Trdlo – crazy bread!?
After our snack, we wandered to the Old Town Square in the heart of the city where the biggest Christmas Market in town is held. The atmosphere here feels so much celebratory than home with stalls selling gingerbread, Christmas decorations, roasted chesnuts, candied almonds and so on. There is a large Christmas tree in the middle of the square and a nativity scene in front of it. Everyone is rugged up in thick jackets and scarves, wandering around with paper cups of mulled wine or grog (hot rum) in their mittened hands.
We came across an unusual-looking traditional Czech pastry called Trdlo. The stallholder told us that the word ‘trdlo’ means crazy – I guess because the bread is loopy? Any other ideas?
Anyway, the dough is wrapped around a steel rolling pin, baked over open flames then rolled in sugar, vanilla, rushed almonds and cinnamon while it’s stil hot. Deliciously warm and fragrant but the bread is just a tad on the doughy side for us (as with most of the bread here, we find). It seems very popular here though – I wonder if you can only find it at this time of year?
December 17th, 2005 at 9:19 pm
Wow Cin great to see the travel updates! I can experience Christmas on the other side of the globe while remaining here in Melbourne!
Looking forward to more!
December 19th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
As far as I can tell, (and I’ve dug into the issue a bit) Trdlo is a historical invention. Having lived in the Czech republic for quite some time, and speak czech and talking to many people about it, there doesn’t seem to be any collective memory of the stuff. It appeared for the first time in Prague in 2002 (I remember the small stall) and since then the fad has exploded. There seems to be no historical reference to Trdlo before 2002. As for it’s ingredients, it’s simply sweet dough rolled in sugar and cinnamon.
Dennison Bertram
http://www.dennisonbertram.com
prague fashion photographer
December 20th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Thanks for the info, Dennis. I looked into this some time ago as well and recall someone else saying that it’s not a traditional recipe. I won’t complain though – it tastes good!
January 5th, 2007 at 6:41 am
Actually, a few days ago I was in Prague. The smell of Trdlo was excellent. I’ve tasted one and liked it very much. However, there was quite a long que when I wanted to try it for the second time. Now, it is on my mind, I wish it to be in my stomach!
January 7th, 2007 at 10:21 am
I was in prague for the newyear’s day and I tasted the trdlo…wonderful…do you happen to know what are the ingredients for the dough?…I guess eggs flour sugar milk…what else?
thanks
January 7th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
horatio: yes the scent is so enticing that thinking about it can make your mouth water.
dario: there don’t seem to be any recipes available in english but i can’t imagine that you could go wrong by baking a sweet bread and rolling it in sugar, cinnamon and almonds. let me know how you go!
October 18th, 2007 at 11:02 am
It is great to see some discussion about this. Trdlo has to be one of my top favorite foods. I can taste it now!
I remember it in both Prague and some smaller cities or villages before 2001, if we’re looking for a year. True, there isn’t really much of a collective memory of the stuff (Just a few days ago I bought some and the Czech lady behind me in line had never heard of it), but then again, its easy for old recipes to fall by the wayside except for surviving in a few circles – Kind of like how some people in the American South swear boiled peanuts have always been popular, and others are sure it must be some kind of newfangled invention…
Staroceske Trdlo/Trdelnik can also be found in Slovakia, though the dough is sometimes a little different.
Topping varies from place to place; many places actually use Hazelnut and not Almond, and some use no cinnamon.
Along with a short historical explanation, an English recipe for one variation of this can be found at:
http://www.recipezaar.com/165166
If you can speak Czech or Slovak, you shouldn’t have a problem with these:
http://www.cukrar.cz/poradna_vypsat.asp?id=1&id_prispevku=42
http://www.labuznik.com/recipe.php?ID=15120
Cheers, and if anyone figures out a good way to rig this up over a barbecue, let me know!
December 14th, 2007 at 3:06 am
Hello,
I am Czech so I can tell you what TRDLO really means. It comes from old Czech where it meant a pole, especially a standing pole that could be used for various purposes like tieing up animals (goats etc) or also keepint fiber when making threads etc.etc. The saying was “do not stand here like a trdlo” (and rather do something useful. So people who used to stand and not to know what to do or how to work, there were considered foolish, maybe a little bit stupid for not to know what should be done. So this way in modern Czech this word means someone who had done something stupid, but it is not serious, it is often used to address children who just made something that has to be repaired.
So trdlo really means a pole or a stick, simply the stick on which one makes the food you had seen. The food is rarely called trdlo itself, traditionally it is called trdelnik, but a company that sells it most has patented the name trdlo for this food though it is a little bit nonsense in Czech but propably shorter, who knows why.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:01 am
INCREDIBLE taste
worth give them a try
June 27th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Does anyone know where it would be possible to get one of the ovens in the USA? So far it seems like I’ll have to make one…
October 29th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Make an oven… What? No, just light a fire and roast the trdelnik over it. just me sure to keep it well rotated while cooking.
October 29th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Be, not me
December 1st, 2009 at 2:31 am
Being Czech as well, I can explain a bit, I guess. The thing that before 2000, you could rarely buy trdlo, is probably mainly because of historic reasons. During the communist era, many things vanished and only some are slowly coming into revival, similarly to trdlo. The other examples could be mead, rarely available, absinth, banned during communism, local beer, now also getting more and more popular.
So take wiki or some other search engine and you might find Slovak town of Skalica, which is supposed to be the home of trdlo. It was brought there by transylvanian chef, who served to hungarian general on retirement. Wonderful cultural mix, resulting in tasty pastry, isn’t it?
December 19th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Quote “We came across an unusual-looking traditional Czech pastry called Trdlo.”.
Hehehehe … you make my really laught. Trdlo is instrument (mandrell) on wich is backing “trdelnÃk” this special cake. This cake is origin from little town near the Czech border in west Slovakia which name is Skalica in districk Myjava.
December 19th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Happy to provide a giggle or two and to learn more about this pastry! I called it Trdlo as that’s what the man at the stall said it was…so having not seen it before, I took his word for it. So the cake is called Trdelnik then?
February 14th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
I was in May 2009 in Praha and bought one of those delicious Trdlo. Now I would like to make it at home in Germany. Does anybody know the recipe how to make it and where can I get this oven? I would be grateful for any help.
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April 26th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
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May 1st, 2010 at 1:03 pm
That bread looks delicious.. anything with cinnamon and almonds I am definitely down with! And the twisty is so unique.. I’d love to eat it. Trying to figure out what I can scrounge up in the kitchen to compare to this. Yeah.. nadda.
-Sylvia
June 8th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Wow.. nice pics! That Trdlo looks delicious!