The Zelten sudtirolese is a Christmas cake rich in dried and dehydrated fruit, and a dough made from wheat flour and rye flour, typical of Trentino Alto Adige.
There are other variations, such as the Bolzano Zelten (or Trentino Zelten), which instead resembles a cake, has a soft consistency and contains eggs and butter.
Tradition has it that Zelten is prepared around Santa Lucia, on December 13, and then eaten at Christmas, since it must rest for at least 10 days before being consumed.
The most commonly used type of dried fruit is walnuts, dried figs, almonds, pine nuts and sultanas.
It is often decorated with white almonds and cherries.
The name probably comes from the German word “selten”, which translates to “rarely”, since it was usually prepared only once a year.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 2 Hours 15 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 8 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients
- 1.7 oz white wine
- 2.3 tbsp honey
- 6 oz flour
- 9 oz rye flour
- 1/2 cup rum
- to taste cumin, star anise, cinnamon, pimento, nutmeg, salt
- 3 cloves
- to taste candied cherries
- to taste almonds
- to taste orange and lemon zest
- 1 tsp sugar
- 0.9 oz fresh brewer's yeast
- to taste lemon and orange candied peel
Steps
Cut the figs and add them to all the other dried, dehydrated and candied fruit.
Add the rum, white wine and honey. Leave to macerate, better if overnight.
Then add the cinnamon, lemon and orange zest, cloves, allspice and nutmeg.
For the dough: dissolve the yeast with a teaspoon of sugar, add the flours, mix with 100 ml of water, then the cumin and star anise, a pinch of salt.
Create a round dough and leave to rise for 2 hours, covered.
Add the macerated fruit to the dough, spread on a round baking tray and let it rest for 15 minutes.
Decorate with the almonds, candied cherries and candied peel to form flowers.
Brush with more honey and bake in the oven at 338°F for 45 minutes.
The Trentino Zelten
The Trentino Zelten, however, is part of the category: “Früchtebrot”, or fruit bread, such as berewecke, birnebrot (pear bread), hutzenbrot, hutzelbrot, kletzenbrot, klötzenbrot and schnitzbrot, sweet breads with dried fruit cooked in the oven.
