I made Nut Kalac
gzyw...@my-deja.com
Hungarian (that's alls I knows) nut kalac.
1 cup lukewarm milk
2 cakes yeast
1 lb. flour
4 T sugar
1 t salt
1/2 lb sweet butter, chilled
grated lemon rind
4 egg yolks, beaten
Disolve yeast in milk.
Mix dry ingredients together. Cut butter into flour ala pie dough.
Mix egg yolks with milk. Add milk and lemon rind to flour and stir
until smooth. Divide dough into two balls and rest 10 minutes. roll
balls into a rectangles 1/2 inch thick, and spread with nut or poppyseed
(ick, sorry, never was a fanof this filling) filling. Roll as a jelly
roll and let rise for 2 hours in buttered pans. Bake in a 350 F oven
for 40-45 minutes.
Nut filling:
1 pound ground walnuts
? milk
? sugar
1 T butter
1 T lemon juice
Heat milk on stove. Stir in walnuts and sugar. When combined, stir
in butter and lemon juice.
Some observations:
This was one of four recipes in a 30-year-old pamphlet style cookbook
titled, "Hungarian cooking" my mom keeps, even though it seems like all
her hungarian recipes come from elsewhere. No idea as to the publisher.
Some lady's group. All the recipes were called "Sweet dough" or "Basic
sweet dough" with the name "Kalac" in italcs. One recipe on the page
was called "Nut roll" with "Dobos kalac" in italics. From the way it
was written, I think there's a strong chance that the name refers to the
dough and not the filled pastry, thus explaining why some know these nut
rolls and poppyseed rolls as >Kolach<, why some only can conceive of the
(czech, et al) Kolachke, and still someone else said that they knew
someone who made unfilled sweet rolls and called them "Kalach" or
something like that.
I didn't use yeast cakes. I used quick-rise yeast mixed into the flour,
and added the warm milk when called for. I don't know if this had any
affect on the result, but I don't think so.
I was surprised by the dough. I was expecting a bread-like dough that
would form a ball during needing. This was a very slack dough. I
resisted the urge to add more flour.
All I had were normal sized bread pans. The resulting pastry looked
nothing like my mother and grandmother's log shaped rolls. Mom says she
used a special long bread pan (which I've since snagged) but I don't see
how that would do it, since it would still rise to fill the pan. The
size difference isn't that big between her pans and mine.
I didn't roll the dough thin enough, I think. there weren't enough
layers to my roll.
The top layer did not bond to the nuts, so there was a cavity that
revealed itself upon cutting. In my family, this is fairly authentic.
I remember mom's often doing this. One of the recipes for nut fillings
had egg whites in it. Mine tasted exactly as I remember it tasting.
Memory is wonderful.
Despite all the failings, it was absolutely the _most_ delicious nut
Kalac I'd ever had. I remember loving the filling but not liking the
too dry bread in my youth. This bread was moist and tender. From
talking to my mom, it sounds like I didn't use her favored recipe. She
had used several recipes over the years, including one that made a dough
you could bake free form, and which she rolled and shaped into a horse
collar (hi Victor). I only remember her doing this once, and only later
on. I don't think I used my Grandma's recipe either. Seems like I came
across an improvement. Mom also thought maybe I hadn't baked it as long
as she might (mom often burned baked goods) and so hadn't dried it out.
I'm considering making more (it all got eaten up at the family party,
except for the 1/2 loaf I left with my dad) but considering the mess in
the kitchen that morning, I'm not sure this is wise.
Greg Zywicki
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Melba's Jammin'
> In regards to the current Kolachke thread, I got brave and made
> Hungarian (that's alls I knows) nut kalac.
(recipe particulars deleted)
> Some observations:
>
> This was one of four recipes in a 30-year-old pamphlet style cookbook
> titled, "Hungarian cooking" my mom keeps, even though it seems like all
> her hungarian recipes come from elsewhere.
Everything's gotta come from somewhere, Greg...
No idea as to the publisher.
> Some lady's group.
The Hungarian Warlords Society Auxiliary of Sts. Buda and Pest, prolly.
All the recipes were called "Sweet dough" or "Basic
> sweet dough" with the name "Kalac" in italcs.
See, I'm thinking that confirms my earlier reference about kolac (you
say kalac, I say kolac) being a sweet dough. Period. Not in my
childhood home, mind you, but on the old sod.
One recipe on the page
> was called "Nut roll" with "Dobos kalac" in italics. From the way it
> was written, I think there's a strong chance that the name refers to the
> dough and not the filled pastry, thus explaining why some know these nut
> rolls and poppyseed rolls as >Kolach<, why some only can conceive of the
> (czech, et al) Kolachke, and still someone else said that they knew
> someone who made unfilled sweet rolls
That'd have been me -- and it was just a round loaf, not even
individual rolls.
> I was surprised by the dough. I was expecting a bread-like dough that
> would form a ball during needing. This was a very slack dough. I
> resisted the urge to add more flour.
Good on you! I have a hard time resisting for the sake of
handle-ability.
> I didn't roll the dough thin enough, I think.
The half-inch you described sounded pretty t'ick to me, too. I'd aim
for about 1/4".
> The top layer did not bond to the nuts,
My sister calls that "the handle". :-/
so there was a cavity that
> revealed itself upon cutting. In my family, this is fairly authentic.
> I remember mom's often doing this. One of the recipes for nut fillings
> had egg whites in it. Mine tasted exactly as I remember it tasting.
> Memory is wonderful.
Especially when the present is at least as good as the memory!!
>
> Despite all the failings, it was absolutely the _most_ delicious nut
> Kalac I'd ever had. I remember loving the filling but not liking the
> too dry bread in my youth. This bread was moist and tender.
(snip)
Mom also thought maybe I hadn't baked it as long
> as she might (mom often burned baked goods) and so hadn't dried it out.
>
> I'm considering making more (it all got eaten up at the family party,
> except for the 1/2 loaf I left with my dad) but considering the mess in
> the kitchen that morning, I'm not sure this is wise.
Oh, pishtosh! You're gonna bake, you're gonna make some mess. That's
what sinks full of soapy water are for.
Congratulations! You done good. I'm envious but only time will tell if
I make one myself. If I do, I'll probably do part of the dough with a
poppyseed filling.
Barb
"Be the change you want to see in the world." -- Gandhi