Swedish Christmas Bread

Ingredients

• 200 g raisins
• 150 g rum
• 500 g flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cube fresh yeast (ca. 42 g)
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 200 ml lukewarm milk
• 140 g low‑fat quark
• 4 tbsp melted butter
• powdered sugar (for dusting)

Instructions

1. 1.

   Soak the raisins in rum.

2. 2.

   Mix the flour with the salt in a bowl, press a well into the center, crumble the yeast into it and stir in 1 tbsp of sugar and 4 tbsp of milk until smooth. Dust the edges with a little flour and cover; let rise in a warm place for about 15 minutes.

3. 3.

   Add the remaining ingredients, knead into a smooth dough, adding more lukewarm milk or flour if needed, and fold in the drained raisins.

4. 4.

   Cover the dough again and let rest for 1 hour.

5. 5.

   Preheat the oven to 200 °C (390 °F) with both top and bottom heat.

6. 6.

   Shape small loaves from the dough, place them on a parchment‑lined baking sheet and let rest another 15 minutes.

7. 7.

   Bake in the preheated oven for 30–40 minutes.

8. 8.

   Remove the baked loaves from the oven, brush with melted butter and dust with powdered sugar before cooling.