Easy New Year's Pretzel (Neujahrsbrezel)

Welcome the New Year with this traditional New Year's pretzel from Germany. This German New Year's bread is made with a light buttery yeast dough that makes the perfect edible gift or breakfast treat. Symbolising good luck, health and prosperity, it is a fun custom to start the year with.

What is the German New Year's Pretzel?

The New Year's Pretzel is a tradition from the southern part of Germany. It is a sweet yeasted New Year's bread. The bread is a good luck charm and is served as part of the New Year's breakfast or gifted to friends.

In the old days, the leftover bread was fed to the animals, to bless them with good fortune as well.

You can find it as a large New Year's pretzel (like mine) that is made to share, or as an alternative, you can shape individual pretzels from the same dough. The styles differ as well. Some have a braid along the bottom, in others the whole pretzel is shaped from one braided roll, and others do not feature a brezel at all.

History and Tradition

The custom of the New Year's pretzel has a long tradition. The custom probably originated in the Middle Ages. A New Year's pretzel is supposed to bring luck and protect you from illness, misfortune and hunger. Some would also hide a good-luck penny (Glückspfennig) wrapped in foil inside. The lucky one who found it will be extra lucky in the coming year. This is a tradition that is very similar to the Swiss Three Kings Cake Tradition.

This custom is practised especially in the German regions of Swabia and Baden Baden. Although there is an important difference: in Baden, they will eat their pretzels on New Year's Eve, whereas in Schwabia people like to have it on New Year's day during breakfast.

Yeast bakes are a popular treat for special occasions in Germany. You can find cinnamon sugar pretzel at St. Martins. At Easter a Hefezopf, or German Easter bread - and at Christmas German stollen.

How to make

Ingredients

• 7 g/ 0.2 oz instant yeast 1 packet, 2 tsp
• 250 ml whole milk 8.4 oz, lukewarm
• 100 g /3.5 oz butter melted
• 500 g /17.6 oz flour Germany type 405, UK plain flour, USA pastry flour
• 70 g  sugar
• 1 egg medium size, at room temperature
• 1 pinch salt

To decorate

• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp milk

Recipe - Step by Step

1. Add the yeast and sugar into the lukewarm milk. Stir, cover and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes. At the surface of the milk some bubbles should appear. (see image). If the bubbles do not appear the milk might have been too hot.
2. Preheat your oven to the lowest setting. Mine is 50 degrees.
3. Now add the yeast to the flour, butter, egg, and salt and knead to a homogeneous dough for about 10 minutes. Place the dough into a bowl and cover with a tea towel. Turn off your oven and place the bowl into it. Leave to rise for about 40 minutes.
4. Now briefly knead the dough through again. Remove ¼ of the dough and set aside.
5. Form the remaining dough into a roll, about 45 cm (17.7 inches) long. Ensure that the ends of the roll are tapered to a point.
6. Line a baking tray with baking parchment. As the pretzel is really large it might be easier to shape the pretzel directly on the tray.

7. To form the New Year's pretzel take the roll and lay it in a "U" shape (see pictures). In the middle take both and twist them around each other. The ends get pressed against the pretzel belly (the lower part of the pretzel).
8. Cover the pretzel with a tea towel and leave to rise for a further 10 minutes.

8. In the meantime, divide the remaining ¼ of the dough and divide it into three equal parts. Roll each part into a long thin roll (about 30 cm). Then lay the three rolls into a braid.

10. Brush the lower part of the pretzel (the pretzel belly) with some water and lay the braid on top. Cover and leave to rest for a further 20 minutes.
11. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 190°C/ 374°F top to bottom heat. Mix the egg yolk with 2 tablespoons of milk.

12. After the resting time brush the pretzel evenly with the egg yolk mixture. If you like you can sprinkle it with pearl sugar (affiliate link). Then place in the oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes. The exact baking time depends on your oven. To check whether the new year's pretzel is done, prick the deepest part with a skewer: if it comes out clean it is done.
13. Serve the same day. Tastes delicious with butter, jam or chocolate spread.

Baking with Yeast: Steps for Sucess

Baking with yeast is not rocket science. Here are my best tips to ensure that your yeast dough rises every time.

• Use lukewarm milk. The microorganism in the yeast will activate through heat and sugar. The ideal temperature of the milk should be around 30-35°C / 86-95 °F. If the temperature rises above 45°C/113°F, the cells will die and your dough will not rise.
• Make sure your yeast is in date. Using out of date yeast is a common reason for dough not rising.
• 35°C/95 °F is the perfect temperature for dough to rise. The temperature should not get hotter than 40 °C. If your kitchen is cooler, then preheat the oven to the lowest setting. Turn the oven off and place the dough in the oven. Cover it with a moist teatowel so it does not dry out. (If your lowest setting is hotter than 40 like mine 50, leave the door open for a couple of minutes before placing the dough in)
• Knead the dough throughly - To ensure that the bread becomes light and fluffy you need to knead it for a long time. A well-kneaded dough hardly sticks. After the dough rises it is important to knead it again, as during the rising process gas bubbles form. This will ensure that your bread bakes evenly.

Troubleshooting your yeast dough:

• My dough does not rise: There could be several reasons why it does not rise. The liquid was too hot or your yeast is out of date. You might have to start again. However, you can try to add a little more sugar, knead it into the dough and give it a more time to rise at a warm place.
• My dough is too wet and sticky: Do not worry! You can add a little flour until it reaches the right consistency.
• My dough is too dry - Knead a little water into the dough. But be careful- too much water will cause it to get very sticky quickly, so add only a little at a time.

Recipe Variations

• Instead of making one giant pretzel you can use the same dough to form 8 individual pretzels from the same dough. Just weigh the dough and divide them into 8 equal portions.
• Decorate the pretzel with slivered almonds instead of pear sugar.

How to Serve

The pretzel is a great treat for new year's brunch. Serve it with a sweet condiment such as jam, lemon curd, chocolate spread or honey. It also tastes good simply spread with butter.

Make Ahead

If you want to enjoy this new years bread for breakfast, but don't want to get up early to make the dough, you can leave it to rise in the fridge overnight. This will slow down the rising process.

Storage Instructions

The pretzel tastes best on the day it is baked. It will stay good up to three days if you store it in an airtight container.

Frequently Asked Questions