Dutch Treats. William Woys Weaver

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New Year’s “Boys”

       Neijohrsbuwe

      Just as Christmas had its Mummeli (breads shaped like little men), New Year’s featured its own special bread made from similar dough (or you can use the dough for Butter Semmels, page 9). These distinctive rolls or buns were produced mostly by small-town bakers for Silvester Night Balls (December 31^st) held in local hotels and taverns, and one of them always contained a lucky coin. A huge eight-foot deep brick bake oven for making just such large-batch pastries survived well into the 1960s at the historic 1840s Quentin House Hotel in Quentin, near Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

      We know from the field work of late Pennsylvania Dutch folklorist Alfred L. Shoemaker that due to their connection with Silvester Night (New Year’s Eve), the rolls were also called Silvester Buns (Silvesterweck), although the rural Dutch seem to have preferred the more euphemistic Neijohrsbuwe (New Year’s Boys) in reference to the fact that the rolls have knobs or “heads” on the opposite ends, one for the old year and one for the new. This two-headed design appears to be traditional; however, the manner in which the rolls were decorated was a matter of personal fancy: some people preferred the so-called “two-headed fish” design shown in the picture. Others braided them to resemble heads of wheat or ornamented them with stars, swirling hex signs, or three X’s. Dr. Shoemaker also discovered that New Year’s Boys were given out to Belschnicklers when they went mumming house to house on Second Christmas (December 26). Otherwise, cookies and sweet pretzels were distributed instead like the orange pretzels on page 75.

      Our original recipe comes from Fannie Coble (1870-1954) of Elizabethtown in Lancaster County. If you have leftover Neijohrsbuwe you can always slice them, dip them in beaten eggs and cook like French toast.

       Yield: Six 7-inch (18cm) “Boys”

       1 cup (225g) warm mashed potatoes

       1 cup (250g) light brown sugar

       2 teaspoons salt

       ½ ounce (15g) dry active yeast

       1 cup lukewarm potato water or milk

       6 tablespoons (90g) melted butter

       2 large eggs

       5 cups (625g) bread flour

       1 egg yolk

       2 tablespoons (30ml) milk

      Beat the mashed potatoes and sugar together to form a smooth batter. Add the salt and set aside. Proof the yeast in the potato water or milk, and once it is foaming vigorously, add it to the mashed potato mixture. Then sift in 1½ cups (190g) of flour to make a sponge. Cover and set in a warm place to double in bulk. Once double in bulk, stir down and add the melted butter. Beat the eggs until lemon color and frothy and add them to the sponge. Gradually sift in the remaining flour one cup at a time, kneading as you add until a soft spongy dough forms that no longer sticks to the fingers.

      Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and shape each piece to form a small oblong roll with knobs or “heads” on each end (see picture). Using sharp scissors or a knife, cut three X marks on the body of each roll (or create a design of your own), and set them on a greased baking sheet to rise. Cover with a cloth and let the rolls recover for about 20 to 25 minutes. While they are rising, preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Before putting the rolls in the oven, make a wash with one egg yolk and 2 tablespoons (30ml) of milk. Take a soft brush and paint each loaf with this mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 35 minutes or until they tap done. Cool on racks.

New Year’s Pretzel

       (Neijohrsbrezel)

      The pretzel is imbued with a great deal of colorful folklore in Pennsylvania Dutch culture, not surprising given the pretzel’s ancient origins. When there was fog on the Blue Hills of Pennsylvania, parents used to tell their children that rabbits were baking pretzels in the woods; the fog was the smoke from their СКАЧАТЬ