1 karen mintzias
2 tbsp dry or cake yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 cup milk, warm
3 tbsp sugar, -or-
5 tbsp sugar, if making koulourakia
3 tbsp butter, margarine or oil
3/4 tsp salt
7 cup all-purpose flour, unsifted
1 egg
TOPPING
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sesame seeds
Directions
Melt yeast in warm water. Set aside. Bring milk to
boil. Add sugar, butter and salt. Allow milk to cool
slightly.
Put flour in a large bowl leaving about a tablespoon
of it in the measuring cup for hands and make a hole
in the center. Pour liquid into it. Add yeast and
egg. Start mixing with spoon or paddle, pushing flour
from all sides into center. Dough will be sticky
until flour is absorbed. Begin kneading dough in the
bowl and then transfer it to a lightly floured board.
Continue kneading until dough is smooth and elastic,
about 20 minutes.
Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover with towel
dampened with hot water. Set aside in a warm place to
rise until bulk has doubled, about 4 hours.
Punch down in the middle. Knead for a few minutes and
shape into a round loaf or into individual rolls (see
below). Using fingers, rub top with egg yolk and
sprinkle with sesame seeds. Place in greased baking
pans. Let rise once more, uncovered, in a warm place,
approximately 1 hour.
Bake in preheated oven at 375 F for 45 minutes.
Remove from oven; allow to cool 10 minutes before
removing bread from pan.
To Shape Traditional KOULOURA: Divide dough into 3
long ropes. Braid together. Place braid in a greased
tube pan or a large round baking pan. Stretch dough to
make ends meet. Use egg yolk to stick ends together.
To Shape KOULOURAKIA Rolls: Pinch off pieces of
dough. Roll on board with the palms of your hands to
make a rope 6" long. Twist it into a hairpin, coil
the ends around each other and stick the tips together
with a dab of egg yolk. Or coil it like a snake,
round and round; or roll into small round balls using
the palms of your hands. Do not flatten or press down
as you roll.
Source: The Complete Greek Cookbook - by Theresa Karas
Yianilos Avenel Books, New York
Typed for you by Karen Mintzias
Servings: 1 servings
Kouloura Rolls & Buns Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bread; Breads
The History of Recipes
We are able to follow the history of meal recipes back into the far past, at least as far back into recorded history as the early Egyptians, and possibly even further. Interesting though that maybe, these, ancient cook books were just basic hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for food preparation.
The truth of the matter is, the oldest recipe discovered, according to experts is a series of ancient tablets in Sumerian which show the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making anyone who drank it feel `blissful`. As we move on, we have a couple of interesting books dating from the 1300s ; a recipe book called `Forme of Cury`, and another titled `Curye on Inglish`. Although the titles sound familiar, they are nothing to do with the indian curry that appears on menues today, but rather recipes for the types of meals eaten by the rich and wealthy people of the period. During the following few hundred years, the rich families of the West competed with each other to offer the most exotic banquets, and consequentially cooks and their recipe collections became highly prized. Even so, it was during the 1800s that cookery and recipe publications became really popular. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Farmer in the US, spent years to collating, testing, and publishing the recipes that were being prepared for the better households. The arrival of television brings us TV cookery programs and the accompanying recipe books. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, allowing everyone to access thousands of recipes like those on this web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Kouloura Rolls & Buns recipe.
