Bremer Klaben

Appearance & taste

Bremer Klaben is a large bake weighing several pounds, with a long, flat shape and an almost rectangular cross-section. It is light brown; a glaze based on egg white gives the surface its shine. The crumb is moist and slightly dense. According to the specification, it differs from Stollen in its high proportion of fruit and fat.

Klaben tastes aromatic, fruity, spicy, sweet and full-bodied; it owes its unmistakable aroma above all to cardamom.

Production

Recipes differ, but they share a ratio of dough to fruit of about 1:1. Flour, butter or margarine, yeast, sugar, sultanas, candied lemon peel, candied orange peel, almonds, vanilla, lemon zest and cardamom together make up about 95 % of the weight; rum and/or rose oil may make up as much as 5 %.

First a pre-dough is made, which needs a precise ripening time. Because of the many ingredients, the dough is kneaded especially gently and is mixed with the fruit only after it has rested. Lengthening and shaping require craft skill so that the many ingredients hold together. Depending on its size, each tin takes 5 or 6 kg of dough. Shortly before baking, the surface is treated with flour and water so that a closed film forms, the basis for the shine after brushing with egg.

It is baked at a falling temperature, from about 220 °C at the start to around 170 °C at the end, for about 55 to 65 minutes depending on size; a core temperature of about 92 to 94 °C is decisive. The Klaben is then turned out of the tin immediately so that it can slowly settle and cool. All producers must bake in the area and be entered in a register of the Bremen bakers’ guild.

Origin & history

The area covers the city of Bremen and its surroundings, including the district of Osterholz without the Samtgemeinde Hambergen, Delmenhorst, Achim, Oyten, Weyhe, Stuhr, Lemwerder, Berne and Elsfleth, as well as the towns of Bremerhaven and Verden.

Klaben is closely linked to the history of the Hanseatic city and the colonial goods trade: only the raw materials from abroad landed in the port made it possible. Because it keeps for a long time, sailors liked to take it on their voyages. A file of the Bremen council from 1593 gives the first reference to the trade of the Klaben bakers; in 1637 the Klaben and cake bakers joined together in a guild of their own. At the end of the 17th century, about a third of the white bread varieties in Bremen were baked from Klaben dough.

To this day, Klaben is a fixed part of Christmas baking in and around Bremen; some bakeries now also bake it all year round. Traditionally, the “Klabenzeit” begins with the official first cut by the mayor on Bremen’s market square.