Sweet Yeast Dough – Journey From A Polish Kitchen

Fruity Yeast Cake

This started as a recipe for buns but the dough was much too soft.
I decided to make it as a large flat cake ( placek) instead.
It has turned out similar to my aunt’s recipe for drożdżówka a sweet cake made using yeast.
This yeast cake is made with spelt flour (not strong flour) and the mixture is mixed with a wooden spoon or a Danish whisk to form a soft mixture and is not kneaded.
As with any recipe made with yeast, timings are so unpredictable depending on many variables including the room temperature.
I try to bake with yeast when I am at home for most of the day with other activities to do whilst waiting for the dough to rise.

Ingredients

450g spelt flour
100g granulated sugar
100g butter
180g currants
40g mixed peel
25g fresh yeast
Around 280ml of milk – warmed
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mixed spice

Method

In a bowl mix the flour and salt.
Rub in the butter till you have breadcrumbs.
Stir in the sugar, mixed spice, currants and mixed peel.
Make a well in the centre, add the yeast and enough of the warmed milk to make a soft dough.
Cover the bowl and leave it in a warm place to rise.
The rise will not be very large.
Line a large baking tray with a rim.
Tip out the dough and spread it out to the edge of the tray with a spatula.
Cover and leave to rise for 30 to 60 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to GM6 – 200°C.
Bake for 20 – 25 minutes.
Cool on a baking rack for 5 minutes.
Remove from the baking paper and put back on the rack to avoid it going soggy at the base.

Royal Doulton – Sonnet tea plates – 1971 – 1998

As with most yeast cakes this is best eaten as soon as possible as it will soon go stale.

If all is not eaten on the day of baking, I cut the cake into slices and pack into a plastic container and freeze – these are then toasted and served with butter at a later date.

Rogaliki – Crescent Rolls

Updated 11 January 2024.

Rogaliki means little horns and these rolls are made into a crescent shape which look like horns.

This amount of dough makes 16 rolls and you will need 2 greased baking sheets.

Many Polish yeast recipes make a rozczyn – a leaven in the form of a batter or starter to begin with – I have liked using this method very much.

Older Polish recipes use fresh yeast. I tend to use dried yeast and had very good results. I like using the little measured out sealed packets of dried yeast, which are sufficient for up to 500g of flour and are equivalent to 25g of fresh yeast.

I have two earlier post:

Bułeczki – bread ro lls

Here I made a bread roll version of rogaliki.

Kołaczyki – little wheels

Here I made a Basic sweet yeast dough – version 2.

Now this could be Basic sweet yeast dough version 3 – I keep refining the recipe and this now has to be the very best yet!

Ingredients

Leaven – Starter

150g plain flour
200ml warm milk
4 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 pkt of dried yeast (= 1 tablespoon)

Rest of Ingredients

300g plain flour
100g butter
2 yolks
*
a little more milk might be needed
Egg white to glaze
Icing sugar to dust

Method

Mix the yeast and sugar into the hand hot milk.
Put the 150g of flour into a bowl and mix in the milk mixture until it is like double cream.
Cover the bowl and leave it to rise.
*
Rub the butter into the 300g of flour until it is like breadcrumbs.
Add the egg yolks and the yeast starter.
Mix till you get a soft dough – you might need to add a tablespoon or so of milk – depends on the flour.
Knead the dough till you have a nice smooth ball.
Leave in a bowl, covered, to rise and double in size.
*
Pre-heat the oven to GM 4 – 180°C
Grease two baking sheets.
*
Knead the risen dough lightly for a few minutes.
Divide the dough into two.
Roll the dough out to make a circle/oval.
With a knife or pizza cutter divide the dough into 8 (nearly) triangles.
Place a teaspoon of filling at the fat end.
Roll up the triangle from the fat end to get the horn shape.
You can curve it slightly.
Place them on a baking sheet – as far apart as possible.
Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Brush the tops with egg white.
Cover loosely and leave for about 15 minutes.
Bake for around 14 – 15 minutes.
*
Leave to cool slightly and then dust with icing sugar.

The tiered cake stand is by Laura Ashley & the tea plates are Las Palmas by Aynsley from the 1960s.

Option

You can use half plain flour & half spelt flour – this also gives good results.

Fillings

You can use a whole range of fillings with the easiest to prepare being jam (though sometimes this is the hardest to keep in the pastry!). Traditional Poppy seed mix and sweet cheese mix as in many of my previous posts are often used.

Here are just a few new ones ….

Prune Filling

Make some very strong Earl Grey tea.
Chop up around 200g of pitted prunes.
Place the prunes into a bowl and cover with the warm tea.
Leave for a few hours to plump up the prunes.
Add the grated rind of a lemon.
Simmer the prunes gently.
Keep stirring & heating to drive off the any liquid – you want a thick pulp.
Leave to go cold completely before using.

Walnut Filling

Grind 100g of chopped walnuts.
Add the nuts to around 3 tablespoons of apricot jam.
Mix well together.

Ground Almond Filling

100g of ground almond.
Add the nuts to around 3 tablespoons of apricot jam.
Mix well together

Date Filling

Chop 200g of dried dates.
Place in a small saucepan and cover with water – you can add a little lemon juice as well.
Heat gently and stir.
Cook until you have a soft pulp.

….. and of course you can try many more ……

Little Poppy Seed Cakes

Christmas is coming up and I have been thinking of making an easier version of makowiec – the Traditional Poppy seed cake.

I have posted versions for larger cakes and for little buns with the traditional poppy seed filling.

Several years ago I got an Austrian cookery book which has many similar recipes to Polish ones and I made some babeczki or buleczki – little cakes, with a yeast pastry & poppy seed filling for Wigilia from it.

I thought I would have another go at these but with some changes.

The poppy seed filling I have changed quite a bit and it is easier than my traditional one. The recipe for the dough I have changed slightly and the shaping method quite a lot.

Poppy Seed Filling

Ingredients

180ml of milk (full fat or semi)
Around 100ml of runny honey (extra may be needed)
120g of poppy seeds *
50g of raisins
Strong Earl Grey tea
Grated zest of 1 lemon
*
* You can grind the poppy seeds – I used a little electric grinder.

Method

Make some strong Earl Grey tea.
Put the raisins in a small bowl and cover them with the hot tea and leave till they go cold.
Into a small saucepan put the poppy seeds and the milk.
Bring to the boil then lower the heat.
Simmer gently for around 20 minutes, stirring constantly.
Take care not to let the mixture burn.
Add the honey and continue heating and stirring.
Drain the raisins and add them to the mixture and mix them in.
Keep stirring and try and drive off any liquid left.
Taste for sweetness – you may want to add more honey.
Leave to go completely cold before using.
Add the grated lemon rind.
*
If this is too much filling – you can always freeze some.

Yeast Dough

Ingredients

1/2 tablespoon of dried yeast
4-5 tablespoons of milk (full fat or semi)
250g of strong flour
Pinch of salt
120g of butter
20g of caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1 egg white for glazing (I always use just egg white now – it does not burn as easily as whole egg)

Method

Warm 3-4 tablespoons of the milk to hand heat.
Add the yeast and leave it to froth up.
Place the flour into a large bowl and add the salt.
Cut in the butter with a knife and then make breadcrumbs with your fingers.
Stir in the sugar.
Make a well in the centre.
Add the egg yolk and the yeast mixture.
Use a knife at first to bring the dough together.
You may need some of the extra milk.
Use your fingers to gather all the ingredients into a ball.
Knead the dough for around 5 minutes till you have a smooth dough.
Leave the dough to rest for at least 45 minutes – covered with a tea cloth.
******
Grease and line several baking trays.
Cut the dough into 3 or 4 portions.
Roll the dough out thinly.
Use a 6cm cutter to cut out circles.
Place a small teaspoon of filling on half of the circles.
Place a second pastry circle on top.
Use a pastry fork to crimp the edges together making sure they are sealed.
Glaze with beaten egg white.
Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C (quite low for a yeast pastry!).
Bake for 12-13 minutes.
Dust with icing sugar whilst still warm.
Leave to cool.

You could drizzle with runny lemon icing instead.

Served here on Duchess – tea plates – Poppies from the 1960s.

Mazurek – Using Yeast Dough

I came across this recipe for a yeast dough mazurek in this little recipe book and was very intrigued by the method which is quite different from the usual yeast doughs and thought I would give it a go!

It turned out very well.

Ingredients

450g plain flour

100g granulated sugar

200g butter or block margarine

50g fresh yeast or 25g of dried yeast

190 ml of milk

3 eggs

200g of bakalie (dried fruits including currants, raisins, peel, figs, dates, prunes etc)

Method

Warm the milk to hand heat and mix in the yeast.

Melt the butter on a gently heat.

In a bowl whisk the eggs with the sugar until they are light and fluffy.

Add the melted butter.

Add the milk and yeast mixture and mix thoroughly.

Leave in a warm place for 8 hours!

Grease and line a large baking tray 33cm x 24cm

Pre-heat the oven to GM5 – 190°C

Mix the bakalie(dried fruits) with the flour.

Mix the flour and fruits with the yeast mixture.

Place the dough into the tin – spreading it out evenly.

Place the dough onto the tray and put in the oven.

Bake for around 25 – 30 minutes.

Prick the surface of the cake with a fork in several places.

Leave it to cool in the tin for a while and then remove from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool.

Pour the hot chocolate topping over the top.

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Topping Ingredients

50g butter

30g of granulated sugar

2 tablespoons of cocoa

2 – 3 tablespoons of water

Note

You could double this amount if you want to it to cover all over and be a bit thicker.

Method

In a small saucepan gently melt the butter and sugar .

Add the cocoa and water and mix it till it is all blended together.

Note

You can decorate the top with dried fruit and nuts – you would really need to do double the topping ingredients for this,

Served on Royal Doulton – Counterpoint – 1973 – 1987

Bułeczki – Sweet Yeast Buns

Bułeczki – this word can cause a little confusion as it can mean – little white bread rolls or a more sweet yeast bun.

This recipe has been used to make round buns with a filling – it can be used for a variety of sweet buns – all of which are very popular in Poland.

A few reminders when using yeast in baking

Learn to be patient – you cannot control the timings exactly with yeast, it depends on the temperature of the room and the flour used and other variables.
Do yeast baking on a day you are planning to be in & have other things to do, but ones you can break off from when needed.
Heat the milk so it is at body temperature – use the finger test – too hot and you will kill the yeast – too cold is okay – it will just take longer.
An egg glaze often burns too quickly – I have found an egg white or egg white & water glaze gives a better result.

The older Polish recipes use fresh yeast. I have used dried yeast and had very good results. (I have not tried using easy bake yeast for this recipe).

Basic sweet dough recipe

Ingredients

Yeast starter

25g fresh yeast or 15g dried yeast
1 tablespoon of sugar
250ml milk – warmed
Rest of dough
3 yolks
100g granulated sugar

*******

500g plain flour
2-3 drops of vanilla essence
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon of salt

******

60g of melted butter

******

Egg or egg white to glaze (whole egg tends to brown very quickly).

Fillings

Jam – I used strawberry jam and also blackcurrant jam (made by my friend in Leeds) and I think the more tart blackcurrant jam goes better with the semi-sweet dough.

Mincemeat – I used my own mincemeat which is from the recipe by Delia Smith but without the chopped almonds. This of course in one way is very English, but it would be recognised in Poland if described as bakalie – which is a mixture made of dried fruits (often with figs or dates), nuts and honey.

Method

Mix the yeast, sugar and warmed milk together and leave it till it doubles in size.

IMG_20160222_120503215

Whisk the yolks and sugar together until the mixture is pale and thick.
Put the flour into a large bowl, add the yeast starter, the yolks & sugar mix, vanilla essence, lemon zest and the salt.
Combine everything together and knead it together until the dough leaves the side of the bowl clean.
Add the melted butter and mix it in and then knead it well until you get a glossy smooth dough.
Place it back in the bowl and cover with a cloth and leave it until it doubles in size.
Grease 1 or 2 baking sheets to hold 16 buns.
Knead the dough again lightly, then cut in to half and half again and so on to give 16 pieces.
Roll each piece into a smooth ball, then flatten it and roll it out into a circle.
Put a small spoonful of filling onto each circle and then draw the edges of the dough circle together and pinch the dough to seal in the filling.