Vánočka- European Yeast Raised Bread

Pastries and cakes don't just have to be full of butter cream, chocolate and sugar although that's what most people think.  Some cakes are delicious without all these extra flavors- and calories! One of my favorites is Vánočka which is  Czech bread made with sugar, butter,eggs, yeast, flour, walnuts and raisins.  And that's it! The bread gets its beautiful flavor and color from the prevalence of egg yolks in the formula.  And the light fluffy texture comes from developing the gluten properly in the dough before baking it off.  This cake is best the day it is made- literally hot out of the oven.  It goes very well with apricot jam and a hot cup of tea or coffee.  A good variation of this recipe can be found here. Yum!

Vánočka I made recently

Light and fluffy crumb structure of Vánočka