New Year’s Sweet Bread

Duivekater Nieuwjaarsbrood

500 grams / 1.1 lb flour
28 grams / 1 oz. yeast
2 tbsp milk
50 grams / 2 oz. butter
100 grams / 4 oz. sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 egg yolk
1 egg
salt

Sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Cream the yeast in a bit of lukewarm milk or follow the instructions on a package of dry yeast. Melt the butter. Pour the yeast into a hollow made into the top of the mound of flour and add the rest of the milk. Scoop half of the flour over it, add the sugar, cinnamon and egg yolk and the cooled-off butter. Knead into smooth dough for about fifteen minutes (slam it down on the counter a few times to make the dough airy) and divide it into two. Let the dough rise for 45 minutes in a warm place.

Then shape each lump into bread with points on each end. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rise for another 15 minutes. With a scissor make three cuts on one end and two on the other and fold the curls down. With a knife make a few incisions on the sides of the bread.

Brush the loaves with the slightly beaten egg and bake on a cookie sheet for 40 minutes at 390° F (200° C).

The history of the name ‘duivekater’ (or ‘deuvekater’) is unclear. ‘Kater’ is Dutch for ‘tomcat’, but could also mean ‘devil’ and would then be equal to the first part of the word ‘duivekater.’