Zwieback
Zwieback is a form of rusk eaten in Poland, Germany, Scandinavia, Austria, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey. It is a type of crisp, sweetened bread, made with eggs and baked twice. It originated in East Prussia. The Mennonites brought Zwieback to the Russian Empire; before the Russian Revolution, when many emigrated to the west, they brought Zwieback to Canada, the United States and other parts of the world.
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Type | Bread |
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Place of origin | Germany |
Region or state | East Prussia |
Main ingredients | Flour, eggs, sugar |
There are two types of zwieback. One type is made by pinching round pieces of dough, placing one piece on top of another, pressing them together by pushing a finger down through both pieces. It is then baked and served as warm soft rolls. This type is identified with Mennonites. The other type is a bread sliced before it is baked a second time, which produces crisp, brittle slices that closely resemble melba toast.[1] Zwieback is commonly used to feed teething babies [1] and as the first solid food for patients with an upset stomach.
The name comes from German zwei ("two") or zwie ("twi-"), and backen, meaning "to bake".[2] Zwieback hence literally translates to "twice-baked". The French and Italian names, respectively, biscotte and fette biscottate have the same origin, biscotto (biscuit), which also means twice ("bis-") baked (-"cotto"). The Slovene name is prepečenec which would imply baked over ordinary or overbaked. The Croatian name is dvopek which, again, is literally twice (dvo) baked (pek).
See also
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zwieback. |
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Look up zwieback in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |