For Christmas or Easter traditional Hungarian households will prepare beigli as a pride of their holiday table. Beigli is a type of fantastic roll filled with ground walnuts or poppy seeds. In New Jersey I have also seen it filled with jam. Simply speaking, it is delicious, packed with flavor, and worth making any time of the year. The homemade versions are the best, but it does take some time to master the dough, and get the fillings just right, so your fillings do not leak out through a cracked pastry.
Ingredients for dough
250 g flour
125 g butter
1 egg yolk
35 g sugar
1 tsp dry yeast
50 mL lukewarm milk
pinch of salt
Ingredients for filling
200 g ground poppy seeds
120 g sugar
140 g milk
40 g semolina
zest of a lemon
30 g rum-soaked raisins
or
200 g walnuts
80 g sugar
100 mL milk
40 g semolina
zest of a lemon
40 g rum soaked raisins
Preparation
To prepare the filling, bring the milk and sugar to a boil. Add the walnuts and poppy seeds premixed with the semolina. Cook until it becomes a thick paste. You may need to add more milk: my store-bought ground poppy seeds were very dry.
Add the lemon zest and the soaked raisins.
Crumble the butter into the flour, rubbing it between your hands, until small crumbs form.
Bloom the yeast with the milk and a portion of the sugar. Add the bloomed yeast and all other ingredients and work it until you get a smooth dough.
Divide into two balls and roll out into large rectangles. The larger the rectangles the thinner each layer will be, and the more beautiful your rolls end up coming out.
Spread on the fillings, one poppy seed and one walnut, leaving an inch on each edge. Fold up the left and right edge (these will be the ends of the rolls), then roll up the dough starting at the edge in front of you, all the way to the other side.
Move the logs onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
Brush the logs with egg wash, and let the dough rise in a cool place for 4-5 hours.
Prick the rolls with a skewer in multiple places, to allow the steam to escape. Bake in a 350F oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting. Store at cold room temperature wrapped with foil up to a week (or even two, depending on how cool your room temperature is).
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