Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Cinnamon Rolls

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Making these beautiful cinnamon rolls was the first time for me to work with yeast dough on my own. I baked cakes from yeast dough before but always with my mom together. My mom is very talented, her yeast cakes are always beautiful and yummie. She learnt the recipes from her mom. I was a bit afraid how these cinnamon rolls would turn out but I was ready to challenge myself.

Working with this flexible and not sticky dough was amazing. I loved it and enjoyed every moment. I started making it in the evening so by the time all the 32 rolls were ready it was 11 pm.
Ree’s recipe inspired me to make these rolls but I changed a few things.

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients
– 5 cups white spelt flour, sifted
– 1 package (7 g) dry yeast
– 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
– 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
– 500 ml milk
– 1/2 cup sunflower oil
– 1/4 cup cane sugar
– butter
– cinnamon
– cane sugar
Method

Pour the milk, sunflower oil and sugar in a large pan. Heat until just before the boiling point. Turn off the heat and leave to cool about 40 minutes. When the mixture is lukewarm, pour it into a big bowl then add the dry yeast. Let it sit for 5-8 minutes then add 4 cups flour. Stir mixture together, cover it with a tablecloth and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir mixture very well.

Sprinkle the rolling surface with flour. Divide the dough in half and start working with one of them. Roll the dough thin (0,5 cm) maintaining a rectangular shape. Spread it with melted butter and sprinkle with cane sugar and cinnamon (take as much as sweet you would like to be).

Starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you (keep it as tight as you can). Pinch the ends of the roll to seal it. Cut the rolls about 1-1,5 cm thick and lay them in a buttered pans. Let the rolls rise for 30 minutes then bake at 180-200C (350-375F) for 15-25 minutes.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough.

Kalács, the Hungarian Sweet Braided Bread

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This is a traditional family recipe. Mothers passed the recipe to their daughters. I don’t remember when I ate it for the first time but I remember where… at my grandmother’s place (my mom’s mother). That time I didn’t know that she owns a special recipe. Special because she baked her heart and soul in it, that is why this sweet braided bread is so tender. Whenever I eat kalács (pronounced [ˈkɒlaːtʃ]) I always look for this texture but I never find it. 

My grandmother had taught my mom how to make and bake kalács and she taught me too. It is my job to take over the baton… one day I will teach my children how to bake my heart and soul into this sweet braided bread. 
It can be made for any holiday, but it has the most symbolism on Easter (often it is consecrated together with ham in Catholic churches). Traditionally kalács is made with milk and butter to create its brioche-like texture and is braided with three or four strands. The kalács dough needs special care. Prewarm the oven, shut it off, and use it as the place to let the dough rise. Use the stovetop as a warm spot to let the yeast proof. Also depending on the weather, the dough may require more or less flour. This recipe can make one medium-size loaf and eight pieces of brioche.

Kalács, the Hungarian Sweet Braided Bread

Ingredients (makes 1 loaf and 8 pieces of brioche)

– 400 ml lukewarm milk
– 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar (to rise the yeast)
– 25 g fresh yeast
– 60 g butter, melted
– 650 g all-purpose wheat flour, sifted
– 1 organic egg +1 for the egg wash
– 11 teaspoon granulated sugar
– 1/4 teaspoon salt

Method

One hour before starting, place everything on the table and keep them on room temperature.

In a small bowl crumble the yeast with 100 ml lukewarm milk and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Allow yeast to proof.

In another bowl whisk the egg with the remaining sugar (11 teaspoon) and salt. Add the proofed yeast mixture, the reamining milk (300 ml) and about 430 g flour. Mix everything with a wooden spoon until just combined. Start adding the melted butter step by step and work it in the dough with the wooden spoon until the dough comes off (pull away) the bowl and gets very shiny (about 10 minutes). It is not easy to work with your hands instead of a standing mixer but you will appreciate the end result. 🙂

Now change the wooden spoon into your hands. Start adding the remaining flour (220 g) step by step while kneading the dough until it gets moist, shiny but not sticky (about 10-15 minutes). Leave the dough in the bowl, cover with a clean cloth and let it rise for 30-40 minutes or until it has doubled in bulk.

Punch down the risen dough and turn out onto floured board. Divide in half and knead each half for 5 minutes, then divide one half into thirds and roll into long snake (set the other half aside). Pinch the ends of the three snakes together firmly and start breading with the pinched end across from you, work from left to righ, moving the left outermost strand over the second strand, under the third strand. Then start from the left again (the second strand in the previous braid is now the first strand). Repeat until the braided bread is complete (how to braid kalács). Press braided ends tightly and tuck them under the dough. Grease a baking tray with butter and carefully place finished braid on it. Set aside.

Divide the other half dough into 8 equal pieces. Divide each piece into thirds and roll into snakes again. Form braid into a round braided loaf by bringing ends together, curving braid into a circle, pinch ends together. (Here is another technique to form brioche.) Repeat with the 7 remaining pieces then place them onto the baking tray next to the kalács. Cover with the cloth and let rise about 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180-190C (360-375F).

Beat the egg and brush a generous amount over the kalács and brioche. Bake at 180-190C (360-375F) for about 30-40 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool before slicing.

Ribboned carnival doughnuts

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Doughnuts are the most popular dessert – or trade mark – of the merry carnival season in Hungary which bids farewell to winter and stretches from the Epiphany to Ash Wednesday. Ribboned doughnuts, thus named for the white stripe around the golden brown sweet, are the best known.

Ingredients (makes about 50)

– 500 g flour, sifted
– 25 g fresh yeast
– 2 egg yolks
– 50 g powder sugar
– 50 g butter, melted
– 500 ml milk
– pinch of salt
– 2 tablespoons of rum

Method

Before you start making the doughnuts keep all the ingredients on room temperature for an hour. Dissolve the yeast with a pinch of powder sugar in 300 ml lukewarm milk and leave to work. In a bowl mix together the egg yolks with the remaining powder sugar. Add the yeast mixture to the yolks, then the melted butter, the flour, the remaining milk, the rum and the pinch of salt to have a medium soft dough. Knead thoroughly, then cover it with a dish cloth and in a moderately warm place let it rise until it is about one and a half times in volume. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a floured surface. Roll out to a thickness of half an inch, cut with a large (about 7 cm long in diameter) pastry cutter and leave to prove under the dish cloth again for a further 30 minutes.

Before you start frying them press a small hollow with your thumb on each doughnut. Fry them in plenty of medium hot oil. Cover with a lid a fry one side until golden brown. Turn over and fry the other side without the lid. That’s how you get the “ribbon” running along the sides. Serve with apricot jam (spoon it in the middle of the hollow). Sprinkle them with powder sugar. Yum!