Gingerbread Recipe, Age-old Czech Baking Tradition in the Czech Republic

Gingerbread, pernik as the Czechs say, is not only for sale at Christmas markets. Baking this delicacy is a cherished tradition for many Czech families and it is not difficult at all to bake it. Make a dough by simply mixing the ingredients and cut out the figures with molds and then decorate them with icing. If baking is not your passion, but you like gingerbread, pay a visit to the Pernik Museum, Nerudova 9 in the Mala Strana district in Prague.

Gingerbread at Christmas Markets

Christmas markets in Prague and in the Czech Republic usually start in the last week of November and last until the beginning of January. Gingerbread is for sale in many of the chalets. You can get many different shapes from hearts to stars, all at different prices.
Gingerbread fans can visit St. Matthew’s Church on Sunday afternoon in December, not to eat gingerbread, but to admire a gingerbread nativity scene of some 400 gingerbread figures. Address: U Matěje 24, in the Baba district, Prague.

Gingerbread recipe

The secret of Czech gingerbread is the spice mixture.

Ingredients for the spice mixture
Use measuring spoons. The amount below is more than you need for the gingerbread recipe.

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground cloves (about 30 cloves)
2 teaspoons ground star anise (about 4 stars)
2 teaspoons ground aniseeds
1 teaspoon ground fennel seeds
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Recipe for Gingerbread Christmas figures

Ingredients
* 140 g flour
* 140 rye flour
* 200 g icing sugar
* 70 g honey
* 2 eggs
* ½ teaspoon baking powder
* 1 tablespoon gingerbread spices (cinnamon, allspice, cloves, star anise, fennel, cardamom, coriander nutmeg)

Method
1. Heat the honey, and remove the foam
2. Put all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with the warm honey
3. Knead the dough and let it rest overnight
4. Roll out the dough into a sheet about 5 mm thick
5. Cut out figures with a cookie cutter
6. Place the figures on a baking tray lined with baking paper
7. Bake in a preheated oven for 5-10 minutes at 180°C.
8. Baking time will depend on the size of each individual gingerbread figure
9. Let the gingerbread cool down before decorating it

Glaze for gingerbread decoration

Ingredients
* 10 tablespoons of fine icing sugar
* 1 egg white
* 1 teaspoon potato starch
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice
* food colouring

Method
1. Sift the sugar and starch through a fine sieve
2. Whisk sugar, starch and egg white together
3. Fill a piping bag with glaze and decorate the gingerbread
4. If you want glaze on the whole surface, make the mixture it a little more runny, so that it spreads more easily
5. To thin the icing, add drops of lemon juice or hot water or a drop of food colouring.

You can buy food coloring ready-made, but you can also use natural ingredients

* Carrot juice for orange
* Beetroot juice for purple red
* Lemon for pale yellow
* Pinch of turmeric for dark yellow
* Blueberries for dark blue.
* Strawberries and raspberries for red

More traditional Czech recipes

photos Wiki Commons