Chimney Cake/ Kürtőskalács

Since we moved to the UK 5 years ago, every Christmas I am longing for our favourite must eat festive treat: Kürtőskalács. Usually you eat them warm in a cold, dark windy, maybe snowy  December day... made at the spot of the Christmas market. Traditionally it is made above open fire....but I don't have such an opportunity. 

Chimney Cake/Kürtőskalács

Traditionally it is made above open fire....but I don't have such an opportunity. Therefore my dear husband created this "mechanism", which enables me to turn the chimney cake continuously below my grill. All you need is an unused baking tray, a thick rolling pin and some metal parts with screws...pretty basic but it works.

"Kürtőskalács or kürtős kalács is a Hungarian pastry also known as chimney cake or stove cake. It is baked on a tapered cylindrical spit over an open fire. In the past decades, it became popular to bake it in special gas- and electric ovens. The Kürtőskalács originated from Transylvania, a historical region in present-day Romania with a sizable Hungarian population. The name derives from the Hungarian words kürtő that refers to chimney or 'wide pipe length', and kalács meaning "cake". It is famous as Hungary's oldest pastry^. Kürtőskalács is sold in bakeries and pastry shops, and even street vendors are selling them on street corners, carnivals, and fairs.

Kürtőskalács consists of a thin yeast pastry ribbon wound around a wooden cylinder, heavily sprinkled with sugar, thus becoming a helix-shaped pastry which may taper very slightly towards the end. The pastry is baked on a hand-turned, tapered, wooden spit, rolled slowly on the wooden cylinder above an open fire. The dough is yeast-raised, flavored with sweet spices, the most common being cinnamon, topped with walnuts or almonds, and sugar. The sugar is caramelized on the kürtőskalács surface, creating a sweet, crispy exterior, and a soft, smooth interior." from Wikipedia

Ingredients for 3 big chimney cake

250g flour 

2 tbsp sugar

15g fresh yeast

130ml milk

1egg

1egg yolk

40ml vegetable oil or melted butter

extra oil for greasing the rolling pin

For topping

sugar

*optional: cinnamon, dessicated coconut, any spice you like

Put the fresh yeast into the lukewarm milk and leave it to rest about 10 minutes, until the yeast rises. Mix the rest of the ingredients and add the yeast-milk mixture. Form a dough and knead it for 5 minutes. When you have a really soft nice dough put it a bowl, cover it with cling film and leave it to prove for at least 1 hour, or until the dough doubles in size in a warm but not hot place.

 When the dough is ready, roll it out to about 5-8 mm thick. Cut it into strips then cover your rolling pin with oil.

 Wrap the strips lightly around your rolling pin, then roll the pin with the pastry on your work surface a few times so you close up the gaps and correct the unevenness of the surface. Then brush on a little oil and roll the pastry in sugar.

You don't have to be shy with the sugar, actually the more sugar stick on it is the better, as the sugar will caramelise under the grill and turn the pastry slightly crunchy and golden brown. Place the "mechanism" with the pasty under the grill and turn it every now and then.

 If you leave it too long in one position at the beginning , one part will be brown and hard and as the pastry still expands on the rolling pin, the opposite end could burst and tear up. So keep your eye on it and turn it every minute, and after about 10 minutes when it is more than half done, every 20 seconds.

 When it is nice golden brown, remove from the grill and coat again with sugar.

At this point  you can be creative and add nuts, spices or dessicated coconut to the final coating. As my rolling pin isn't tapered I experienced a little difficulty when it came to remove the ready chimney cake. I used a long metal cake tester to insert it between the pastry and the rolling pin to help release the dough from the wood. In the end the finished product wasn't perfect (in appearance) but it was definitely proper Hungarian Kürtőskalács.

Chocolate Rolls/ Kakaós csiga

In Hungary for breakfast before school we often had this "sweets". It could have cinnamon or cocoa powder filling, either way, it gives you all the energy you need for the day. Now that I am older I still love to eat this....maybe because it is DELICIOUS! Only problem you have to make the dough and leave it to rise, so it isn't like you make up your mind and in half an hour you can have it. I will use the same dough for my Curd cheese/Jam filled parcels as well. Size wise it should be bigger than your palm, but it is totally up to you how many layers you roll up.

Chocolate Rolls/ Kakaós Csiga

For the dough(makes about 15 medium one)

500g plain flour

60g fat at room temperature - preferably but you can use butter instead

1pinch of salt

50g sugar

2 egg yolks

25g fresh yeast-you can use dried as well

300 ml milk

For the filling

200g butter-at room temperature

10 tbsp icing sugar

8 tbsp cocoa powder

2 vanilla pod

2 tsp cinnamon

2 egg yolks

200 ml single cream

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk with a pinch of sugar, cover it and leave it to rise. Shift the flour into a bowl and rub in the room temperature fat. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and the yeasty milk. Work it together, kneed for 5-10 minutes and shape a soft dough. Cover with cling film and leave it to rise until it doubles in size(approximately 1-2 hours).

In the meantime you can prepare the filling. Simply mix together the butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla seeds and the cinnamon. You should get a thick chocolaty paste.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

When the dough is well risen transfer it to a lightly floured surface and kneed it for a couple of minutes. Divide the dough into two (unless you have a massive work surface) and with a rolling pin roll out until it is 0.5-0.8cm in thickness.

Spread half of the chocolate cream across the whole surface of the dough.

Starting at one end roll up the dough and cut them 1-1.5cm pieces.

Place the dough on a baking sheet, but leave enough space for the dough to rise even further. Repeat the process with the other half of the dough. Leave it to rest for 30 minutes. Brush them with egg wash and bake them in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

When the rolls are light brown in colour, pour over the heated single cream. This will keep the dough soft and the filling won't dry out even days after baking.....well in theory as I never managed to test this statement:)

Put  back to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes until it is golden brown in colour. When ready, leave it to cool and shift some icing sugar on top. Enjoy.

Crackling Scones/Tepertős Pogácsa

I found this description at the Hairy Bikers recipe site, regarding the Crackling Scones (as they travelled to Hungary during this season): " These savoury scones are often mentioned in Hungarian fables and folk tales as they as the sustaining food that the young man off to conquer the world takes in his backpack. They're traditionally served with beef gulash soup too."  

The first part it totally correct. We have this lovely type of food across the year( by the way you will receive a small scone in your pack on your school leaving ceremony:) 

But the second part is totally wrong. We would NEVER have these with goulash (gulyás) soup...what is the point? Both pogácsa and goulash soup is filling as they are.

Crackling Scones/ Tepertős Pogácsa

Ingredients

500g flour

250g crackling chopped up (you can have fresh one from your local butcher) can be pork, duck, or goose

30g butter at room tempeature

50g yeast

2 dl milk

1 tbsp sugar

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp soured cream

1 tbsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

1egg

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk with a pinch of sugar, cover it and leave it to rise.

In a big bowl mix the flour, salt, milk, crackling, butter, soured cream, rest of the sugar and egg yolks. Work it thoroughly and from a dough. Cover with cling film and leave it to rise in a warm place for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 190C.

On a floured surface roll it out to 2cm thick and make some cuts on the surface on the dough. With a cookie cutter cut 3cm rounds out and lay it on a baking tray covered with baking paper.

Cover the top of the scones with egg wash. Bake it for 20-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

In the end I made this batch of Crackling Scones and a batch of Cheesy scones...this is how we went to pick up my mum and my sister from the airport (in case they are hungry:) Typical Hungarian attitude to guests:) By the way at the time when I made the picture the other batch of crackling scones was still in the oven.

Marbled Bundt Cake

As usual I wanted to try a new piece of bake ware: my new fluted cake ring. What better to prepare in it than a Bundt Cake. It is perfect with a cup of hot chocolate of coffee in the morning...

Marbled Bundt Cake

Ingredients
500g plain flour
22g yeast
1 egg yolk
1 vanilla pod
80g icing sugar
70g melted butter
280ml lukewarm milk
20g soft sultana/currants
10g cocoa powder
zest of 1 lemon

In a bowl dissolve the yeast in lukewarm milk. When the yeast well risen add the icing sugar, egg yolk, melted butter, flour, lemon zest and vanilla seeds.
Kneed it for 5-10 minutes then divide the dough to two parts. Add the currents to one of the batch, and the cocoa powder to the other.

Put the two batch of dough to two separate bowl, cover them and leave to rise until they doubles in size. 

Shape both dough to long braids, than twist them together and place it in the fluted cake ring.
Cover with cling film and leave the doughs to rise again, until they double in size, then bake it for 40 minutes on 180  °C or until the inserted cake tester come out clean.