Kurtos Kalacs is an Hungarian special pastry, made using sweet yeast dough, cut into strips and rolled over wooden spits, coated with powdered sugar and melted butter and baked directly on charcoal cinders until the top gets a golden brown and the sugar gives it a glorious caramel color. They are also called as Chimney cakes as there shape resemble a Chimney. I fell in love with them when i was hunting recipes for Around the world in 30 days, now for the rollers i had to either use the cling-wrap roller or make one using paper and alu-foil, i didn't have the courage to do it that time, seriously, i thought my oven would spit fire!!
Today being the last day of the year 2014 and also we are closing curtains on Bake-a-thon 2014, i wanted to bake something special, exotic may be!!! I decided to bake this and immediately set to make the rollers. I already saved a cling-wrap roller, also made 2 new rollers with alu-foil takeaway lids. Once the rollers are ready it is pretty easy to bake them. Try and see how they vanish in minutes, the curious shape makes it all the more interesting for the kids.
Thanks to Valli for all those mails reminding us of all the wonderful events she comes up in her space and for the motivation with wonderful themes that push us to cook interesting every time!!!! Wishing you all a Very Happy, Healthy and a Prosperous New Year 2015!!! Enjoy Food, Have Fun!!
Source : Zesty Southindian Kitchen
Ingredients
1 & ¾ Cup Bread Flour
2 teaspoon Instant yeast
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup sugar
⅛ teaspoon Salt
4 tablespoon butter, melted
¾ Cup Warm Milk
(substituted 1 Egg with ¼ Cup milk extra)
Walnut-Sugar Topping
¼ cup Melted butter
¼ Cup Walnuts
¼ Cup sugar
Method
- I used my food processor to make the dough. In a Food Processor jar, add flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Pulse twice to combine well.
- Take Milk in a microwaveable mug, warm the milk for 20 seconds to this add the melted butter. Now add this butter & milk liquid to the flour mix and knead for 5 minutes to get a soft dough. The dough is pretty easy and soft to handle, doesn't stick at all.
- Now keep the dough in a well-oiled bowl, and let it rest for an hour or until doubles. While the dough is resting, lets make the rollers on which the bread is going to be wound and baked.
- To make 2 rollers, you need 2 aluminium foil take-away container lids. Cut a strip of alu foil of the same length as that of the lid. Keep teh foil on the white side of the lid, fold the excess on to the sides. Now, roll the lid like a paper. Finish the roller with another strip of alufoil rolled on top. Any excess foil on the ends can be twisted like a chocolate wrapper on both the sides. Keep aside until use.
- For the Walnut-sugar topping, take walnuts and sugar in the mixer and pulse it 3 or 4 times to get fine powder. Transfer it to a flat plate and keep aside until use.
- Now check the dough, once it doubles after the said time, take it to a flat surface, punch down the extra air. Divide the dough into 4 portions.
- Roll each portion into a rectangle of ½ inch thick. Cut the rectangle into strips of ¼ inch width. Now take the rollers and brush it generously with butter. Take one strip of dough at a time and start rolling it around the roller. When one strip ends, continue by pressing another strip at the end of the first strip and roll again, make it look it is a single piece of dough that is being rolled. Once you reach the end of the roller, secure it by pressing it tightly,
- Now roll the roller on a flat surface to get a smooth finish of the rolled dough. Brush again with butter, generously, roll it on walnut-sugar powder. Place the rollers on a baking tray in such a way that the corner of the rollers rest on the corners of the tray.
- Preheat the oven to 180C and bake for around 20-23 minutes or until it is golden brown all over. I had to roll the baked kurtos topside down as the bottomside of it was little white so had to bake it again for 3 minutes to get a golden brown.
- Once done, take it out of the oven, if you wish, brush again with butter(which i didn't do), Let it cool for 10 minutes, then slowly press the top and remove the roller so the kalac slides down.
- Serve Warm. You will love that walnut sugar topping and it will vanish in minutes.
Notes
- The dough consistency is very important. Do not use more than the said liquid or flour, if the dough becomes too soft and loose, it won't stay on the roller and will come down as a big goo on your bake pan. Trust me, first time i baked this, it happened!!
- The dough should be tight dough, which makes rolling and winding easier and also holds shape while baking
Varada's Kitchen
They turned out great Priya! What a beautiful recipe to end the year.
Priya Suresh
Thats a beautiful cake Priya, trust me the pictures are prefect, cant believe u took them in artifical light.
Torviewtoronto
deliciously done Happy New Year to you and family
Srivalli
Priya that's such a wonderful recipe..kudos for having the courage to try out so different!
MySpicyKitchen
Wonderful recipe for curtain closing. Preparation is quite interesting and looks complicated, though I believe it not as complicated as it appears to be.
Pavani
What a unique and interesting cake you got there Priya. Thanks for introducing this to us, it looks so crispy and tempting. Loved all your bakes in this bake-a-thon series.
Sneha's Recipe
Wow what a recipe for the finale of Bake a thon. I am bookmarking this.
Chef Mireille
love the shape - will start saving rollers !!!
Archana
Love the recipe. I have to try this looks amazing thanks for the innovative rollers tip.