In the evening, prepare your starter. Mix 50 g of whole grain rye flour, 50 g water and 1 tablespoon of your active starter. Cover and leave to ferment overnight until nicely puffed bubbly, and active.

In the morning, first prepare the corn flour – pour the boiling water over it, mix well and leave to cool. Once cooled, prepare the dough. Dissolve all of your starter in milk, add wheat and steamed corn flour, and salt. Mix well and then knead the dough for 5 minutes so it becomes elastic, soft and workable.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and cover the bowl with cloth or wrap to prevent the dough from drying out. Leave it to rise until doubled in volume. It took my dough 5 hours, yours might take more or less, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

Once the dough is ready, transfer it to unfloured working surface, lightly dust some flour over the top of the dough and shape it into ball. Cover the dough with a cloth or wrap and leave to rest for 10 minutes, so the gluten relaxes. In this way, the shaping will be easier.

After 10 minutes, divide the dough into 4 parts. Take each part (one at a time) and first elongate it to a rectangular shape. Use your scissors or bench knife to cut into the bottom part of the dough to shape the legs. You can leave them as they are or you can roll each leg with your hands a little bit.

Cut into the upper part to make the horns. Finish the horns by rolling and thinning each part with your hand. Next, turn them on the inside on outside. If the dough feels sticky, wet your hands with little water and then try again. You can use your imagination to shape the Krampus bread in any shape you like.

Brush your Krampus breads with water and decorate them with raisins (make eyes), pumpkin seeds or ground anise to give them an extra sweet taste – it goes well with corn flour.

Transfer the breads to a lightly floured parchment paper and cover them with a plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out. Let them rise for about 90 minutes or until they pass the poking test. Make an indent with your finger and observe the reaction. If the indent comes back quickly, leave them to rise more. If the indent comes back slowly, your breads are ready to be put in the oven.

At least 30 minutes before the dough is ready to be put in the oven, preheat your baking stone (or a tray, if you don’t have a baking stone) and a separate baking tray that you put on the lower rack to the highest temperature of your oven.

When ready, load the Krampus breads with a parchment paper on a pizza peel and slide it on a baking stone. Throw 10 ice cubes on a baking tray, close the oven door and lower the temperature to 230°C (446°F). Bake for 20 minutes or until nicely baked golden crust. If you can’t put all the breads into the oven at once, transfer the rest of them into fridge to prevent over proofing. 

When baked, let them cool on a cooling rack and then enjoy with a cup of warm milk and jam.