Weckmann (German St. Martin's Bread Man)

Method

1. 1Warm 250 ml of milk with 80 g of butter in a small saucepan over low heat, just until the butter has melted. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool to 38–40 °C, when it feels pleasantly warm on the inside of your wrist but not hot. Liquid hotter than about 59 °C kills yeast, while lukewarm milk gets it working quickly.
2. 2In a large mixing bowl, stir 500 g of flour (plain wheat flour, type 405) together with 7 g of dry yeast, one packet of the instant kind that goes straight into the flour. Add 70 g of sugar, ½ tsp of salt, the egg and the warm milk and butter. Knead with the dough hooks of a hand mixer for about 5 minutes, first on the lowest speed and then on the highest, or knead by hand for about 10 minutes. The dough is ready when it is smooth and soft and comes away from the sides of the bowl.
3. 3Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave it somewhere warm for 30 to 45 minutes, until the dough has roughly doubled. Judge by the size of the dough rather than the clock, because a cool kitchen slows it down. While it rises, line two large baking trays with baking paper and heat the oven to 160 °C fan (180 °C top and bottom heat).
4. 4Knead the dough briefly on a lightly floured surface and divide it into 6 pieces of 160 g each on a kitchen scale. Roll each piece into a log about 15 cm long, a little thicker at one end, and lay three on each tray with plenty of space between them, because they spread in the oven. With the side of your hand, press a neck into each log a third of the way from the thick end and round the top into a head, then flatten the body with your palm. Cut the lower half up the middle with a knife and spread the two legs slightly apart. Make a slanting cut on each side just below the head and pull the pieces out as arms. If you own a Weckmann cutter (Lecker uses one 17 cm tall), skip the dividing: roll the whole dough out 2–3 cm thick, cut out the men, knead the scraps together and roll them out again. How many you get depends on the cutter.
5. 5Beat the egg yolk with 1 tbsp of milk and brush it all over the men (with top and bottom heat, only the first tray for now, see step 6), so they bake to an even shine. Press in the raisins, two for the eyes and three down the front for buttons, about 30 in all. Push each one in halfway so it stays put while the dough puffs up in the oven.
6. 6With a fan oven, bake both trays together for 18–20 minutes. With top and bottom heat, bake one tray at a time on the middle shelf for the same time and keep the second tray covered with the tea towel on the counter, and brush it with the glaze and press in its raisins only just before it goes in. The men are done when they are golden brown and the base sounds hollow when you tap it. If you have a thermometer, the thickest part should read about 88 °C, which also tells you the egg in the dough is fully cooked. Much higher and they dry out as they cool.
7. 7For the traditional clay pipe, push it into one arm as soon as the tray comes out, while the bread is still warm and soft. Some German recipes press the pipe in before baking. We could not find out whether every pipe on sale can go in the oven, so this recipe adds it afterwards and it never goes in. The pipe is made of clay and can't be eaten. Take it out before anyone bites in, and leave it off for small children, who could choke on it. Let the men cool on a wire rack. They are best on the day they are baked. Once cool and well wrapped they keep for several days at room temperature, and they freeze well. After thawing, warm them briefly in the oven.