Hungarian jam pastry

Let me correct myself: it's not really jam. Apricot lekvar receives a separate entry in Julia Child's bread book, and there is a good reason for that. It's not a jam. The preparation process is significantly different, with fruit and sugar slowly cooked to a thick spread. No gelatin is added to fix the fruit juices. No. The water evaporates and the juices thicken and concentrate their flavor.

It's delicious stuff, and particularly handy when you are trying to make a yeast-based dough filled with a fruit spread. Jam would soak your bread. Lekvar does become a little more liquidy, but no soaking happens.

Baked pastry filled with any kind of fruit lekvar is the stuff of dreams. Give it a try sometime. BTW, in Hungary this would be called lekvaros bukta.

Ingredients
1 portion of this dough
a jar of apricot lekvar
1 egg

Preparation
When the dough has doubled in size, press into a square and roll out to a rectangle until the dough is only 0.5 inch thick.

Cut into squares and ladle large heaps of the lekvar in the middle. Seal and place into a greased baking shape next to each other.

Brush with egg wash and allow to double in size again. Bake at 350F, until golden brown.

Serve fresh, or freeze and microwave before serving. It's even better that way :-)