MAIN INGREDIENTS
This recipe is published with the permission of The German National Tourist Board.
TIME
- Preparation time: 30 min
- Cooking time: 2 h
- Total time: 3 h
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Made with whole rye berries, cracked rye, and usually a sourdough starter, pumpernickel is known for its extremely long shelf life. It should be baked for 16 to 24 hours in fully covered baking tins, though time can vary from recipe to recipe. Its rich, dark brown color is developed thanks to a Maillard reaction which converts starch into sugar, and is also responsible for the bread's earthy taste and sweet aroma.
TIME
- Preparation time: 45 min
- Cooking time: 24 h
- Total time: 24 h 45 min
This spiced tea loaf can be prepared in two different ways. The more traditional version uses leavened dough, but as the dough needs time to rise, the unleavened cake version is much more common. Recipes for bara brith tend to not differ much, except in the type of flour they use, and each recipe can be adapted to suit personal tastes.
The cake version is usually made with self-rising flour instead of all-purpose flour, but every other ingredient besides the dried fruit, eggs, and brown sugar is optional. The dark tea that is often included in recipes is used to rehydrate the dried fruit overnight and to provide moisture to the cake, although recipes that include no tea get their moisture from milk and water.
TIME
- Preparation time: 15 min
- Cooking time: 1 h 45 min
- Total time: 14 h
MAIN INGREDIENTS
In the United Kingdom, hot cross buns are most commonly consumed during Lent and are a must on Good Friday, when they are prepared and eaten on the same day, as the mark of the end of Lent. The buns are made with an enriched, sweet, and yeasted dough that is studded with raisins and/or currants, and spiced with the so-called mixed spice, typically a combo of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
In the past, the cross on the buns was made with a knife, but today, the cross is made with either shortcrust pastry or a mix of flour and water. Crosses made with sugar icing are also quite common in recipes today. Once the cross is applied, the buns are baked and then brushed with, traditionally, a sugar syrup glaze.
TIME
- Preparation time: 45 min
- Cooking time: 25 min
- Total time: 1 h 40 min
This delicacy, whose name directly translates as spiced bread”, is made with rye flour, wheat flour, or a combination of the two. There are as many variations of the recipe for pain d’épices as there are regions in France, but the two most famous are the original from Reims, made with dark rye flour and without the addition of milk and eggs, and a version from Dijon made with wheat flour.
The most commonly-used spices for pain d’épices are cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and anise, the last of which is used especially in the Dijon version, while the Reims version always requires at least a pinch of cinnamon. Orange and lemon zest are also added in other regional variants of the recipe.
TIME
- Preparation time: 50 min
- Cooking time: 50 min
- Total time: 1 h 40 min
MAIN INGREDIENTS
This half-bread, half-cake is typically shaped like a dome with either a cylindrical, octagon or a frustum base and is usually 12-15 cm high. The preparation that can last even up to a few days begins with making the sourdough starter which is then kneaded with flour to make a smooth dough.
A small amount of milk together with melted butter, eggs, yolks, and sugar syrup is added next, followed by candied peel and fruits like orange, lemon, and cedar that have been previously shortly soaked in water. The resulting dough is shaped into a ball and placed inside a special panettone mold which helps to keep the dough from overflowing as it bakes.
TIME
- Preparation time: 1 h
- Cooking time: 1 h 10 min
- Total time: 2 h 10 min
Traditionally prepared for Christmas, this German sweet bread is made with yeasted dough that’s rich in butter and eggs, and is studded with sultanas, currants, chopped almonds, and candied fruits and peels, typically lemon and orange ones.
Dried apricots and marzipan paste are also often included, and the dried fruits can be spiked with rum. The dough is usually flavored with lemon zest, but spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, and anise may also be included. The dough is shaped by hand into a loaf that is brushed with butter and dusted with sugar before baking at a moderate temperature.
Once baked, the still hot stollen is brushed with butter and dusted generously with powdered sugar.
TIME
- Preparation time: 1 h
- Cooking time: 1 h
- Total time: 2 h
MAIN INGREDIENTS
This sweetened cake made with yeasted, egg-rich, dough, and a poppy seed filling is traditionally a centerpiece of every Polish table for Christmas and Easter, but also a common found in Polish households year-round. The dough is made with flour, eggs, yeast, sugar, butter, and milk, while the filling typically consists of ground poppy seeds, milk, sugar, lemon zest, and butter.
Some recipes will also add dried fruits, nuts, honey, orange zest, cinnamon to the filling. After the dough has had time to rise, it is rolled to a rectangle, which is then smeared with the poppy seed paste and shaped into a log that is left to rise in the pan.
TIME
- Preparation time: 2 h
- Cooking time: 1 h
- Total time: 3 h
Colomba pasquale, also known as colomba di Pasqua, is a naturally-leavened artisanal sweet bread commonly found on Italian dining tables during Easter (Pasqua). Due to its dove-like shape and Easter-related origins, the cake became known as colomba pasquale, meaning Easter dove.
Much like traditional Italian Christmas cakes pandoro and panettone, colomba pasquale is a delicate, soft, and fragrant cake made with simple ingredients such as wheat flour, eggs, sugar, salt, butter, mother yeast, and candied orange peel. The fact that colomba pasquale is a registered PAT product (the cake’s ingredients and characteristics are regulated by law) shows just how big of a staple of the Italian culture the cake has become.
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Depending on where one might find themselves in the British Isles, scones in all their varieties can be seen as a staple treat. Either as a delicious, buttery dessert to accompany a cup of afternoon tea, an addition to a wholesome breakfast, or a quick nibble in a coffee shop.
Also known as griddle cakes or bannocks in Scotland, traditional scones were made with oats, sugar, salt, milk, and butter as primary ingredients and baked on hot griddles. Later on, flour was introduced as a standard and traditionally legitimate stand-in for oats.
TIME
- Preparation time: 10 min
- Cooking time: 10 min
- Total time: 25 min
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “12 Worst Rated Sweet Bread Recipes” list until February 16, 2025, 7,850 ratings were recorded, of which 5,354 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.