Houska

The beautiful loaf of bread on the right is houska, a braided Czech bread made with potatoes, butter, blanched almonds and raisins.  We spent Saturday at Dave's parents' house helping to make this Christmas treat.  Dave's mother makes 6 loaves at a time which translates into 40 pounds of dough!  The loaf is formed by stacking 2 twisted pieces of dough over a braid of 3 pieces of dough atop 4 more pieces of dough braided together.  I was first invited to help 3 years ago.  Dave's mother and brother sat at the table with their written out instructions on how to create the 4 piece braid.  I watched them do it once and said, "Oh, you're weaving."  Ever since then, I have helped with the braiding! 

My girlfriends were going to come up last week but couldn't because of illness.  I'd wanted to fool around with salt dough ornaments.  I can remember making them with my babysitter when I was little.  While braiding real houska this year, I got the brilliant idea to make some salt dough houskas.  After forming a few loaves, I pressed some E size cream colored beads into the dough for blanched almonds and gold and plum colored seed beads for the raisins.  After I baked them, I painted them with a wash of acrylic paint and then Hodge Podge for an egg wash shine.  I stuck a wire loop into them before baking to make them into an ornament but they might be too heavy to hang.  If so they can be a paperweight or a nic nac.  I know I'm a nerd but I was so excited to make these!  I also made a couple Danish heart ornaments and a Lopi paw print!  This is a great cheap and non-toxic activity for kids!