Breudher

{{Short description|Sri Lankan baked good}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}

{{EngvarB|date=November 2019}}

{{Infobox food

| name = Breudher

| image =

| image_size = 250px

| caption =

| alternate_name = Breuder, Bloeder

| country = Sri Lanka

| region =

| creator =

| course =

| type = Cake

| served =

| main_ingredient = yeast, eggs, butter, sugar, nutmeg, raisins

| variations =

| calories = 100

| other =

}}

Breudher, also known as Brueder or Bloeder (pronounced as broo-dhuh), is a traditional Sri Lankan Dutch Burgher buttery yeast cake, baked in a fluted mould.{{cite book|title=Food of Sri Lanka|author1=Bullis, Douglas|author2=Hutton, Wendy|publisher=Tuttle Publishing|date=2001|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9789625937601/page/18 18]|isbn=9781462907182|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9789625937601/page/18}}{{cite news|url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/020811/plus/10.html|title=Frikkadels and lamprais: The best of Burgher cooking|first=Thiruni|last=Kelegama|newspaper=The Sunday Times|access-date=14 November 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://www.glorious-food-glossary.com/cms/glossary/35-glossary-b/16259-breudher.html|title=Breudher|publisher=Glorious Food|work=Glorious Food Glossary|access-date=16 November 2019}} A variation, Bleuda, Kueh Bleuda or Kue Bludder is also found in the Malacca Dutch Eurasian community and in Kochi, a city in the south-west of India.{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/bundt-it-like-breudher/article19593548.ece|title=Bundt it like breudher|newspaper=The Hindu|author=Priyadershini, S.|date=31 August 2017|access-date=18 November 2019}}

The mould used to bake the Breudher is typically a heavy brass or iron mould with deep groves with a tube in the centre, so that when the cake is baked, it comes out in a grooved ring shape with a central cylindrical hole.{{cite book|title=NerdBaker: Extraordinary Recipes, Stories & Baking Adventures from a True Oven Geek|first=Christopher|last=Tan|publisher=Epigram Books|date=2015|isbn=9789814615761}}

Each family has its own variation, but essentially the recipe for Breudher consists of butter, sugar, eggs, bread dough, milk, nutmeg and raisins/sultanas. The end product is a bread like cake with a slight yeasty taste.{{cite book|title=Sri Lankan Cooking|author1=Bullis, Douglas|author2=Hutton, Wendy|publisher=Tuttle Publishing|date=2014|isbn=9781462905775}}

Breudher is traditionally served at Christmas breakfast,{{cite news|url=http://www.themorning.lk/brunch-page-8-christmas-food/|title=Your guide to eating well this Christmas|publisher=The Sunday Morning|date=9 December 2018|access-date=16 November 2019}} and New Years Day,{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-03-fo-1648-story.html|title=Ethnic Cooking : Poffertjes of the Season|newspaper=LA Times|date=3 December 1992|last=Hansen|first=Barbara|access-date=18 November 2019}} cut into slices, spread with butter and topped with Dutch Edam cheese or fruit, such as green skinned bananas.{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of the Sri Lankan Diaspora|editor=Reeves, Peter|publisher=Editions Didier Millet|date=2013|page=43|isbn=9789814260831}}{{cite book|title=The Globalization of Asian Cuisines: Transnational Networks and Culinary|editor=Farrer, James|publisher=Springer|date=2015|isbn=9781137514080}}

The difference in the recipe between the Sri Lanka Dutch Burgher and the Malacca Dutch Eurasian community, is that the Malaccan version uses toddy (fermented sap from the flower of the coconut tree) instead of yeast.{{cite web|url=http://tuck-shop.co/the-double-deaths-of-toddy-and-blueder-cake/|title=The Double Deaths of Toddy and Bluder Cake |publisher=Tuck Shop|first=Sheere|last= Ng|date=11 April 2018|access-date=16 November 2019}}{{cite book|title=Singapore Eurasians: Memories, Hopes And Dreams|author=Pereira, Alexius A.|publisher=World Scientific|date=2016|page=254|isbn=9789813109612}} It is likely that toddy was used as a local substitute when yeast was difficult to source. In Cochin bakers use maida flour, ghee (instead of butter), candied orange peel, a blend of ground spices and serve it as a bread loaf. Traditionally the local Anglo-Indian community serve it as part of breakfast during a wake, seven days after a funeral.{{cite web|url=https://routecochin.com/work/breudher-story/|title=The Story of a Dutch Bread called Breudher|publisher=Route Cochin|author=Rajoo, Ananya|access-date=19 November 2019}}{{cite news|url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/viral-and-trending/240917/tracing-breudher.html|title=Tracing Breudher|newspaper=Deccan Chronicle|last=Thomas|first=Elizabeth|date=24 September 2017|access-date=19 November 2019}}