Happy name day to myself! I’ve written about the special status of my name day before as well, but here we are again. To repeat the basics: the Day of Anna has been celebrated for a long time in Finland, although not so much nowadays.
This day has traditionally been significant because of the darkness caused by the approaching winter solstice — but also as a time to prepare for the Christmas festivities by baking and cooking.
So baking is what I will do today as well. I’m continuing with the international theme, and I will attempt to bake a sweet treat common in Hungary called Beigli. To be honest, it sounds very questionable to me, because instead of jam or cream it is filled with poppy seeds. Seeds in a dessert sound really strange to me, but apparently they give a flavour similar to nuts — and that I can definitely understand.
I used the recipe below as inspiration, but since I don’t have all the correct ingredients (poppy seeds and unsalted butter are really hard to find here!), I’ve adjusted it a bit. I also changed the units to the ones more commonly used here, which modified the recipe slightly. Still, I think the end result was a success!
Beigli
DOUGH
- 500 g wheat flour
- 200 g butter
- 1 tsp lemon (zest)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 15 g yeast
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- 50 g powdered sugar
- 1.2 dl whole milk
- 2 eggs
FillinG
- 250 g grounded poppy seeds
- 1.5 dl powdered sugar
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1,2 dl whole milk
- 2 tbsp raisins
Dough
- Warm the milk in a bowl and mix the sugar into it. Add the yeast and let it bubble.
- Mix the flour and butter by pinching them together with your hands until you get a grainy texture.
- Add the eggs and mix. Add the sugars, lemon zest, and the milk-and-yeast mixture, then knead.
- Divide into four balls and cover. Let rest for 30 minutes.
Filling
Add the milk and sugar to a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat. Add the poppy seeds, raisins, and lemon zest, mix, and let cool down.
Baking
- Heat the oven to 180°C.
- Roll each piece of dough into a rectangle. Spread the poppy seed filling on top.
- Roll the rectangles and place them on a baking tray. Brush with egg yolk and let dry for 30 minutes. After that, brush with egg white.
- Make small holes in the rolls (top and also side!) to let the steam out. Bake for 30–35 minutes, until the rolls are golden in colour.
I am amazed. This pastry was absolutely delicious! Relatively heavy but excellent in taste, in any case. I may have made a bit too much this time — half of the dough would have been enough — but I will definitely bake this again!
Leave a Reply