Sweet Bread

Netherlands

The sweet bread known as Hoornse broeder is a specialty of Hoorn, located in West Friesland, North Holland. This sweet bread is quite dense and heavy, and it is made with flour, milk, yeast, and eggs. The dough is additionally enriched with plenty of currants and raisins that further enhance the flavors. When baked, broeder will have an interior filled with melted brown sugar, and some cooks like to add slices of bacon to that same syrupy center. In the past, broeder used to be baked over low heat on a petroleum stove in a heavy pan, and it would get flipped halfway through the baking, but today it can be baked on a regular stove or in the oven. In the Netherlands, it is traditionally given as a present to new mothers.

Hoornse broeder

Hveteboller is a traditional sweet bread or cardamom bun originating from Norway. The buns are made with a combination of flour, milk, yeast, sugar, cardamom, salt, eggs, and butter. The light dough is kneaded until smooth and soft, and it is then left to rest. After some time, the dough is divided into smooth balls that are left to rest until puffed. The eggs and milk are whisked together, and the mixture is brushed over the top of each roll. These cardamom-scented rolls are baked until golden, then served immediately, usually with butter, coffee, and Geitost brown cheese on the side.

Hveteboller

Island banana bread is a Caribbean treat consisting of butter, flour, eggs, milk, mashed bananas, and shredded coconut. The bread is often topped with chopped macadamia nuts before baking. Some cooks like to make the bread even more unique by adding some lemon peel or allspice to the combination in order to improve its flavors.

Island Banana Bread

Spiced bun is a tender Jamaican sweet bread studded with fruits such as cranberries and raisins. It is characterized by its dark brown color. The spices used in this sweet bread are typically nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon, and rose water. Although Jamaican spiced bun is consumed year-round, it is a staple during the Easter season, when it is traditionally paired with hard cheese.

Jamaican Spiced Bun

Slovenia

Jan&scaron;ka vezivka is a traditional sweet bread originating from Janče, located on the eastern side of Ljubljana. This festive bread is made with a combination of flour, butter, eggs, milk, sugar, salt, yeast, rum, and vanilla sugar. Once risen, one part of the smooth dough is shaped into birds, ribbons, braids, or flowers, and the bread is then brushed with a mixture of milk and beaten eggs, while the dough shaped are stuck on top. The bread is baked, brushed with melted butter, then left to cool down before serving. Jan&scaron;ka vezivka used to be prepared for people who were celebrating their name days, as well as for similar festive occasions.

Janška vezivka

Julekake is a traditional sweet bread. It's made with a combination of flour, milk, yeast, sugar, butter, raisins, cardamom, and candied fruit. Spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg can also be added to the dough. Once baked, julekake is typically served with butter or fruit jams. The sweet bread is especially popular during the festive Christmas season, and it's traditionally paired with a cup of coffee on the side.

Julekake

Khobz al-Eid al-souri, also known as qalb bread, is a traditional sweet bread made during special occasions like Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha in cities Quneitra, Daraa, and Sweida in Syria. The bread is flavored with anise, black cumin, cinnamon, and fennel, and shaped using a mold. It is baked during the holidays and enjoyed with family and friends. The dough is enriched with ghee, oil, sugar, and milk, making it soft and sweet.

Khobz al-Eid al-souri

Australia

This New Zealander sweet bread is made with a combination of ripe kiwi, eggs, oil, lemon peel, brown sugar, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. The kiwis are mixed with sugar and lemon peel, then boiled before being combined with eggs, oil, flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. The mixture is poured into a loaf pan, then topped with icing (consisting of powdered sugar and lemon juice) before baking. The bread doesn't have a strong flavor because the kiwis lose some of their tartness after being cooked. Once baked, kiwi bread should be moist, with a nice citrus tang coming from the icing.

Kiwi Bread

Krentenwegge is a heavy and dense Dutch currant bread filled with a flavorful almond paste. It is associated with holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and New Year, especially in the eastern and northern parts of the country. In the region of Twente, it is always served to guests who come to visit a new baby (instead of the traditional beschuit met muisjes). Krentenwegge is so popular in those parts of the country that it is sometimes baked in over a meter in length. Nowadays, this sweet bread can be bought pre-packaged, and it is usually consumed with a cup of coffee on the side.

Krentenweggen

The traditional tea time treat known as lardy cake is essentially a loaf of bread with added nutmeg, sugar, fruits such as raisins or currants, and small pieces of lard. The interior gets soft due to the melted lard and sugar, while the top gets crunchy due to the caramelized sugar. The loaf originally appeared in the 17th century when dried fruits and spices stopped being too expensive for ordinary people. Today, it can be found in Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Wiltshire, and it is recommended to serve it finely sliced, preferably with some butter on the side.

Lardy cake

Named after Saint Lazarus, this traditional spiced bread is popular throughout Greece and Cyprus. Prepared with yeasted dough that does not incorporate any milk or eggs, the bread is traditionally enjoyed on Lazarus Saturday that precedes the Holy Week. The dough is typically enriched with spices such as cinnamon or anise, and the final shape of the bread depicts a man wrapped in a shroud or with legs that are not fastened, symbolizing the resurrection of Lazarus. In both Greece and Cyprus, this small-sized bread is used in various activities that commemorate the occasion.

Lazarakia

Croatia

Lumblija is an aromatic sweet bread from Croatia. Its origin is disputed between Blato and Vela Luka, but the truth is probably that it originated in both places at the same time, about 200 years ago. The sweet bread is made with a combination of flour, walnuts, almonds, raisins, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, rakija (schnapps), sugar, lemon and orange zest, vanilla sugar, olive oil, butter, lard, and varenik &ndash; cooked grape must, the most important ingredient in lumblija according to locals. Varenik gives the sweet bread a typical dark color. After the baking process, the sweet bread is typically brushed with varenik, pro&scaron;ek, rum, or schnapps, then sprinkled with powdered sugar. Lumblija is traditionally prepared for All Saints&rsquo; Day, and it keeps extremely well - up to a month when left at room temperature.

Lumblija

Mealie bread is a South African cornbread made from maize pulp and a combination of flour, eggs, butter, and sugar. The bread can be baked, but it is more often gently steamed in a can, cooking the maize without it resulting in a rubbery texture. Traditionally, it is consumed hot and spread with butter.

Mealie Bread

Melonpan (also known as melon bun and melon bread) is a Japanese sweet bread prepared with sweetened dough that is topped with a layer of cookie dough. It is named melonpan because the crunchy top crust with a criss-cross pattern resembles the melon rind. Apart from Japan, this sweet bread is also popular in China and Taiwan. Despite its name, melonpan traditionally doesn't contain melon, although the fruit has sometimes been added to the bread in recent years. It is believed that melonpan was shaped to resemble musk melons, which held the status of luxury fruit in 20th-century Japan. In Kinki, Chūgoku, and Shikoku, melonpan is called sanraizu, meaning sunrise.

Melonpan

Italy

Offella d'oro, considered the ancestor of pandoro, is Verona's most famous Christmas dessert. It is a sweet bread made with flour, egg, butter, and sugar, leavened with sourdough starter, which inspired its name&mdash;"offella," meaning small cake, and "d'oro," meaning golden. The origins of offella d'oro date back to the 19th century, when it was first crafted by the pastry shop Pasticceria Perbellini in Verona. Unlike pandoro, offella is denser and more compact, with a richer texture due to its high content of butter, eggs, and sugar. The dough is carefully leavened over several hours, giving it a delicate, airy consistency despite its buttery richness. Before the dough, a layer of chopped almonds and butter is placed on the bottom of the mold so that when baked and inverted, the nuts are on top of the bread. Traditionally enjoyed during the holiday season, offella d'oro is often dusted with powdered sugar and served with coffee, tea, or dessert wine. Its simplicity and refined flavor make it a staple in Veronese bakeries, where it is celebrated as a symbol of the city's rich pastry-making heritage.

Offella veronese

Osternpinze is a traditional Easter bread made with enriched yeasted dough that is slightly sweetened and typically flavored with anise and perhaps citrus peels and aromatic liqueurs. The bread has origins in Veneto and Friuli and came to Austria in the 19th century via the Italian city Gorizia on the Slovenian border. Before baking, the top of the bread is cut three times with scissors giving it a unique look. Apart from southern Austria, osternpinze can also be found in parts of Trieste and Gorizia province, Slovenia, and Croatia. It is eaten plain or spread with a bit of butter and jam, and paired with coffee or tea. However, although a bit sweet, for Easter, osternpinze is typically eaten together with ham, horseradish, and hard-boiled eggs.

Osterpinze

France

This classic French honey cake is often described as a cross between bread and a dessert. It is a Dijon specialty, believed to have its origins in China, where a similar spice cake was made in the 10th century. In France, it first appeared in 1711 and was particularly popular in Reims and Dijon. In the aftermath of World War II it was rarely found in French cuisine, but soon it regained its popularity. Pain d'&eacute;pices can be made with honey, rye or wheat flour (depending on the region), and spices such as cardamom, anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. It is usually baked into a loaf and served with savory dishes, such as foie grass or gourmet cheeses. However, it is also often incorporated into or served alongside classic French desserts. Pain d'&eacute;pices can be found at traditional markets, where it is usually sold by honey merchants, or in classic French patisseries.

Pain d’épices

Venezuela

This Venezuelan bread is typically stuffed with raisins, ham, and olives. It is especially popular during the festive Christmas period. The dough is usually made with yeast, flour, butter, eggs, milk, sugar, and salt, resulting in a slightly sweet bread once it has been baked. After baking, pan de jam&oacute;n is typically sliced and served with soups or salads. It is believed that this sweet bread was invented in 1905 by Gustavo Ramella, the owner of a bakery in Caracas.

Pan de jamón

Pan de muerto is a traditional sweet bread that is commonly consumed during the Day of the Dead, celebrated annually on November 2. The bread is characterized by its shape and decorations: a round loaf with strips of dough layered on top of it in order to resemble human bones. It is made from flour, eggs, milk, butter, sugar, and yeast, and it is traditionally glazed with butter and orange zest on top, then sprinkled with confectioners' sugar. Other flavorings include anise seed and cinnamon. Pan de muerto can also be prepared in other shapes such as skulls, animals, or angels. It dates back to the Colonial period, when it was sold in the Plaza de Armas in the early days of New Spain, and its roots go back to the ancient Aztec tradition of placing food on the tombs of the dead as offerings, as they believed that the deceased will be hungry after their journey to the other side. Today, pan de muerto can be found throughout Mexico City on the Day of the Dead, and it is recommended to pair it with creamy Oaxacan hot chocolate.

Pan de muerto

Pan di ramerino is a sweet Tuscan bread that is additionally enriched with raisins, olive oil, selected spices, and &ndash; ramerino, which means rosemary. The bread can also be enriched with walnuts and black pepper, depending on personal preferences. Visually, this delicacy looks like a soft bun imprinted with a criss-cross design on top. Traditionally, pan di ramerino was made by peasants for Giovedi Santo (Holy Thursday), but today it can be found in Florentine bakeries throughout the year. It is recommended to serve the sweet bread with cheese, butter, and coffee or sweet wine on the side.