Tea Time with Nazook

Sounds like a person, right?  But, no.  Nazook is a delicious pastry-like bread, filled with walnuts, that pairs deliciously with tea or coffee.

For March, Kelly is Kitchen of the Month, and she chose Nazook, an Armenian (or Russian, depending) sweet bread, that is very simple to make.  So simple, in fact, I read the recipe a dozen times looking for rising times.  I even checked other recipes out on the Web, and found essentially the same instructions.

Make the dough.  Let it rest over night.  Prepare the filling.  Shape the little rolls.  Bake.

There are no excuses for not making this bread.  Just plan ahead the night before to make the dough.  Shaping 48 rolls does take a bit of time, but you can be making them while the first pan is in the oven.  I did turn the pans around after 15 minutes so the bread would brown evenly.

If you want to be a Buddy, bake your Nazook, blog about the process, and let Kelly know by March 30th to be included in the roundup.

• Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth
• A Messy Kitchen – Kelly
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
• Notitie Van Lien – Lien
• My Diverse Kitchen - Aparna
• Bread Experience - Cathy
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie
• My Kitchen in Half Cups - Tanna
• Bake My Day - Karen
• Feeding My Enthusiasms - Elle 

Nazook
from Mom's Authentic Assyrian Recipes
makes 48 pastries

2¼ tsp (7g) active dry yeast (I used 2 tsp instant yeast)
1 cup (227g) sour cream
3¼ cups (390g) sifted flour
½ tsp (6 g) salt
1 cup (226g) chilled, unsalted butter
1 egg
1 tbsp (12g) vegetable oil
1 tsp (5g) lemon juice

Filling:
1 cup (226g) butter, melted (+ 3tbsp melted, optional)
2 cups (240g) sifted flour
1 cup (198g) sugar
1 cup (113g) walnuts, finely chopped
1 tsp (5g) vanilla
1 tsp (2g) cardamom

Glaze:
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 tsp (5g) yogurt (I used water)

Directions

Dough: If using active dry yeast, add to the sour cream and stir in.  Set aside for 10 minutes.  If using instant yeast, add to flour.  Combine flour, salt and butter and blend with your fingers until crumbly. Add egg, oil, lemon juice, and sour cream and mix until incorporated.  Knead the dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes, or until no longer sticky.  Add more flour if necessary.  (You may need to add another 60g flour).  Form into a ball, and to follow tradition, mark with a +, symbolizing a cross. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 5 hours, or overnight.

Filling: Mix flour, sugar, walnuts, and cardamom. Add vanilla to melted butter and pour slowly into flour mixture while stirring.  Stir until the mixture is smooth.  (This ended up as a  streusel consistency, at first a paste and then nice and crumbly as it cooled.)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Assembly: Melt the 3 extra tablespoons of butter and set aside.  Remove dough from refrigerator and divide into 8 equal portions. Roll each dough ball into a 10 x 6” rectangle.  Brush with melted butter.  (The filling adheres to the dough just fine without the added butter and since there is a full pound in the recipe.)  Crumble 1/8th of the filling over each rectangle, leaving a ½-inch border.  Cover with a piece of parchment paper.  Press down lightly with your hands, so that the filling adheres to the dough.  Fold the edges in ½-inch over the filling.  Roll into a cylinder.  Gently flatten with the palms of your hands.  (Do this because they puff quite a lot in the oven.)
Cut each roll into 6 pieces and arrange on 2 parchment lined cookie sheets.  Brush liberally with the egg glaze.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown.  Excellent with coffee or hot tea.  Not too sweet, just sweet enough!