The Easter table with its sausages and hams, hard-boiled eggs, grated horseradish, and slices of Striezel wouldn't be complete without the Osterpinze. This glazed yeast bun whose top is scored three ways, thus giving it its signature shape, was born in north-east Italy in the vicinity of Venice and migrated to Austria in the nineteenth century. It is here that it became associated with Eastertime, a modern variation on an older pagan tradition of baking loaves of bread in the shape of the sun to denote the coming of spring. In spite of its religious association, unlike the English hot cross bun, the scarred surface has nothing to do with any human sacrifice at Golgotha, though sometimes Pinze are baked studded with a coloured egg in the centre, and if the egg has been dyed red, that does indeed symbolise the blood of Christ.
The process of making Osterpinzen begins by crumbling a block of fresh yeast into room temperature milk, allowing it to ferment. To that, one first whisks in sugar and vanilla, and then a combination of whole eggs and egg yolks that have been beaten beforehand. The next ingredients are some melted and cooled butter and finally flour, a pinch of salt, and lemon zest if so desired, and it is at this point that the mixture comes together to form a pretty soft and tacky-looking mixture. Following that always somewhat-tedious bread-making process of resting and proving and knocking-back and resting and proving and so on and so forth, the dough can be kneaded, sub-divided, shaped into miniature bun-sized loaves, placed on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, brushed with an egg wash, and then, finally, scored appropriately with a knife or kitchen shears, and baked. Happy Easter!
"Strudel, Sugar and Schlag" will return on April 20.
