This months Food Exchange challenge was “Easter Bakes”. I always look forward to receiving my email from Greta from Made by Greta with my monthly challenge. I am never disappointed with the challenge she gives me but this month I was particularly excited!

For those of you who are new to the Food Exchange, each month Greta and I challenge each other to bake a traditional recipe under a certain theme. If you read my blog you will know I am English and currently living in Germany. Greta is German and currently living in England. We thought it would be a great idea to get to know our new countries food traditions a little better.

Greta’s challenge for me this month was Osterzopf (Easter plait). This wasn’t the first time I had heard of (or tried) this bread… I ate quite a lot last Easter but I always bought it from our local bakery, so it was nice to try it for myself!

Unfortunately my attempt didn’t go so well. I am taking full responsibility for this though and not blaming the recipe or the bake as I know just how delicious it can be! As soon as I started to bring the dough together it seemed VERY dense! I carried on working with the dough but it just didn’t get any better. I carried on anyway and then had a few problems with the forming on the loaf because of how dense the dough was. This is why the pictures are so bad… sorry Greta!

Anyway it still tasted really nice! It is a sweet loaf, filled with raisins and topped with almonds and sugar crystals. If you would like something different to bake this Easter I would highly recommend making an Osterzopf (or Osterbrot), I know I will definitely be trying again!

Head over to Greta’s blog to see my Easter challenge for her!

Our April Food Exchange post will be on the first Thursday in April.

As always, if you have any challenges or topic suggestions you would like Greta and me to try leave us a comment below.

Lucya xx