Birnbrot

Birnbrot is a Swiss sweet whose name means “pear bread.” A well-known version has a thin crust packed with dried pears, figs, walnuts and more. In a typical method, the fruit and nuts are bound with bread dough and then wrapped in a thin layer of dough. It is made mainly in eastern and central Switzerland and in Graubünden. Regional differences in texture and cross-section arise from whether the pears are cooked or soaked and whether the outside is also wrapped in a crust.

Cooking the pears down versus soaking them to keep their shape

In Glarus and the Toggenburg, dried pears are cooked until soft and pressed through a sieve before being combined with the other ingredients. In Graubünden, a traditional method soaks chopped dried pears overnight in rose water or pear brandy and mixes them into the filling without cooking. With this second method, the pears keep their shape, the texture is coarser than a cooked-pear filling and the fruit aroma is more distinct.

Figs, sultanas (raisins), walnuts, dried apples, and candied orange or lemon peel are added, and coriander, cinnamon, star anise, anise and cloves add layers of aroma. Some versions use pear brandy, kirsch (a cherry spirit) or wine. Beyond the types of fruit, the combination of soaking liquid and spices creates differences between regions and households.

Bread dough mixed into the pear filling, and an outer crust to wrap it

In typical methods such as the one from Glarus, bread dough made with Ruchmehl is mixed into the pear filling to make it sticky and hold it together. For the outside, a dough made of white wheat flour, milk, yeast, sugar and butter is rolled out thin. The filling is made so that the fruit and nuts hold together and do not fall apart even when thinly sliced, and it is then wrapped in a thin crust.

Bakeries in the Toggenburg also increasingly adopted ready-made pear paste, which saves the long cooking time. The records of Swiss culinary heritage note that it reduces labor and also reduces variation in the finished product caused by the quality of the harvested pears.

Some household recipes divide a single dough into two equal parts and knead the fruit into only one of them. The plain dough is rolled out into a rectangle, and the fruit dough is shaped into a log and placed in the center. The edges are moistened with water and folded over, first the short sides and then the long sides, to close it, and the loaf is baked seam-side down. Brushing it with egg gives the outside a sheen. Holes made with a fork or similar tool let steam escape from the inside and help keep the thin crust from splitting.

Birnbrot without a crust, and Birnenweggen with a rolled-in filling

In Graubünden, there is also a version in which more bread dough is mixed into the fruit filling and the loaf is baked without a thin outer crust. When a crust-wrapped loaf is cut, a thin layer of pale dough can be seen around the filling packed with dark fruit. In loaves without a crust, the mixture of fruit and bread dough extends all the way to the outside. A maker in the Engadin also sells the same pear bread in two versions, with and without a crust.

Lucerne’s Birnenweggen are made by spreading pear filling on rolled-out dough and rolling it up. Because no bread dough is mixed into the filling, the inside is soft and the shape is a somewhat flat oval. The cross-section is formed differently from Birnbrot, in which the filling is bound with dough and then wrapped.

The theory that dried pears stretched the flour, and records of festive bread

A survey by Swiss culinary heritage suggests that in the livestock-raising areas of the Alps and the Prealps, where grain flour was expensive, stored dried pears and other fruit may have been added to make the flour go further. The survey also mentions that the bread may date from the Middle Ages or earlier, but no recipes from that time survive. Bread rich in dried fruit kept well and was suited to baking in large batches. As more spices and nuts were added, it became a rich sweet for celebrating Christmas and the New Year.

The “Bündnerbrot” in the 18th edition of the “Berner Kochbuch” (1911) is made with a filling of cooked pears and plums, without mixing bread dough into it. In the 1944 trade book “Der Schweizer Bäcker-Konditor,” the name “Bündner Birnbrot” appears, along with a distinction from the versions made in Glarus and Lucerne. A regional organization in Graubünden has also found pear bread named after places in advertisements from 1893 onward and in a 1907 cookbook. Names that include a place name appear in advertisements from the late 19th century, but it is not clear when the current method of wrapping the filling in a thin crust became established.

In the 20th century, production moved from homes to professional bakeries, and Birnbrot also became a year-round sweet. Thin slices are spread with butter and eaten with milk, coffee or tea, and it also became a snack that people could carry with them.

Making bread together, and gifts for the year-end and New Year

In Val Müstair in Graubünden, neighbors helped one another before Christmas with peeling the pears and kneading, rolling out and baking the dough. These gatherings are called Tramagl or Plaz in Romansh and include meals and singing. Local accounts even record a joke that singing makes it harder for the people cracking walnuts to sneak a bite of the nuts. Preparing large quantities of fruit and nuts was also an occasion for people to gather and socialize.

In Scuol in the Lower Engadine, on St. Stephen’s Day, December 26, boys walk around calling out “Dà a mai! (Give it to me!).” According to Swiss culinary heritage, the local custom is that girls give a pear bread called “Pan grond (big bread)” to a classmate they like, and the boy who receives it gives the girl a ride on a sled. In this village, a large pear bread also became a gift that expressed affection. According to the regional organization, this event is now also held in January, after the Christmas holidays.

Glossary