the expiration date. You want to be able to activate that yeast. Besides, the fresher the yeast, the better the dough rises.
- Avoid killing the yeast. Don’t let your yeast get exposed to too much heat before baking. Lukewarm liquids are what you want. Yeast also doesn’t like salt so we’ll hide the salt in the flour.
Let’s get started! Most of the kneading is done by the mixer.
The dough is ready to be kneaded by hand – it’s part of the fun!
Add the rum-soaked raisins.
Divide the dough into four pieces.
Roll the pieces into long strands.
Lay the strands to form a cross on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, pressing the ends down firmly.
For the braiding, there are only two steps to remember. 1. With your right hand, bring the upper strand down while the left hand brings the lower strand up.
2. Bring the two crossway strands down and lay them so that the right one is over the left.
Now you just repeat the two steps until all of the strands are braided in.
Tuck the ends of the strands into the bread.
Brush with beaten egg & milk.
Sprinkle with sliced almonds and coarse sugar.
Striezel!
- ⅓ of a 2 oz. cake of fresh yeast (30 g) or 1 packet of dry yeast
- 1 cup (250 ml) lukewarm milk
- ⅓ cup (75 g) melted butter
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 3 ½ cups (500 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (25 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (75 g) raisins
- 2 tablespoons rum
- 1 egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons milk
- Sliced almonds
- Coarse sugar
- Dissolve yeast in a small bowl with one third of the milk and a pinch of sugar. The yeast mixture should be foamy after 10 minutes. (If there are no bubbles, the yeast is no good and should be discarded. Start from the beginning with fresher yeast.)
- Combine the remaining milk with the melted butter, add the eggs and whisk together. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook on low speed, combine the milk mixture with the yeast mixture and half of the flour mixture. Once the flour is incorporated, add the rest of the flour mixture one tablespoon at a time, continually kneading on low speed, until all of the flour is incorporated. Turn dough onto work surface and knead by hand for another 10 minutes. If the dough sticks to hands and work surface too much, knead in 1-2 handfuls of flour.
- Place dough into a large greased bowl, cover with a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm place for 30-60 minutes or until doubled in size. Punch the dough down, knead it and let it rise again.
- In the meantime, soak raisins in rum. After the second rise, knead the raisins into the dough. Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Roll pieces into four equally long strands (16-17 inches, 40-45 cm long). Braid the bread following the tutorial directions above, brush with egg-milk mixture and sprinkle with sliced almonds and coarse sugar. Preheat oven to 350°F (170°C) and allow the bread to rise on the counter while the oven is heating. Bake for 30 minutes.
Thank you for publishing this! It’s difficult to find recipes for striezel in American baking measurements. I live in a very humid climate and the dough was very sticky. I had to kneed in a lot of extra flour. I will try cutting back on the milk next time. Is it a very sticky dough though?
Also, you say to let the braided dough rise while the oven is heating. My oven heats very quickly. Should the dough double in size again? Or approximately how long do you let it rise?
The bread tasted amazing and I would really love to make it perfect! Thank you so much!!
Hi Briana,
The dough is quite sticky, I try to add only as much flour as I have to in order to keep it from sticking to my hands. Or, like you said, use less milk. I let the braided bread rise for about 30 mins. on the counter before baking and it puffs up further while baking in the oven. I don’t think it quite doubles in size again.
I hope your next striezel turns out great and thanks for stopping by!
Thank you Krista! I really appreciate your prompt reply. I will keep working on the striezel, trying to honor my Austrian heritage. Your website is lovely. All the best from Georgia, USA
Krista,
Tried this recipe and it turned out beautifully. I would have liked the crust to be a little darker but I was afraid if I left it in the oven longer it would dry it out. Great recipe and I will try this one again. Good instructions as well for the braiding
Thank you for the feedback! I’m happy to hear you liked the recipe! You’re right about the crust not getting very brown but I also try to avoid overbaked, dry bread.