Vianočka - Braided Sweet Bread
Vianočka is a common yeast bread in Slovakia. It is a braided bread, slightly sweet, and eaten often at breakfast time. Vianočka is available in just about any grocery store in Slovakia. It is so common in fact, that I’ve never seen or heard of any Slovak baking it at home. Why would you bake a basic bread if you could just pick up a loaf at your local market?
Vianočka is also a good bread to bake for Easter. In Vienna I’ve seen this bread sold at bakeries with a few colored hard-boiled eggs set between the weave of the braids. It’s very festive.
Well, I wanted to bake this bread at home in California and after consulting several recipes, I’ve come up with my tried and tested version for authentic vianočka. To me it tastes almost identical to what you can buy in Slovakia. Below is the recipe and my directions:
Ingredients:- 1 1/2 cup (.4 liter) milk
- 1 rounded tablespoons sugar
- 1 packet of dry yeast or 30 grams cake yeast
- 4 1/2 cups (600 grams) flour
- 1/2 cup (120 grams) butter
- 3/4 cup (200 grams) sugar
- 2 egg yolks (keep the whites to brush the dough later)
- 1/2 cup (120 grams) raisins
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- grated lemon peel
Directions: Mix the two tablespoons of sugar into lukewarm milk and add the yeast. Let the yeast rise and become active. In a bowl combine the flour, sugar and salt together. Add the egg yolks, butter, raisins, and grated lemon peel. Add the yeast mixture last and after you’ve mixed it as well as you can, transfer everything to a floured surface to kneed the dough thoroughly. Gather the dough into a ball and place it back into the mixing bowl, making sure to sprinkle the base so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom. Cover the bowl and set it in a warm dry place for a few hours, until the dough doubles in size.
Kneed the dough a second time thoroughly until all the air pockets are removed. Separate the dough into eight equal sized parts and let them “rest” for another 15 minutes. Make a braid with the first four pieces. From three more pieces make another braid that will be set on top of the four-piece braid. Cut the last roll in half, roll them thin, braid them, and place it on top of the three-piece braid.
Tuck the sides under and brush the top with egg whites. Bake the bread at 350°F (180°C) for the first half hour and 325°F (160°C) for an additional half hour.
Note 1) To make the crust darker, start baking at 375°F.
Note 2) The recipe yields one large loaf. To make two, separate the dough into 16 pieces. I’ve even made 3 loaves using 24 pieces.
7 Comments on “Vianočka - Braided Sweet Bread”
I'm afraid noobs like me will likely require a video for the braiding portion. Looks like brain surgery...but, different. ;-)
March 12th, 2008 at 07:51 PM
Yum..I love Vianocka! Ok, I will try out your recipe, although I have baked bread before and I 'killed' all the yeast so I ended up with 'rocks' instead. Anyway my Slovakian husband would be proud of me nonetheless! Wish me luck. :)
March 17th, 2008 at 07:25 AM
I made vianocka using this recipe a few days ago. I live in England and I was making it for my Slovak friends so they might feel more at home. The only problem was after kneeding it the first time I left it to rest in a warm place covered up and the mixture didn't grow at all, let alone double in size. Can anyone help me? :-)
September 19th, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Hmmm. The dratted yeast. It can be tricky and I know I've thrown out my share of dough that didn't cooperate. When you made the mixture of yeast, lukewarm milk, and sugar, did you see the yeast start to bubble and get active? That should be you first clue if something is not right. If it's not growing and bubbling up a bit, throw it out. Check that the milk is the right temperature, not hot and not cold, and start again. Once the yeast mixture is active and you mix it with the flour and the rest of the ingredients, the dough should rise. Try it again. Don't give up! :)
September 19th, 2008 at 03:38 PM
Your recipe and web site is very nice. You forgot to say, however, that "Vianocka" comes from the word for Christmas, which is Vianoce. It is historically and traditionally a Christmas bread! More common & historically in the Czech Republic & called "Vanocka," but it is seen in the Slovak form of "Vianocka" most often in the west of the country or commercially all year all over as a typical egg/dairy-rich bread. You said it was an Easter bread. No doubt it is often seen in stores at Easter and all year; however, it is traditionally a Christmas bread and thus the name. Easter bread is called manzanec or calta or paska, & even babka, depending where you live in Slovakia. Historically and in general, manzanec or calta is a round ceremonial or special bread. It is almost identical to the Vianocka dough but is round & not braided. There are areas as well in Slovakia that make round breads for Christmas & Easter both and often not as rich as the egg/dairy type except at Easter. Please don't say Vianocka is an Easter bread just because you saw it at Easter commercially - it is a Christmas bread and hence the name Vianoce in it which means Christmas. Thank you
January 10th, 2009 at 09:50 AM
Karol, I never said vianočka is an Easter bread in this article. I said vianočka is a common bread in Slovakia and "vianočka is also a good bread to bake for Easter." Thank you.
January 10th, 2009 at 10:31 PM
Hi there I would just like to say thank you for this site you have made my Christmas my partner is Slovak and I'm English and we live in England so this site has helped me to bring Christmas from Slovakia all the way to England let's just hope it all turn's out well hehehe! Merry Christmas to you all xx
December 22nd, 2009 at 02:18 AM