Recipe Challenge: Scheiterhaufen

This week's Real German Cuisine Challenge over at AmiExpat.com was Scheiterhaufen. It's a bread pudding with shredded apples that supposedly comes from the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region. (Although here on the fringe of Vorpommern, none of the local folks I've asked, young and old, have ever heard of the dish.) The name literally means "heap of logs", as in a pyre, and may come from the way the ingredients are stacked up.

I followed the recipe, altering it only slightly to reflect my larger dish and my surplus of dry bread rolls. I got two complete layers each of about six halves of sopping eggy bread rolls, followed by spiced shredded apples and raisins. When it came to the final layer (which I was instructed should be bread), I didn't have enough roll halves for a full layer. So I cut up the rolls into small cubes and soaked them down with the last of the egg mixture, spreading them evenly on top. Bread pudding was crowned with some small flecks of butter. And basta! Finis. Pretty easy.

I cooked it in my electric toaster oven for the full amount of time, although I took it out about halfway to sprinkle it with hand-imported-from-the-USA brown sugar. I like to add the sugar midway so that it doesn't dissolve into the fat. I like the crystalline cover it gets this way.

It looked pretty good, and the kitchen filled up with the rich smell of the apples.

To compliment the Scheiterhaufen, I made a quick vanilla sauce. Easy, instant, Dr. Oetker. Looking at the pudding -- served hot, drizzled (or drenched) in vanilla sauce -- made my arteries clench fearfully. But we all held hands and braved the delicious dessert.

(Ouch, my arteries!)

In the end, yeah it was a success. My Mecklenburger and Vorpommeranian housemates and family, totally unfamiliar with this dish, happily helped themselves to seconds. I thought it was pretty tasty, but I wasn't so satisfied with the textures. I thought the bread rolls were a bit thick, and the shredded apple didn't cook down so well -- it stood out. If we had whiskey lying about, and if I weren't so pregnant, this baby would have been drenched in the stuff. A virtually essential accompaniment to bread pudding, in my mind/mouth.

Yes. So, next time: I'm going to cut all the bread into cubes, and the apples as well. A tad more milk/cream/egg to give it a richer custardy consistancy. And whiskey. A good generous drizzle of whiskey.