I received a note yesterday from my daughter’s school asking me to dress and prepare her for a short speech detailing what she wants to be when she grows up. I was and still am very irritated by that note. People don’t know what they want to be even at age 25 and here we want a 4 year old to think about it. So I asked her this morning and she belted out her standard reply -“I want to wear make-up”. The daughter has been surprisingly excited about make-up for the past year despite never having seen me in it. She would visit all the duty free stores and tell the saleswomen that she would come back when she gets older to buy her make-up and then she would make me walk with her telling her the name of each item and memorizing it.
Since that is not a job, atleast a conventional one, I dangled my apron in front of her and she caught the bait. So she now wants to become a ‘cooking manager’ with make-up. Since her dad and aunt have ‘manager’ in their designation, she thinks everyone who goes to office is a manager. Truth be told, she is already a cooking manager because she dictates what is to be cooked at home and tastes it first and approves it (almost always).
Since I have been baking bread for the past fortnight, she is excited about the dough doubling in volume and want to peak everyone few minutes to see how much it has grown. Then one day she declared she wanted butter and sugar in her bread. Thankfully I had this recipe that needed to get done and here we are.
The history of the Kringle is muddled like most other dishes. What is known is that it comes from the word ‘Kringla’ from Old Norse meaning ring or circle. One version directs the origin to Scandinavia and its immense popularity in Danish cuisine even today. It is almost mandatory to have a kringle for birthdays, weddings and Christmas. There is also a story talking about the kringle being an offshoot of the pretzel and how it also had two circles previously but now has evolved into a braided wreath shape. Another version pegs Germany as the originator of this buttery, sweet bread. Since Germany occupied Estonia, the kringle was also adopted by them and then Estonia excelled at this so much that it is called Estonian Kringle. The traditional recipe includes saffron, cardamom and raisins but most kringles these days have cinnamon and almonds in them.
I made them with cinnamon and almonds since the daughter loves them and it looks beautiful. So here goes –
Country – Estonia
Makes one large wreath serving 3-4 people
Recipe from here.
WHAT WE NEED
For the dough
All purpose flour 2 1/4 cup
Salt 1/2 tsp
Milk, lukewarm 3/4 cup
Sugar 1 tbsp
Instant yeast 5 gms
Butter, melted 30 gms
Egg yolk 1
For the filling
Butter, softened 50 gms
Sugar 5 tbsp
Cinnamon 3 tsp
Ground almond (optional) 3 tsp
WHAT TO DO
- In a bowl, mix together the milk, egg yolk and melted butter
- In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, salt and yeast
- Pour the milk mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well
- Knead the dough till it pulls away from the edges, about 8-10 minutes
- Shape the dough like a ball and place it in a greased bowl and cover with cling wrap
- Set it aside for an hour or till it doubles in size
- Mix together the filling ingredients to make a smooth paste and set aside
- Preheat the oven to 200C and line a baking sheet with parchment
- On a floured surface, roll out the dough to form an 18*12″ rectangle
- Spread the filling mixture on the dough leaving a 1″ gap from the edges and roll up the dough
- Cut the dough into 2 portions vertically leaving it joined at one end
- Braid the two ropes ensuring the open side is exposed and join the ends to form a wreath and pinch them together
- Transfer the wreath to the baking sheet
- If you have any additional filling or some ground almonds left, sprinkle it over the wreath
- Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 180C and bake for another 10 minutes or till the top is golden brown
- Serve warm
- Enjoy!
This is my post for the Mega Marathon under the letter E.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 75
Bread Therapy 
I am love no your blog and the breads that you are baking? Excellent!!!
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Thank you so much! Will be baking breads the entire month…A to Z ….do check out the others too.
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Nice post with lots of info!
Fantastic kringle!
Thanks for sharing recipes of various breads around the globe (most of them I never heard of).
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Thank you for taking the time and visiting my blog. Have more bread recipes lined up for the month…do check them out
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Sure!
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Ah I loved reading about your lil one…I am sure she will become a great manager when she grows up, going by what you have written..:)..this kringle sounds so good and nicely done..
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Thank you Valli. As for the daughter, she does manage my husband and me very well!
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Your daughter will be such a cute Cooking manager (with make up). That was so adorable. Coming to the Kringle, this was one of the recipes I had bookmarked for the alphabet too, but my family wanted something savory, so had to make another one. I am very attracted to this Kringle and I definitely want to make it sometime soon.
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My family usually wants something sweet and I am all for savory. Do try it…gets over in a jiffy!
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Wow can’t seem to take my eyes off your Kringle! Looks gorgeous. Cooking manager with make-up haha! Totally love that very adorable.
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Thank you so much Namratha!
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you are really really on a roll Sowmya…you are ensuring that none of your bakes are simple, you are amazing and start of this motnh so far, kringle is my fav showcase bake which you have baked super stunningly
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And you are very kind. Thank you so much Pradnya.
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Hugs to the little cooking manager. 4 year old and make up?? I am unable to digest makeup on my teenager 🙂 That aside, the wreath looks stunning and very tempting. Good find for E.
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Thanks Harini….guess kids are all about giving shocks to their parents.
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Your daughter is so adorable — cooking manager with make-up LOL 🙂
Estonian kringle turned out great.
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Thank you so much
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Loved reading your ramblings on the little one…so cute. and the bread, I am loving it Sowmya…now we have to have a good workshop on these in Banglore.
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Thanks a bunch Vaishali. You made my day 🙂
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So she want to be a cooking manager, how cute na. Kringle looks absolutely stunning and i would love to grab a slice to enjoy rite now.
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Thanks a lot Priya!
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Love that braids and kneads in bread.. This is so delicious!!
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Thank you Sharmila!
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Cooking manager – this sounds like a great position. 🙂 🙂 Love the braided kringles. Great pick
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Thank you 😊
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The cinnamon flavoured wreath shaped bread looks so delicious. Love cinnamon flavour in baked goodies.
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Looks delicious!
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Thank you so much
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