Pear bread

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Bündner pear bread
Birnweggen

Birnbrot and Birnweggen are traditional biscuits from the Swiss Alps and foothills with a filling made from dried pears . Well-known forms are the Bündner pear bread or Huxelbrot ( Rhaeto-Romanic Paun cun paira ), the Glarus pear bread , the Toggenburg pear bread and the Lucerne pear bread.

In addition to pears , the filling contains sultanas , walnuts , and often figs and dried apple wedges . It is seasoned with orange peel , lemon peel , coriander , cinnamon , star anise , anise and cloves , as well as pomace , cherry or wine .

Birnbrot and Birnweggen differ in their preparation and geographical distribution: In the case of pear bread, the pear filling is mixed with bread dough made from Ruchmehl and covered with a thin layer of yeast dough, while with Pirnweggen it is spread on the thinly rolled yeast dough and then rolled up like a roulade. Birnweggen are widespread in central Switzerland , pear bread, on the other hand, in eastern Switzerland's Alpine and Pre-Alpine region.

Originally, pear bread was a bread variant made by poor people who, in the Alpine and foothills of the Alps, mainly lived from cattle farming, stretched the expensive bread grain from the lowlands with dried fruit. In Graubünden there are still such local variants of pear bread with a larger proportion of bread dough, which are baked without a batter.

In the Toggenburg and Glarus variant of pear bread, the pears are cooked and strained before they are mixed with the other ingredients, in the Grisons variant they are soaked overnight in pear pomace or rose water and do not pass through, which gives the Bünder pear bread a coarser structure and one gives a stronger pear taste.

Birnbrot and Birnweggen are traditionally a pastry for Advent and Christmas, in Graubünden especially at the turn of the year. In Scuol in the Lower Engadine there is a custom that girls give their dearest classmate a pear bread on December 26th and are then invited by him to go on a sleigh ride.

Today, pear bread is available all year round in German-speaking Switzerland . It is eaten thinly with butter with coffee or combined with fresh cheese. It is also very popular as a picnic for hikers and skiers.

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