Nut Striezel

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 500 g flour
• 1 cube of yeast, fresh
• 5 g salt
• 70 g sugar
• 75 g butter, soft
• 1 egg(s)
• 100 ml water, lukewarm
• 100 ml milk, lukewarm
• 3 drops of bitter almond flavoring or butter vanilla flavoring
• 200 g hazelnuts or almonds
• 200 g marzipan paste
• 150 g sugar
• 6 tbsp milk
• Sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Rest time approx. 2 hours; Total time approx. 2 hours 40 minutes

filled yeast plait

Mix the milk with the water and dissolve the yeast in it. Then add the salt and sugar and set the mixture aside for a moment. Mix the flour with the butter, egg, and cooking oil. Then add the yeast mixture. Knead everything well until a smooth dough forms. This is best done by hand; knead for at least 10 minutes. Then let it rise in a warm place for about 1.5 hours, covered with a kitchen towel. The dough should increase in volume considerably. Of course, you can also prepare the dough in a bread maker; simply add the liquid first, then the flour, then the butter (preferably in smaller portions, not all at once) and the egg. Running the whole thing on the “Dough” program takes about 1.5 hours on my bread maker. Meanwhile, combine the nuts with the marzipan (cut into small pieces), the sugar, and the milk in a mixing bowl until a smooth mixture forms. It may be that the food processor isn’t able to knead the marzipan completely, but that’s what you have your hands for, after all. I then roll the dough out between two pieces of baking paper, making it as rectangular as possible, and then place it in a cool place. After the proving time, knead the dough again thoroughly and roll it out on a floured surface into a rectangle about 1 cm thick. Spread the nut-marzipan mixture as generously as possible onto the rolled-out dough. Because the dough was kept cold, it releases very easily from the baking paper! Now roll up the dough from the long side and seal the ends well. Cut it open lengthwise with a sharp knife (this will create two open strands) and carefully wrap the two strands tightly around each other. Place in a greased springform pan and join the ends together. Cover and let rise again in a warm place for about 30 minutes, until the volume has increased considerably again (I find that on the radiator works best). Preheat the oven to 165 degrees Celsius (fan/circulating air). Sprinkle the cake with sugar and cinnamon, if desired (it sticks best if you moisten the dough with a little water beforehand) and bake it on the middle rack for about 30 minutes. I usually place a shallow baking sheet over the cake on the top rack after 20 minutes of baking to prevent the sugar from getting too brown. I then bake the Striezel for the last 10 minutes. Then let it cool and remove it from the pan.