Facts About Spanisch Brötli
Spanisch Brötli is a speciality pastry from Baden, Switzerland. It is a light, flaky pastry filled with a mix of roasted, crushed hazelnuts and apricot jam. Its structure has a square of dough for the lower portion, apricot and hazelnut filling for the middle portion, and a square of dough for the upper portion. It has an "X" cut into the top to allow for the food to vent hot air during baking.
History
Spanisch Brötli were first mentioned in a 1701 book by Samuel Hottinger about the city and baths of Baden. Brötli were very popular among wealthy people of Zürich, so their servants had to go 25 km to Baden by foot in the night to be able to buy brötli very early in the morning and to bring them back to the breakfast.
In 1847 the Swiss Northern Railway was opened, connecting Zürich and Baden. This allowed Spanisch Brötli to be brought to Zürich in just 45 minutes. Because of that usage of the line it's been called Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn since those times.
During the 20th century these pastries fell out of favour and were almost forgotten until local bakeries revived the recipe in 2007, creating some new variants. Nowadays the pastry is sold under a trademark Spanischbrödli.
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