Hungarian Almond Roll

 

June’s Kitchen of the Month was Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms.  Elle challenged us to bake Gigi’s Hungarian Almond Roll.

Apparently, my experience making this was different then everyone else’s, and I even made it twice!

For the first bake, I weighed all the ingredients and used the stand mixer for kneading.  From the first moment, I could tell that the dough didn’t feel right.  Even after a few minutes of hand kneading, it was just different, more like a cookie dough than a bread dough.  But, I continued on.  Instead of taking one hour for the initial rise, it took 10 hours (and, yes, the yeast was fresh).  I let it chill overnight, then, because it was rock solid in the morning, had to let it rest several more hours before it was usable.  I decided to bake it without the filling, because I didn’t want to waste either filling or dough.

For the second bake, a week later, I used volume measures for the ingredients, and hand kneaded the dough.  This time it took only three hours to rise, but the dough still didn’t feel quite right.  I did roll it out, and filled it with almond meal and currants, adding a dash of cinnamon sugar.  After an hour or so, I just went ahead and baked it.  While it smelled great during the bake, the loaf ended up being dry and crumbly, surprising for such a greasy dough, a very unbread-like result.

 

I double checked many times to see if I had missed some ingredient, but couldn’t find any errors.  I wouldn’t make this again as it was so disappointing.  Looks like the other Babes had better success.

If you're willing to give it a try, and hopefully have better results, go to Elle's blog for the recipe.

 

Check out the other Bread Baking Babes:

• Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
• A Messy Kitchen – Kelly
• My Diverse Kitchen – Aparna 
• Bread Experience – Cathy                                           
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie
• My Kitchen in Half Cups – Tanna  
• Feeding My Enthusiasms – Elle (Kitchen of the Month)

 

 

Povitica revisited

 

 

For this month’s baking challenge, Kelly of A Messy Kitchen asked us to make Povitica (PoviTeetsa), a rolled and filled bread from Eastern Europe.  I recall that about 10 years ago, when Daring Bakers was in existence, we all baked this delicious bread, so it was time to revisit it.  Of course, that meant getting out and assembling my infamous strudel table.  

 

Many, many years ago, I learned how to make strudel from scratch, and my S.O. at the time built me a special table to make it easier.  The legs are removable for easy storage, and it’s helpful to be able to freely move around all sides of the table when stretching the dough.

 

I used walnuts and cinnamon for the filling this time, and it smelled heavenly while baking.  One of the fun things about this loaf is that every time a piece is cut, it looks different.  You can really see the swirls and layers.  I almost made the loaf with a cream cheese and jam filling (either cherry jam or lemon curd), but this time opted for walnuts.

 

For the recipe and shaping techniques, go to Kelly’s website.  If you want to join in as a Buddy, be sure to contact Kelly by May 30^th.

Then, check out the versions that the other Babes baked.

 

 

• Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
• A Messy Kitchen – Kelly (Kitchen of the Month)
• My Diverse Kitchen – Aparna 
• Bread Experience – Cathy                                           
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie
• My Kitchen in Half Cups – Tanna  
• Feeding My Enthusiasms – Elle