Swiss Delight

By PAT SHAVER Courier staff writer

May 14, 2009 10:12 pm

— OTTUMWA — American bread is too fluffy for Suzanne Tanner.
She moved to Ottumwa from Switzerland in 2008 and has been making traditional Swiss bread, called zopf, for friends and family ever since.
Zopf, she said, is about as common in Switzerland as pancakes are in the United States. It is known as a traditional Swiss breakfast bread, and is usually eaten with butter or jam. Tanner describes it as “crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.” However, the bread is difficult to find in America.
“Every Swiss knows about this bread,” she said. “I grew up with zopf.”
Tanner bakes about two pounds of the bread a week, but she doesn’t plan to produce the bread commercially. She said she doesn’t want the pressure of having to make 100 loaves a week.
She grew up in a German-speaking part of Switzerland, completed the equivalent of high school and became a waitress. A few years later she worked her way into hotel administration jobs and also worked in marketing and public relations.
Tanner said one of the biggest differences between Switzerland and America is access to health insurance. In Switzerland, everyone has health insurance. Here, Tanner doesn’t have any.
Also, she said, the food in America isn’t as healthy as it is in Switzerland. And people walk places more often than they drive in Europe.
“The very, very cold winter and a constant wind blowing in your face,” is another major difference between Switzerland and Ottumwa, Tanner said.
The streets in the United States are must broader, the cars are bigger, and there are more traffic signs than in Switzerland, she said
“In Switzerland everything is so close and much smaller,” she said.
Despite the less healthy food and lack of health insurance, Tanner said she was surprised with how friendly most Americans are.
“Americans are very nice. You are so friendly with your neighbors,” she said “It’s just not the same in Switzerland.”
And she loves to bake bread for her friends and neighbors.
She starts with a mixture of warm milk, sugar and yeast. In another bowl, she mixes flour and salt and slowly mixes in melted butter and milk to make the dough.
After letting the dough rise for 20 minutes, she cuts it into four equal parts and then cuts those in half to roll ropes to braid.
When she’s baking zopf, she doesn’t want to be sloppy about it. It has to be just right.
“It’s like a business card from my country,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot from making bread. The quality of your work has to be excellent.”
She carefully measures and times the process and doesn’t take any shortcuts.
“I don’t want to risk it. It’s good to have patience and learn patience,” she said.
Tanner moved to the United States after meeting her husband, Mark, of Ottumwa, on a Christian Web site. They talked online and over the phone and finally met in person when Suzanne came to Iowa for a visit.
“I looked into his eyes and knew there was something nice about him,” she said about their first meeting in December 2007.
She quit her job in Switzerland and planned her move to Ottumwa.
The couple was officially married last October. It was difficult for the couple because Tanner was not a U.S. citizen, so she could only stay for a few weeks at a time. She was able to apply for a fiancé visa, which allowed them to marry.
Tanner recently found out that she was approved for permanent residence status in the United States.
“What helped me the most with adapting was certainly the love of my husband, Mark, and my precious friends from church in Ottumwa and Fairfield,” she said.
The Tanners run New Heart Ministries International, based out of Ottumwa. They host ministries locally at churches and nursing homes and travel to prisons to sing and preach.
To contact Suzanne Tanner about zopf bread, call (641) 740-7391, or e-mail her at suzanne@newheart.ws.
Pat Shaver can be reached at (641) 683-5360 or via e-mail at p.shaver@ottumwacourier.com.

A brief history:
Zopf is a typical Swiss Sunday treat that has been known in Switzerland since at least the middle of the 15th century. Some people think it owes its origins to a custom where widows cut off a braid of their hair and buried it with their husbands. As time went on, they buried a loaf in the same shape instead of their hair.

Recipes:

Zopf
Makes 4 loaves of about half-pound each

9 cups of all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons or 2 packets of dried yeast
3 cups of milk (Tanner uses low-fat milk)
3/4 stick of butter
3 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 egg yolk

Before you start, keep in mind a warm environment is a good prerequisite for making the Zopf. That means the yeast and the dough rise very well and will be a guarantee for the success of the bread.
• Warm up some milk in a cup in the microwave for 10 seconds. Then add the yeast and the sugar and mix well with a spoon. Wait for it to rise. It will rise, sometimes up to the rim. Note: Milk must not be hot, just lukewarm.
• Sift the flour. Make a hole in the middle and add 3 teaspoons of salt (and if you wish you can also add some sugar).
• Melt the butter in a pan and warm up 3 cups of milk (not hot, just lukewarm)
• Pour the risen yeast in the middle of the flour and then add the buttermilk mixture slowly and knead the dough very well, either by hand or with a kitchen mixer until the dough is nice and soft. If you need, add a little more milk to the dough. Place a damp cloth over the dough and allow it to rise for about an hour in a warm environment. During the winter, Tanner puts the dough in the oven and adds a large pan of hot water.
• Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Take each piece and divide it again into two pieces and make ropes. Braid the ropes and let them rest for another 10 to 20 minutes. Then paint them with the egg yolk and bake for 35 minutes on 420 degrees in a gas oven.
— Adapted by Suzanne Tanner