Filling a cultural void, one braided loaf at a time | Hacker News Reader

Filling a cultural void, one braided loaf at a time

longreads.com

In Czecho/Slovakia we call them vánočka/vianočka (same root as Christmas)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A1no%C4%8Dka

I'm curious, do you also use the term "houska"? I make houska with my wife's Czech family every Christmas but have never heard the term vánočka.

Houska is different - small non sweet bun like a hamburger bun, vánočka is long and braided, sweet with raisins inside. Houska is single servings, vánočka is sliced like bread.

If you want a lot of braided bread, here's a company that makes machines to make it.[1] They offer lots of options - twisted, braided, twisted and braided, braided twice, etc. Many cultures have twisted and braided dough products, and there's machinery to make them on Alibaba.

[1] https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/dough-twisting-machin...

Those look bite sized from the video and I think they intend to fry them.

Edit: "Fried Dough Twist Maker", hey I know I'm not the thinest guy but I'm going to have to pass on buying a industrial fried dough machine.

Hmm. Just realized I haven't seen a braided loaf of wheat bread in a very long time. Seems like various sourdough breads that put a lot of emphasis on the crust took over that niche.

They used to be quite popular as "exotic" breads with a vague Spanish/Italian vibe in the early 00s.

(Sweden)

So "Orlando" is a starter dough? This name is explained nowhere in the article.

I think there's a presumption that if you know a bit about sour/fermented doughs then you'd know that the starter often ends up with a pet name. For example the folks on the Proof Bread YouTube channel named theirs Harriet.

I can also recommend their channel, Jon tells some good stories.

https://www.youtube.com/c/ProofBread/videos