Grandma teaches the art of making zwieback
These images and more, (plus Grandma's recipe) are in the Limited Edition book; Grandma's Hands by Fern Bartel nee Schmidt.
Also available at Museum Store Grandma Voth shows how to make zwieback on DVD
Mennonite Heritage Museum cookbook From Pluma Moos to Pie Available at Museum Store
Krause House Zwieback
2 1/2 cups milk 1 T. salt
1/4 cup margarine 2 pkg. dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar flour
Warm milk, margarine, sugar and salt to 120-130 degrees. Combine 3 cups flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add warm liquids all at once. Blend at low mixer speed for 1/2 minute. Then beat at high speed 3 minuets. Stir in enough flour to handle. Knead until smooth. Dough should not be too soft. Cover and let dough rise 1 hour or until double. Grease cookie sheet. Pinch off large balls of dough and place on greased cookie sheet. Pinch off smaller balls and place on top, pressing down firmly with flat of fingers. Cover and let rise 30 minutes. Bake until brown in 400 degree oven, about 15-30 minutes.
Zwieback, The Mennonite Bun
From the cookbook MENNONITE FOODS AND FOLKWAYS FROM SOUTH RUSSIA, Vol. I,
by Norma Jost Voth (1990, 1994) p. 36
Zwieback may will have originated in Holland where they were used as food on shipboard, thus, finding their way to the Vistula Delta through the port city of Danzig. Or it may have been just the opposite---the Zwieback and Schiffsbrote (ships bread) produced by Danzig bakers eventually finding their way to other parts of northern Europe.
Zwieback may be the only Mennonite food dating back to the time of the Reformation or the time of Menno Simons (1496-1561), speculates historian Cornelius Krahn. One clue to this is Tweebaksmarkt (Zwieback market), a street which the Krahns discovered in Leeuwarden on a trip to the Netherlands in 1953.
Whatever its origin, the tradition along with the emigrants, made its way to North and South Amerian and remains a strong part of ou food heritage.