No-Yeast Plum Rolls

I admit it. Baking these plum rolls, I failed. Yes, they are very delicious and yes, they're full of fruity flavours but - they don't look nice. To be more exact, it was a complete mess. I know that the taste is much more important than the look but still, I wanted to have pretty and yummy plum rolls. No chance. Those were yummy but so not pretty. The sides of the rolls look smashed while the juice of the plums spread between the rolls while baking so it somehow looks like soaked. Horrible. But hey, you can't have everything in life, right?! Since they still tasted good after all I'll just have to make something up to bake beautiful and delicious plum rolls. And I've learned one thing from this, namely how to cover up something baked that turned out unpretty: Dust it with about a ton of icing sugar so that the whole mess is hidden under a thick layer of sugar and unrecognizable to anyone. That's it. You live and learn.

 

No-Yeast Plum Rolls

dough
150gm yogurt
50gm vegetable oil
100 - 150gm sugar (depends on whether you use sweetened or unsweetened yogurt)
1 tsp salt
1 egg
400gm flour

In a large bowl mix together yogurt, oil, sugar, salt and egg. Sieve over the flour and mix well. Knead the dough until it becomes very smooth and elastic. Roll out very thinly on a lightly floured surface or on a sheet of baking paper.

filling
2 cups plums, in very small pieces or slices
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp sugar

Preheat your oven to 175 C. Combine the ingredients for the filling and arrange on top of the rolled out dough. Roll in the dough together with the filling inside and cut in 12 equal pieces/small rolls. Line a medium size round baking pan with baking paper and place the small plum rolls in the baking pan. Bake in the preheated oven for about 40 - 50 minutes until done. Let cool completely and dust with some icing sugar.

Cheese filled Sesame Strudel

I like yeasted dough so much. Every single day I have to eat something made with yeast, no matter if it's something sweet, e.g. cinnamon rolls or something savory, like fresh bread or buns. The taste and the consistency of a baked yeast dough is simply my favorite. 

This is why I'm here to share with you one of the best savory strudel recipes on this planet. The inside contains a lot of cheese and many herbs (almost any herbs or spices can be used) while the top of the strudel is brushed with fresh olive oil and a lot of sesame seeds. This strudel is perfect either for breakfast, for lunch or for dinner, and it can be served as a side dish with meat or as a main course with a simple salad and a spicey dip.

Cheese filled Sesame Strudel

dough
500gm white flour
20gm fresh yeast, in crumbles or small pieces
2 tsp salt
300ml warm water
3 Tabsp olive oil
1 egg
2 Tabsp sugar

Combine the crumbled yeast, sugar and water in a glass bowl and set aside for about 5 minutes until the mixture is very foamy and light. In a very large glass bowl sift together flour and salt. Add the egg, oil and the yeast mixture. Mix well using a wooden spoon or spatula slowly adding the flour from the sides of the bowl. Place the dough on a floured surface and knead for about 2 - 3 minutes until you have a very soft and elastic dough. Place in the glass bowl again and let rise at a very warm place for about 1 - 1.5 hours, until doubled in size.

filling
200gm Greek white and crumbly cheese (or use any other cheese you like, fresh mozarella will be perfect as well)
1 cup cottage cheese or farmer's cheese
2 Tabsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 Tabsp coriander leaves, chopped
1 Tabsp chili sauce (I was using ajika / aджика / aџьыка, which is a very hot and spicey Caucasian red paste)
1 tsp salt
a pinch of pepper
1 tsp majoram, dried

+ about 2-3 Tabsp olive oil for brushing
some sesame seeds (about 2 tsp)
some coarse salt (about 1/2 tsp)
some black cumin seeds (about 1 tsp)
some ground dried rosemary (about 1 tsp)

Mix the Greek cheese using a fork until very crumbly. Add the cottage cheese, parsley, coriander leaves, chili sauce and as much salt, pepper and herbs as desired, mix well. 

Now fill the yeast dough: Roll out the dough very thinly in a square shape, arrange the filling mixture on top. Roll the dough in and form a strudel. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper and place the strudel on it. Brush the strudel with some lukewarm water (about 2 Tabsp) to make sure that the top of the strudel won't become dry but stays moist and wet. Let rise again at a very warm place for another hour.

Preheat your oven to 175 C. Brush the completely risen strudel with olive oil and sprinkle the top with sesame seeds, salt, black cumin seeds and rosemary. Place in the oven and bake for about 30 - 40 minutes until nicely browned.

 

Sweet Yeasted Cinnamon Swirls

Is there anything yummier than sweet cinnamon swirl buns for breakfast?
The warm scent of cinnamon and slightly caramelized top when you take the swirls out of the oven is just amazing. Actually I wanted to dust the baked swirls with some icing sugar on top but I couldn't. I skipped the icing sugar and I found myself eating the warm cakes right away just like that.
They now definitely belong to my all-time favorite recipes, I can't wait to bake them again. So please, do me a favor and bake those swirls right now. You'll love them.

Sweet Yeasted Cinnamon Swirls 
recipe adapted from Solodke (in Russian), recipe slightly changed

for one medium size round baking pan
500gm white flour
1 tsp salt
20gm fresh yeast in very small pieces or crumbles
100gm sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
300ml luke warm milk
100gm butter or margarine, melted
about 2 Tabsp ground cinnamon (or more if desired)
about 2 Tabsp white sugar (normally I increase the amount of cinnamon and reduce the sugar as I prefer the swirls or buns to have a very strong cinnamon flavour)

Combine the fresh yeast, milk and sugar in a small glass bowl and let sit for a few minutes until the mixture starts to become light and foamy.
Using a large glass bowl sift together flour and salt, form a mould in the middle of the flour mixture. Add the yeast mixture, the eggs and the melted butter. Stir carefully using a wooden spatula and adding more and more flour from the sides of the bowl until everything is incorporated. Move the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until it becomes very smooth and elastic. (You might need to add a little bit more flour to the dough if it's too sticky.)
Place the dough in the glass bowl again and let rise at a very warm place (25° - 35°C) for about 1 hour until doubled in size.
Line the bottom of a medium size baking pan with baking paper. Combine ground cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.
Remove the dough from the glass bowl and devide into 3 equal parts. Roll out the first one into a round shape. Sprinkle the cinnamon mixture on top. Cut the rolled out dough into triangular segments. Roll in each piece of dough starting from the outside and moving inwards. Place the swirls in the lined baking pan.
Continue with the 2 remaining parts of the dogh and put everything in the baking pan. It doesn't have to be perfect, the messier you prepare the buns the cuter they will look afterwards. Sprinkle the top of the swirls with some more cinnamon and sugar if desired.
Let rise again at a very warm place for another 30 minutes until the yeasted dough has risen notably. Preheat the oven to 190°C. Bake for about 30 minutes until done and nicely browned. Remove from the oven. Take a deep breath and enjoy the amazing scent in your whole apartment. Eat.

Viennese Apfelstrudel

After two posts about baking with apples I honestly still don't have enough of them. You can create soo many delicious things using apples, they seem to be kind of a miracle in my kitchen. There are things like apple jam, apple buns, apple muffins, apple pancakes, apple cakes, apple tarts and no matter where you put the apples in, everything turns out delicious. That's why I'm going to show you another amazing apple recipe. I'm not Austrian and I've never been to Vienna but the traditional viennese Apfelstrudel is what I fell in love with.

Viennese Apfelstrudel

dough
250gm white flour
2gm salt
1 egg
100gm lukewarm water
20gm oil

some melted butter for brushing
some sliced almonds for sprinkling

filling
1kg apples, in pieces or chunks
140gm sugar
10gm cinnamon
170gm raisins
50gm melted butter

Combine the ingredients for the dough using your hands and knead until the dough becomes very elastic and soft. Add a bit more oil if the dough sticks to your fingers.
Place in a bowl and let sit for about 30 minutes.

Combine the ingredients for the filling and mix well.
Preheat oven to 190C.
Roll out the dough in a rectangular shape on a floured surface. The dough should be very thin. Place a clean towel on the rolled out dough and roll it in very carefully making sure not to tear the dough.Flip over the rolled in towel and roll it out in the opposite direction so that the dough is now on top of the towel and not unterneath.
Arrange the filling evenly on top of the dough leaving the sides without filling.
Fold in the sides of the dough. Slowly roll in the dough with the filling using the towel.
Place on a lined baking sheet. Brush with some melted butter and sprinkle some sliced almonds on top.
Bake for about 30 - 40 minutes until golden brown. 
Enjoy :)

Grandma's Cinnamon Roll (Strudel)

The smell of cinnamon is the one that comes into my nose and goes straight into my heart. My grandma has always been using a lot of cinnamon in anything baked and I remember her kitchen often smelling like cinnamon roll when I was little. Especially on cold winter days she still bakes about five or six large strudels at one time (which makes the whole neighborhood smell like a french bakery) and feeds our whole family until everyone's full up. That's why I'm going to adore this strudel forever. 
So here comes the recipe for you to try ...

Cinnamon Roll or Cinnamon Strudel
makes about 2 large rolls

dough
42gm fresh yeast
1.5 c warm milk
about 3/4 c sugar (it depends on how sweet you want your strudel to be)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp salt
about 800gm white flour (or a bit more if needed)

cinnamon filling
1 Tabsp ground cinnamon
1 Tabsp sugar

Combine fresh yeast and the sugar with about 5 tablespoons of the warm milk. Let sit for a few minutes until bubbly.
Add remaining milk, eggs and salt. Whisk until well incorporated.
Sieve over flour and whisk, then knead in. Continue kneading for about 3 - 4 minutes. Add a bit more flour if needed. The dough should be smooth and elastic but still slightly stick to your fingers.
Place into a bowl (make sure that you use a glass bowl otherwise the yeast might not incorporate that well). Let rise at a very warm place for about 1 hour until doubled in size.
Remove dough from glass bowl. 
Combine ground cinnamon and sugar.
Knead the dough again, for about 2 minutes until it is very soft and elastic. 
Use a roller to roll it out into a thin sheet. Sprinkle with cinnamon mixture and roll up again.
Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Place strudel onto the baking sheet and let rise at a warm place as well, for about 40 minutes.
Preheat oven to 175C. Bake for about 30 minutes. Let cool. 
(I have to admit that I can never wait until the strudel has cooled completely, I just have to eat one or two slices when it's still hot. Despite of knowing that eating hot yeasted cakes is not good for the stomach it's so delicious that I can't keep my hands off.)