St. Lucia wreath with white chocolate

Here's how:

• 1

  Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the milk and quark. Then stir the saffron into the warm dough mixture. Heat the mixture to about 25 °C.

• 2

  Crumble the yeast into a mixing bowl. Pour in the milk and butter mixture and add the sugar.

• 3

  Stir in the flour and knead the dough for 6 minutes on low speed and 4 minutes on high speed, until it becomes smooth and elastic. Add the salt at the end of the kneading process. Double the time if you’re kneading by hand. 

• 4

  Let the dough rise, covered, for about 30 minutes.

• 5

  Roll out half of the dough on a floured work surface into a rectangle, about 30×40 cm.

• 6

  Length: Spread half of the cooking fat on top, sprinkle half of the chopped white chocolate and half of the sugar over it, then dust with cinnamon and cardamom to taste. Fold the dough twice to form a log. Then repeat the process with the other half of the dough.

  Wreath: Roll the dough into a long, narrow log. Place the log in a circle with the seam facing down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Use scissors to make diagonal cuts along the log, and fold the cuts backward, alternating between right and left.

• 7

  Place the rolls on baking sheets lined with parchment paper in a turned-off oven with only the light on, and let them rise for 30 minutes, or let them rise at room temperature, covered with a kitchen towel, for 45 minutes.

• 8

  Preheat the oven to 180 °C a little while before baking.

• 9

  Brush the strips with beaten egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar.

• 10

  Bake in the middle of the oven for 17–18 minutes. Serve warm, so the chocolate is slightly melted.