rosinenschnecken

rosinenschnecken

• 31 Aug 2026

Last year I attended a conference in Freiburg, Germany. I'd heard good things about a bakery in Freiburg called Brotbruder so I made my way across town. The bakery was busy with a queue outside, always a good sign, and I treated myself to a Rosinenschnecken, aka, a raisin snail.

The snail was lovely and I wanted to recreate it when I came home. I had little to go on because all the recipes I found online didn't match the snail I'd consumed. From my memory the dough wasn't sweet and there didn't appear to be a frangipane or custard filling. The roll was topped with a shiny glaze, which may have been the only sweetening.

I used my foolproof overnight rise dough, topped it with a vanilla butter filling and plumped sultanas. I baked half the batch and covered each snail with lashings of vanilla flavoured glace icing as they came out of the oven. I was quite disappointed. I found the snails tooth achingly sweet so for the second batch I remade the glaze with lemon juice which I drizzled over each snail.

These snails were so much better then the first batch. They were smaller than the Brotbruder snails though so I'm going to tweak the recipe a bit and see if I can get a snail even closer to the original. 

Here's the recipe for you which makes 8 snails and you will have to make the dough a day or 2 before making the snails. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced, you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Rosinen Schnecken

Dough
1¼ tsp yeast
150 mls lukewarm milk
30g caster sugar
1 room temperature egg 
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (300g) plain flour 
½ tsp salt
60g room temperature unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For the filling
75g sultanas (golden raisins)
50g unsalted butter, softened
55g caster sugar
1 tbs almond meal
1 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch seasalt flakes

Assembly
Melted butter/beaten egg/cream

Icing
150g icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tbs lemon juice
 
Dough
Grease a large plastic container and set to one side. Combine the yeast, milk and sugar in a large liquid measuring cup and rest for 5 minutes or until foamy then stir in the egg and the vanilla. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour and salt and stir on low to combine. Add the egg mixture and mix on low to combine. With the mixer on low, add the butter, one piece at a time. When all the butter has been incorporated (about 10 minutes) increase the speed to medium and beat the butter into the dough, until all the little butter pieces are incorporated, and the dough comes away from the side of the bowl. 

Transfer the dough to the prepared container. Cover the container with a lid or with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes. Place your fingers or a spatula underneath the dough and gently pull the dough up and fold it back over itself. Turn the container and repeat this folding again. Continue 6 to 8 more times, until all the dough has been folded over on itself. Re-cover the container and let rise for 30 minutes. Repeat this series of folding 3 more times, for a rise time of 2 hours and a total of 4 foldings. Replace the lid or tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 72 hours.

Whilst the dough is resting, prepare the sultanas. Place the sultanas in a small heatproof bowl, then cover with ½ cup of boiling water or tea and steep for a minimum of 1 hour.

The next day, take the dough out of the fridge. Flour a work surface and knead the dough 10 to 12 times to activate the gluten. Shape the dough into a ball, cover the top lightly with flour, and cover with a tea towel and let come to room temperature.  

Filling
Thoroughly drain the sultanas, then make the filling by mixing the remaining ingredients into a smooth paste.

Assembly

Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper. Roll the dough out into a rectangle measuring about 40 x 25 centimetres. Spread the filling evenly over the dough then sprinkle with the drained sultanas. Place the dough with the short side in front of you and use a ruler and a sharp knife or pizza cutter to mark out eight 3-cm slices. Roll each slice firmly to form a tight roll then place 4 snails onto each prepared tray with plenty of space between the snails. Cover the trays with a clean tea towel or plastic wrap and leave to rise for 1 hour or until puffed and well risen.

While the buns are proofing, preheat the oven to 200°C, conventional. When the buns have proofed, brush the tops of the buns with the beaten egg, melted butter or cream. Place the tray of buns onto the centre rack of the oven then bake the buns for 25-30 minutes, until risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and place the tray on a cooling rack.

Glaze
Mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice until you have a smooth thick glaze. Liberally drizzle each snail with the glaze while they are still warm and let cool before serving.

These are best served the day of baking but can be kept overnight in an airtight container and served the next day.

I froze 2 uncooked buns and pulled one out to defrost and bake when the need for a raisin snail arose. I can confirm they freeze really well and are a real treat when eaten freshly baked and iced.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian