Vánočka

Vánočka is a sweet bread plaited from strands of yeast dough and an essential part of a Czech Christmas. Raisins, slivered almonds, lemon zest and rum usually go into the dough; the top is glazed with egg and butter and dusted with icing sugar. The traditional plait has nine strands in three layers – four at the bottom, three in the middle and two on top.

Vánočka counts as fine bakery ware (jemné pečivo), with at least 8% anhydrous fat or 5% sugar on flour weight. The most common types are only slightly above that threshold. Their crumb holds about 9% anhydrous fat. A luxury vánočka dough contains 20–22% fat, most often butter, calculated on flour. Once seasonal, it is now sold all year round.

The first written mention of a special Christmas bread in the Czech lands comes from the fifteenth-century Benedictine Jan of Holešov, who read the plaits as the swaddled Christ Child. Besides the almost universal name vánočka, regional names were used: houska in Bohemia, calta in the south, especially around Domažlice, štědrovnice in the north, and štrucle, pletenka or pletenice in Moravia and Silesia.