Shaping the bread

In the Netherlands, the duivekater appears for Christmas, New Year, Pentecost and Easter; in Belgium, the loaves of bread morphed into different forms spreading across regions. If not called vollaard, the loaf is called engelenkoek or engeltje Gabriel (angels’ cake or angel Gabriel) in Bruges, and toteman in Tienen.

Cougnou became the end of the year, winter, and New Year bread of Wallonia and around the language border with Flanders and French Flanders. It is roughly shaped like a swaddled baby with one small ball for the head, a larger oval shape for the body and another small ball for the feet. We still see the afterimage of patacons in the chalk buttons and sugar baby Jesus baked into festive cougnou loaves. It is sold from October to January. In France, the festive loaf is called mannele and shaped like a little man.