HAPPY END OF THE YEAR to my Bread Bakers family. Thanks for taking on laminated doughs, which require a lot of extra work, at an already busy time of the year.
I decided to go with kakaós csiga (cocoa snails) from Hungary. Chocolate plus laminated dough? Perfection. See also: I had a completely different plan when I chose the theme but I couldn't remember what it was. That one also included chocolate but that's all I can remember. Kakaós csiga have a bit of a fun history. A baker made them for his 33rd birthday, and everyone loved them so he started selling them. Side note: As I type this, I am in the final hours of my own birthday. I wish I had left a cocoa snail to enjoy today because I wasn't able to bake a cake. However, these were finished in no time! I finished baking around 5 PM one evening and went to teach until almost 11. When I got out of class, half of them were gone. My brother declared them the best things I have ever baked! I wanted to protest but I really couldn't think of anything better. On Sunday he came by and asked if I was making more. Sadly, I was not. But since he loves laminated dough so much, I will have to see what I can incorporate into our Christmas dinner/breakfast for him.
Speaking of, less than two weeks to Christmas. Are you ready? I am not. I ordered half my gifts and just hope they will get here before Christmas Day. I'll figure out the other half after the rush.
Be sure to scroll down to see all the other amazing creations from the Bread Bakers!
Kakaós Csiga
Ingredients
Butter Block
250 grams butter
2 tablespoons flour
Dough
500 grams flour
1 egg
250 millimetres milk
2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
Filling
50 grams butter, softened
20 grams cocoa
85 grams sugar
Egg wash
1 egg
1 teaspoon water
Directions
Dice the butter and then mash it with 2 tablespoons of flour until smooth. Lay out a sheet of parchment and mark a 5-inch square in the center. Place your butter in this square. Fold the parchment around it. You can then flatten it as needed in the parchment. You're essentially creating a parchment pocket. It's a lot easier to handle the butter this way.
Place the butter in the fridge to chill while you work on the dough.
Knead all the dough ingredients together until smooth. Allow dough to rest for at least 30 minutes. I placed mine in the fridge because Jamaica's still extremely hot. You can rest it on your counter if your home is cooler. Resting the dough makes it a lot easier to work with.
Roll out the dough to a 7-inch square. Place the butter block diagonally on the dough so that the points of the butter square face the sides of the dough square. Fold the corners of the dough around the butter. See the image
here.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough that's now encasing butter into a 12" x 8" rectangle. Now you're going to perform a book fold.
I didn't take pictures during the folding process because I needed to work quickly before the butter warmed up too much. But Sunday Baker has amazing pictures of the folding process.
Go visit.
After the book fold, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
Remove from the fridge and roll out again to a 12" x 8" rectangle. You want to always roll with a short side facing you. Now you're going to perform a letter fold. Fold one-third of the dough over the middle of the dough. Then fold the opposite end over the top.
Wrap the dough and chill it once more. Once it's chilled, perform another letter fold.
Chill the dough once more before shaping. I actually chilled mine overnight but 30 minutes is fine.
Mix the cocoa and sugar for the filling together.
Cut the dough into two so you can work with one-half of the dough at a time.
Roll each half out to about 14" x 18". Rub softened butter over each half and then sprinkle evenly with the cocoa-sugar mixture.
Tightly roll out the dough, just as you would for cinnamon rolls. Cut one-inch slices and place them on parchment-lined baking sheets. I've seen some persons allow their snails to touch a bit and others leave space between them. I went with space.
Allow to proof at room temperature until almost doubled and puffy. This could take about an hour.
Just before they are ready, preheat the oven to 425. Brush with egg wash and then bake for 15 minutes or until golden.
Notes
- Lumpy butter is bad. It will break through your dough. Don't be impatient.
- Your dough and butter should be pliable. If they are too hard, it is impossible to roll out. But they can't be out too long, or your butter will start melting.
- Be patient. It will work out in the end.
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board
right here. Links are also updated each month on this
home page.
We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.
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