Cramique or Kiermeskuch is a Luxembourgish classic. It’s our version of raisin bread and known in every household in the Grand Duchy.
In my family there are two types of people with a sweet tooth: those who love(d) to bake and those who love(d) to eat all kinds of sweets. And somehow I am a member of both groups.
My grandma, who I am sure has influenced my passion for pastries, pastry shops and sweet flavours, used to go to the city a few times a week to meet with her friends over a cup of coffee and a good pastry.
In the early days of this food blog journey she once came to me and said that she wishes nothing more than a homemade Luxembourgish raisin bread (Cramique or Kiermeskuch). She fumbled in an old box, and held up a piece of paper on which was written this very recipe. At that time, I had taken over my grandpa’s mission to bake all the things the other family members wanted a homemade edition from. So I accepted the challenge. And here we are, with my family’s very own version of the Kiermeskuch.
Even though you can still buy this raisin bread in all the local bakeries, the tradition around it is about to disappear. In former times, all the small villages had their own little fairs at different times of the year. It weren’t the big ones with roller coasters but rather small attractions. The local wind section played a Kiermes song called Hemmelsmarsch. Kids were following them and on Sunday, the actual fair day, families gathered and had the traditional Fair dishes like: Kirmes soup, Kiermes ham and this recipe the Kiermeskuch (Kiermescake). And one thing, that I learned way later than I should have is, that tradition is to have the Kiermeskuch with the ham.
Due to the urbanisation of the bigger towns these kinds of traditions are about to slowly disappear. But my dad’s doing his best to prepare us regularly the Luxembourgish Kiermes soup. And sometimes, I bring along my homemade raisin bread. I’m sure my grandpa would be really happy to see that within the family, the baking takeover was a great success!
Cramique
Ingredients
- 500 g flour
- 7 g dry yeast or 25g fresh yeast
- 30 g sugar
- 300 ml warm milk
- 1 pinch of salt
- 30 g butter
- 2 eggs
- 175 g raisins
Instructions
- Put the flour into a large bowl, forming a well.
- In a smaller bowl whisk the yeast and the lukewarm milk (best at around 40°) until the yeast is completely dissolved.
- Pour the milk to the flour, add the eggs and the salt, then knead until you get an even dough. This should at least take ten minutes.
- Now cover the dough with a towel and let it sit for at least 30 minutes.
- During this time, soak the raisins in lukewarm water & cut the butter into cubes.
- After the first resting time of the dough, add the butter and sugar and knead well until everything is well-combined.
- Cover the dough again, and let sit for 1 hour this time.
- Preheat the oven to 210°
- Now it's time to fold in the raisins (drain first, then dry them with a paper towel), kneading the dough again until the raisins are evenly distributed.
- Put the dough into a loaf pan and brush it with a bit of milk.
- Bake for 10 minutes on 210°, then decrease the temperature to 180° and bake for another 40-50 minutes.
- Enjoy!!!!
DID YOU MAKE THE RECIPE?
Share your creations and tag me @passionmeetscreativity #passionmeetscreativity. I can’t wait to see what you’ve made!
