≡ Menu

The best Czech bread recipe! / Nejlepsi recept na cesky zitny chleb!

I know how everyone of us poor Czech/Slovak souls living abroad, suffer without real Czech bread and that is why I went on a recipe hunt. And I found one. When I first read it though, I thought I was going to either faint or have an anxiety attack. It looked so complicated!!! “Well, I will at least give it a try, just for the heck of it”, I told myself. And I have to tell you, it was actually a lot of fun! Sure it takes couple of days to prepare the sourdough, but it really takes up like 1 minute per day – very easy and very worth it! When my first loaf came out of that oven I just couldn’t believe the fact that it looked like a real loaf of bread! And when I tasted it I became even more amazed as it not only looked but also tasted like a REAL Czech bread!

PS: FOR A QUICK VERSION CLICK HERE

 

I got this fabulous recipe from Daniel Leader who actually went all over Europe to find out and learn the authentic European bread recipes and this is what he says about the Czechs: ” They eat this rye bread the way French eat their baguettes. I saw it at every meal I ate in Prague, with cheese for breakfast, with goulash at the main midday meal, and especially as the foundation for chlebicky (open-faced sandwiches)”. You can find all of his bread recipes (including this one) in his “Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe’s Best Artisan Bakers” cookbook. Here it is:

THE BEST CZECH BREAD RECIPE  (click here)

PS: This is how my “experiment” turned out…not bad, right?? If I can do it, you can do it 🙂

 

If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!

38 comments… add one
  • Wendell Hawkins December 26, 2008, 7:10 am

    Ahoj: Jak se mate,? Dobre? I love CZECH bREAD!!

  • zuzana February 22, 2009, 10:33 pm

    Recipe in czech for the most authentic czech sourdough bread:
    http://kvaskovychleb.cz/

  • Sarah July 13, 2009, 1:24 am

    This recipe looks complicated but persevere with it – it’s worth it! My Czech boyfriend and I have been together for 2 years and he’s always complained about not being able to find “real” bread – now he’s so pleased I’ve found this recipe! It takes a little time but worth it in the end as he would tell you! The loaf hardly lasts 2 days! Add some Caraway seeds (kmin doesn’t equal cumin!) and you’ve got as close to Czech bread as you’ll find anywhere. Thanks Tanja!

  • Tanja July 13, 2009, 10:45 am

    Thank you so much! I am so glad someone persevered with it! As I said new, easier recipe is coming your way soon..:)))

  • magan September 10, 2009, 5:43 pm

    Sorry to tell you, but zitny chleb is never used for chlebicky (little open sendwiches)ibn Czech Republic. It is long white french loaf type of bread which is used.
    Nice of you though, that you are trying to be “authentic”. Perhaps you have been born in USA? Or left CR as small child.

  • Tanja September 10, 2009, 10:11 pm

    Ahoj Magan,

    jo, ja jsem v Cechach vyrustala, takze ty nase zvyky zvladam. Take vim, ze se na chlebicky pouziva veka, ale jestlize se pozorne podivas na recept,cituji tam nekoho jineho, ne me.
    Dik!

  • magan September 10, 2009, 11:00 pm

    Sorry, I assumed that you published it, so information came from you/your blog. So, then my comment belongs to a person you quoted, not to you personally.

    Promin, usoudila jsem, ze jsi to publikovala, takze informace byla od tebe/tveho blogu. Tak tedy ma poznamka nepatrila tobe osobne, ale tomu koho jsi ve svem blogu citovala.

  • natasoui April 3, 2011, 5:48 am

    hey im looking for a specific type of bread that I ate in Prague in the street. it was curled around a huge iron and it was crispy and then it was dipped in sugar.. do you have that recipe?

  • Tanja April 3, 2011, 4:18 pm

    Hi,

    What do you mean ‘curled around an iron’? Was it something like a funnel cake?

  • magan April 3, 2011, 5:24 pm

    You had “TRDELNIK”
    Here is interesting read and photos http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/czech-republic/101223/trdlo-trdelink-pastry-christmas

    And recipe follows:
    Staroceske trdlo (Trdelnik)

    1 kg farina, wondra etc. (not bread flour)
    250 ml milk
    40 g yeast
    200 g sugar
    220 g butter
    4 egg yolks
    1 teaspoon of salt

    coating:
    1 egg wash
    200 g almonds (peeled, crushed)
    150 g crystal sugar
    Make classic yeast dough (warm milk and yeast as starter, egg yolks, rest of milk, salt, butter and flour. Perfect is bread maker for kneading (20 min knead circle for french bread), otherwise knead well until firm dough forms. Let rise in warm place covered with tea cloth until it doubles.

    Punch dough down and divide into 5 balls. let rise covered again until it doubles. Cut into pieces and either roll it on special rollers or roll flat and cut out cookies. Let rise a bit, brush with egg wash, generously dust with almond and sugar. Bake at 370 F until its crisp and all sugar is caramelized.

  • Tanja April 3, 2011, 8:24 pm

    Good job magan! You know I have never had this? I guess I am always on some kind of diet when I go back to Prague 😉

  • magan April 4, 2011, 1:55 am

    Tanja, no wonder you didn’t as this is “touristy” thing, which really came to with more and more tourists coming to Prague and locals thinking of doing business. It is sold in “markets for tourists” set up in Staromestske nam, or other places popular with tourists, together with decorated easter eggs or christmas decorations and other mementos of CR, hot mulled wine, beer, roasted pork/ham, grilled sausages, palacinky (50 Kc each) and such, depending on time of the year. I would think dough is very similar to “kremrole” which are filled with marshmallow cream and sold in Tesco (pkg of 4 for under 30 Kc) – one of my favourite sweets in CR.

  • Tanja April 4, 2011, 9:29 pm

    Magan – that explains everything! Thanks! And thanks for the cool article that went along with your explanation.

    Have you ever made them yourself?

  • natasoui April 5, 2011, 4:02 am

    it was twisted around iron steaks and then turned all around some burned coal. when they became crispy they were dipped into sugar..i think they had also cinammon in the bread. heres an image of what im talking about:

  • Tanja April 5, 2011, 8:06 am

    sorry natasoui – the link was too long and did not work 🙁

  • magan April 5, 2011, 10:23 am

    natasoui: if you look at my previous message (April 3) re Trdelnik, you will find recipe and you can make it at home. Believe me, it is just what you are looking for – Trdelnik – , but of course, you cannot twist it around iron steaks over some burned coal. Just use your owen. In that same message from me, you will find http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/czech-republic/101223/trdlo-trdelink-pastry-christmas and can confirm that it is exactly what you are looking for.
    Good luck.

  • Sour dough Bread October 14, 2011, 2:35 am

    I love breads and I liked this recipe very much. Will wait for some more good stuff by you. Thanks
    \

  • Kate October 25, 2011, 11:06 am

    Hi Tanja,
    Just thought you should know, the link for your best Czech bread recipe is not working, wanted to make it tonight, will make the easy one instead!

  • Tanja October 25, 2011, 10:08 pm

    Hi, that’s too bad! I cannot find the link either :(( Got to search some more. Thanks for letting me know and good luck with the easier recipe.

  • Topsy Krets April 26, 2012, 10:45 am

    Tanja,
    I’m currently in a relationship with a girl from Czech Republic. She had recently complained to me about how bad our bread is here. (she actually calls it toast) So i went on a recipe hunt for Czech bread. i came across your website with this recipe. Now i know how to cook and bake many things, but bread i have never tried before. But I didn’t hesitate to try it. I followed this recipe word for word, And i was completely blown away by how well it came out. My girlfriend was so shocked and fell in love with it. She said “It tastes just like from home” It was my first bread-making experience and i think im ready to open a bakery 🙂 this was an easy to follow recipe and it came out great. If you only could have seen her eyes when she saw it.
    Thanks for a great recipe-Topsy Krets

  • Tanja April 26, 2012, 9:35 pm

    Hi Topsy! I am so glad!! I am not much of a baker myself and like easy recipes that’s why this one is easy to follow 😉
    I keep forgetting about it and get in the same old mode of buying the ‘toast bread’ 🙁 I should get back on the horse and start making my own bread again. Except now with 2 kids it’ not as easy anymore. Plus, the kids LIKE the toast bread!

  • Martin June 3, 2012, 9:13 pm

    Ten recept se ztratil! Neudelala jsi kopiji?

  • Tanja June 6, 2012, 1:26 pm

    o-oh, ja se ho pokusim najit

  • Rae Weniger August 16, 2012, 3:27 pm

    The link is not taking me to a recipe. IT goes to a 404 error page:

    404 – Not Found
    The page you are trying to access does not exist.
    If this error persists, please contact the website webmaster.
    If you are the webmaster of this site make sure that:

    You have uploaded correctly your files to the public_html directory which is the web-root of your account;
    You have not misspelled the URL. Bear in mind that letters are case sensitive and no blank spaces are recommended;
    In case you have applied SEO – SEF URL rewrite rules, make sure you have renamed the htaccess.txt file to .htaccess. If there is already a non-empty .htaccess file, check it and make sure the necessary rules are uncommented.

  • Tanja August 18, 2012, 2:35 pm

    Hi Rae, I am sorry I will look into it. Thanks for letting me know!

  • Pavla September 12, 2012, 6:18 am

    Ahoj Tanjo … chtela bych vyzkouset tvoje recepty,ale mam jeden problem,v anglictine nejsem tak silna a mym “zahranicnim” jazykem je spanelstina …
    prosim,neslo by recepty psat nejen v anlictine,ale i v cestine? Alespon to,zbytek mi nedela az zas takovy problem,ale detaily jsou detaily … navic suroviny si musim stejne uzpusobit mistnimu trhu.
    Dekuju a hezky den
    Pavla

  • Alfons June 9, 2013, 11:42 am

    404 here as well. Really looking forward to this kind of superb bread as well.

  • Beth June 20, 2013, 8:54 pm

    I went to the Czech Republic for the first time a month ago for a wedding. I fell in love with the bread there and finally decided to look for a recipe. I found this one, and decided to give it a go since so many people like it. But the link took me to a 404 error page. I’d really like to get a copy of this recipe if possible.

  • Tanja June 21, 2013, 9:46 pm

    Hi Beth, I will work on finding it again :))

    Btw, there is supposed to be a very good Bohemian Rye bread in Panera Bakery if you have the store anywhere around you :))

  • Lucie June 8, 2015, 8:19 pm

    Hi everyone,
    I think I found the recipe (got to practice some Google-fu).
    czechmatediary.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/bread-recipe.doc
    Hope it’s the right one. Enjoy!
    Lucie

  • Evzen Spatny March 14, 2016, 4:29 pm

    Mila Tanjo!
    Jsem Cech ktery vyrostl v Bratislave a ziji jiz 66 let v Australii v Brisbane. Rad bych se zucastnil na tvem blogu, ale Google reader uz nexistuje. Hledal jsem recept na dobry cesky chleb, mam tu ten link na Czechmate diary, snad to najdu.
    Jako vsude jinde po svete, problem je dostat zitny chleb ktery tak milujeme.
    Ahoj!

  • Anna Mikulcaková July 15, 2017, 4:46 am

    Hello. I can not get the receipe. The link takes me to ads about Icelandibðc restaurants!

  • Dick R February 21, 2018, 4:35 pm

    The link to the recipe does not work. Would any of you previous posters have a copy of the recipe that could be posted here? Otherwise this thread is only hopeful buy largely disappointing.

    Please help?

  • Jakub Przedzienkowski January 25, 2019, 12:36 pm

    What are the best Czech cookbooks in English?

Leave a Comment