Bireweche-Alsatian Christmas Fruit Bread

The 1000 Foods to Eat Before You Die has so many foods to be eaten at Christmas and Elena and I are trying our best to make them all.  We made a Bireweche which is an Alsatian Christmas fruit bread.  I know that that, normally, seems suspect-we have all had our share of really bad fruit cake.  In this case, dried figs, pears, raisins and prunes are combined with chopped walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds. They are left to soak overnight in kirsch and then combined with a traditional yeast bread.  When this is baked, it really is a bread but studded with dried fruit and nuts.  Bireweche is unlike any fruit cake you have ever eaten.