German Nusszopf | German Baking Classics

This German Nusszopf is my Dad´s absolute favourite. He loves dipping it in his coffee whilst watching the football on a weekend afternoon.

What exactly is a Nusszopf?

“Nusszopf” literally translates to “Nut Plait”. And that is essentially what it is. A plaited, yeasted, enriched dough with a crunchy chocolate and nut filling. Absolutely delicious. This Nusszopf is one of the first things I ever made, and I have baked it so many times I know the recipe off by heart.

This Nusszopf is perfect to have with your afternoon cup of tea or coffee (“Kaffee und Kuchen” in Germany).

I initially took this recipe from Sally´s Blog, a German food blogger whom I absolutely love! Why not check out some of the recipes on her blog, too?

How do you make this German Nusszopf?

It doesn’t take very long to make this German Nusszopf it is a fairly easy recipe to follow – so also suitable for baking newbies to make. Although it is said to be a plaited loaf, it doesn’t actually require any plaiting, instead, it uses a trick to simply look like it has been plaited.

A German Nusszopf tastes best when made using fresh yeast, unfortunately though I have had difficulty finding it in the UK (although sometimes the supermarket in-store bakeries will give you some). Luckily, a bit of dried fast action yeast will also do the trick.
The dough is made by combining flour, a little sugar, yeast, salt, egg and milk. Finally, you add the butter to bring all the ingredients together into a smooth dough. The butter is not added until the end, because you want to avoid it immediately touching the yeast. If it does it can prevent the yeast from doing its job properly and making the dough rise.

For the filling, I use hazelnuts (the Germans love hazelnuts, they use them in everything), but you could probably also use other nuts for it, almonds, for example. In order to give the Nusszopf a more interesting texture, I use a 50-50 mix of ground and chopped nuts.

Win-win: Make Nusschnecken as well!

Another popular breakfast/afternoon cake that is easier to eat on the go are “Nussschnecken”. Literally, that translates to “Nut Snails”, which doesn’t sound too nice if I’m honest. Thankfully, the name only comes from their shape and they actually taste amazing!

To make Nussschnecken, you simply slice the dough roll into individual buns, rather than creating a plait! What I often do, is take the below recipe, and use half to make a Nusszopf and the other to make Nussschnecken! It’s hardly any extra work and means you get two German cakes for the price/effort of 1! Win-win! Find the recipe for Nussschnecken here!

More German Baking Classics

Having grown up in Germany, I have had a lot of exposure to German baking and have very much enjoyed baking things traditional to the country. There are loads more recipes for other German Baking Classics on my blog, so make sure to check out some of my favourites listed below:

• Black Forest Gateau | “Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte”
• Laugenbrezeln | German Pretzels
• Baked Chocolate Cheesecake | “Russischer Zupfkuchen”
• Seeded and Carrot Loaf | “Muntermacher”
• Strawberry Flan Cake | “Erdbeerboden”
• Marbled Traybake with Cherries and Chocolate | “Donauwellen”
• Beesting Cake | “Bienenstich”
• Enriched Dough Plait filled with Chocolate and Nuts | “Nusszopf”
• German Baked Cheesecake | “Käsekuchen”
• Bauernbrot | Classic German Bread Baking
• “Haselnussbrot” – Hazelnut Shortbread Biscuits dipped in Chocolate
• Chocolate-Orange Crescent Biscuits | Schoko-Orangen Kipferl
• Plum Crumble Cake | Zwetschenkuchen mit Streuseln
• Kirschlikuchen | Cherry and Chocolate Cake
• Neujahrsbrezel | Enriched Dough Plait for New Year’s Day
• Laugenzöpfe | German Breakfast Rolls
• Chocolate and Hazelnut Bundt Cake | Nusskuchen mit Nussglasur

I really hope you enjoy this recipe! Let me know if you liked it or if you had any difficulty making it in the comments below!

German Nusszopf

Recipe

Ingredients (makes 1 large Nusszopf, half recipe for a smaller version and see recipe tips below):

FOR THE DOUGH

• 500g plain white flour
• 80g sugar
• 7g dried fast action yeast (or 42g of fresh yeast, if you can find it)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 medium egg
• 250ml look warm milk
• 80g softened butter

FOR THE FILLING

• 1 medium egg
• 100g ground hazelnuts
• 100g chopped hazelnuts
• 3 tbsp / 50g sugar
• 2 tbsp / 20g cocoa powder
• 1-2 tsp cinnamon (depending on how much you like)
• 2-3 tbsp milk, as needed

FOR THE ICING

• 100g icing sugar
• Lemon juice or water

Method:

1. To make the dough, place the flour, sugar, salt and yeast into a large bowl and mix. Then create a little well in the middle. Beat the egg in a small bowl and then use roughly half for the dough, saving the rest for the filling. Then add the egg and lukewarm milk to the bowl. Start mixing with the dough hook attachment of your electric mixer a wooden spoon.
2. Once the dough starts to come together, add in the softened butter. Continue to beat until the dough comes together in a ball.
3. Either continue kneading the dough with an electric mixer, or tip onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for a few minutes until it is smooth. Once the dough is ready, shape it into a ball and place into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with clingfilm and leave it to rise in a warm place for 30-60 minutes, or until doubled in size.
4. While the dough is proving, you can prepare the filling. Place all the dry ingredients, egg and a tablespoon of milk into a bowl and mix. You want the mixture to be moist, but not wet, so only add a little more milk if you need it.
5. Once the dough has double in size and you are ready to put on the filling, line a baking tray with baking paper and preheat the oven to 200°C.
6. Lightly dust the surface with flour. Roll out the dough into a rectangle, roughly 0.5cm thick and 40x30cm in size.
7. Spoon on the filling and spread it evenly over the dough. Then, roll up the dough from the longer side into a sausage. Pull the dough slightly at the ends to make them neat.
8. Push together the sausage from both ends to make it a bit thicker. Place on the baking tray. With a large knife, cut down half of the sausage lengthwise. Lay open the two created strands and place them over one another, creating a plaited effect. Once you have done on side, repeat on the other.
9. Bake the Nusszopf in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. After about 15 minutes, cover with tinfoil to prevent the top and the exposed filling from burning.
10. Remove the Nusszopf from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
11. To make the icing, slowly add small amounts of lemon juice to the icing sugar and mix well. Keep adding lemon juice until the icing reaches a smooth, thick consistency. If it´s too runny, add more icing sugar.
12. Drizzle the icing over the cooled Nusszopf. If it is still warm the icing will just melt and run off the sides.

Recipe Tips:

1. How to split an egg: If you want to half the above recipe, you can easily do this but it will involve halving a medium-sized egg. To do that, crack your egg into a pre-weighed bowl. Whisk the egg so that the yolk and egg white are combined. Re-weigh your bowl and see what the difference is (a medium egg weighs roughly 50g). Simply calculate how much half of the egg weighs and weigh that amount into a second bowl. And there you have it – a half medium egg in each bowl.
2. You can also use this exact same recipe to make Nussschnecken, think of them as cinnamon buns but with nuts. Simply slice the roll of dough into 1.5-2cm slices, place on a baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoyed this recipe? If you are looking for other delicious and easy recipes, why not try my Melt-in-the-mouth Cookies?

Fancy more of a challenge? Then give this Strawberry Fraisier cake a go!