Grittimaa

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g flour
• 30 g yeast
• ¼ liter milk, lukewarm
• 50 g butter
• 50 g sugar
• 1 egg(s)
• 1 pinch of salt
• ½ lemon(s), grated peel
• egg yolk
• butter

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes

Swiss Santa Claus, also known as Grittibänz, Weckmann or Stutenkerl

Make a well in the flour and crumble the yeast into it. Add the milk and mix it with a little flour in the well. Cover and let rise for 15 minutes. Melt the butter and mix it with the sugar, salt, egg and lemon zest. Beat it with the pre-dough until the dough bubbles. Let rise for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C and cut the dough into 4 equal pieces. Place these on a buttered baking sheet and form the Grittimaa. Brush these with beaten egg yolk and bake on the second rack from the bottom for 20-25 minutes. To form the Grittimaa: Take about 1/8 of the dough and set it aside. Shape the rest into an oval. Shape the top quarter of it into a ball to form the head. On the opposite side, cut the dough in half down to the middle, carefully pull the resulting legs apart and shape them into rounds. In the middle, where the legs end, cut on the right and left from the outside in to form arms. Pull these away from the torso and shape them into a round shape. Shape the piece of dough you set aside into a thin, long sausage and cut off 1/4 of this. Place the long sausage around the Grittimaa’s neck. Twist the two strands on the right and left together and place them up to the start of the legs to form a shirt. Place the shorter piece of dough between the shirt and trousers as a border. Cut three vertical lines into each leg to form trousers, twist the arms as desired and give the Grittimaa a grimace.