Nut or Poppy Seed Rolls - as baked at St. Athanasius Byzantine Catholic Church - To Order Rolls Click Here,
Kolachy
Nut Rolls
Pascha

 

Nut or Poppy Seed Rolls
As Baked by Saint Athanasius Byzantine Catholic Church

For 6 to 7 Rolls		For 3 Rolls
2 1/2 cups milk - scalded		1 1/4 cups milk scalded
1/2 # (2 sticks) butter		1/4 # (a stick) butter
8+ cups flour		4+ cups flour
1 tsp. salt		1/2 tsp. salt
7/8 cup sugar		7 TBS. sugar
2 large eggs		1 large egg
2 pkgs. /5 tsp instant yeast		1 pkg/ 2/1/4 tsp. instant yeast

Scald milk (bring to just under a boil - to kill bacteria) then add cold butter to help milk cool down. (After butter melts you may put milk/butter mixture into refrigerator to cool it further to lukewarm - 105° to 115°.) Combine salt, sugar, eggs, lukewarm milk/butter mixture and yeast. Add flour a few cups at a time until well mixed. Knead dough until smooth (8 minutes). Dough should be very soft & pliable. Let rise in a large bowl (or on a greased cookie sheet) covered with a slightly moist towel (or greased plastic wrap) until double in size (1-1½ hours) in a warm place without drafts. (To speed the process place the covered dough in the oven - DO NOT HAVE THE OVEN TURNED ON - with the oven light turned on - yes, the oven light generates a little heat to help the rising process.)

NOTE: Once the dough has finished it’s first rising it can be frozen and baked up to 2 weeks later. Freezing: Beat the dough down and place in airtight container(s) that still allows it to rise double in bulk. (24 or 32 oz. cottage cheese or yogurt containers & plastic freezer bags work well.) Freeze immediately - it rises some in the freezer before it becomes frozen.
Thawing: Place the frozen dough, still in the freezer container, on the counter for 3-4 hours and/or it can be warmed in a microwave on defrost mode until lukewarm and it’s pliable again.

Nut Filling (for 7 rolls):
8 cups (32-36 ounces) ground walnuts
1½ cups sugar and 1½ cups honey - use less if you don’t want it too sweet
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
9 tablespoons (between 1/2 & 2/3 cup) milk

Combine all nut filling ingredients together. (Filling should not be too runny otherwise it will leak out during baking.) Microwave the filling for 1-2 minutes to warm it (helps the second rising). Stir.
Separate raised dough into 14-16 ounce loaves. Roll out each loaf on a plastic cutting board (or floured pastry cloth) in a rectangle 15 by 12-14 inches (¼ inch thickness). Spread 1+ cups filling on dough and roll up to 15 inches in length. Flatten roll to 4 inches wide. Tightly pinch both ends closed. Prick the top of the dough with a fork. (Hint: Prick rolls with a unique pattern if making both types of rolls. I use a V-pattern for nut and plus signs for poppy seed rolls - helps identify the rolls after baking.) Let rise on a parchment paper-covered (or greased) jellyroll pan, seam side down, for an hour. Preheat oven to 350°. After the rolls have risen, lightly brush egg wash (1 egg and 1 tbsp. water, stirred) on both top and sides of the dough with a pastry brush. Bake at 350° for 30 - 35 minutes until slightly lighter than bronze in color. Cool. Enclose rolls in plastic wrap then foil. They can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Instead of nuts use ½ can (6 ounces) of store bought poppy seed filling (or ¾-1 cup of this recipe) per roll:

Poppy Seed Filling (for 7 rolls):
7 cups (1½ pounds) ground poppy seed
3 1/2 cups milk (enough to just cover poppy seed)
1 1/2 cups sugar and 1 1/2 cups honey
3 tablespoons butter

Add milk to poppy seed and microwave on high for 10 minutes. Cool until lukewarm. Mix in remaining ingredients. Optional: place 25 - 30 golden raisins on the poppy seed filling before rolling up

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KOLACHY
Recipe by John Danovich

This recipe is labor intensive (not as quick as dropping cookie dough). Give yourself plenty of time. Start this recipe in the evening (very easy) and finish the next day.

1 pound butter or margarine
1 pound cream cheese
3 cups flour

Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add flour, a cup at a time, and mix well. Divide into 5 balls and place on a large plate. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 5 hours or overnight. This stiffens the dough all the way through.

After the dough is stiff, roll it out on a floured surface sprinkled with granulated sugar. Cut strips 1 ½ to 2 ½ " wide, and then cut the strips into squares. A pizza cutter works well. Fill with 1 teaspoon of apricot, prune, pear, pineapple or other thick fruit jams diagonally across the dough. Cross one pair of opposite ends and seal. (A drop of water will help seal the dough together.) Dip top in granulated sugar and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes until edges become brown. Remove immediately and cool on rack.

Variation: Leave out the granulated sugar. Once the kolachy is cooled, sprinkle with powered sugar.

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Nut Rolls
By John Danovich

8 cups flour
1 ½ cups sugar
3 cakes yeast (or 6+ teaspoons)
6 egg yolks + 1 white
¾+ cup milk
1/2 pint sour cream (1 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Warm milk. Add sugar and stir. Add crumbled yeast and dissolve (let yeast rise in milk 15 minutes). Warm and add sour cream. Add eggs and vanilla. Add flour in 3 sections, mixing thoroughly. When dough leaves side of bowl, transfer it to a floured board and knead until smooth. Let rise (2 ½ hours - cover with towel). Roll out portion of dough in rectangle about ¼ inch thick.

Filling:
4 egg whites beaten until stiff; reserve remaining egg white for glaze
2 pounds ground nuts
1 ¾ cup sugar (same amount of honey can be substituted)

Cover dough with nut filling and roll up. Let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Smooth egg white on top of dough with a pastry brush before it goes in the oven. See the next recipe for poppy seed filling variation.

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AUNT JULIA'S PASCHA
By Debra Grega-Beckerman - adapted by John Danovich
Note: To use a bread machine halve the ingredients and place wet items into container before dry items.

2 packages (4.5 teaspoons) instant dry yeast
¼ cup lukewarm (105° – 115°) water
¼ teaspoon sugar

Combine yeast, sugar and water. Mix thoroughly and let proof (rise) in a warm place. Note: The proofing step is not needed if you are careful with the temperature of the water so it doesn’t kill the yeast.
(Optional: At this time you can soak ½ - 1 cups raisins in brandy to be added later if you’re making raisin bread.)

7-8 cups bread flour
½ cup (1 stick) butter
1 teaspoon salt

Work flour, salt and butter together as for pie dough. A food processor works well.

2 cups lukewarm milk
2 eggs and 6 additional egg yolks - all at room temperature
(gives you a much finer texture than the 4 whole eggs in the original recipe)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat together the eggs yolks, sugar and vanilla then add the milk. Mix thoroughly before and after adding the raised yeast mixture.

Pour the wet ingredients over the flour mixture and work, mixing and adding more flour, if necessary, until the dough doesn’t stick to the bowl. Knead until dough is elastic, usually several minutes. Place in a buttered bowl, putting a little butter over the dough, cover and keep warm to rise for approximately 1½ hours until double in volume (or does not spring back when poked with 2 fingers).

Take dough and knead for several minutes before taking out enough dough to make decorations (crosses and braids). Add raisins at this time if you choose to use them. After kneading, butter and cover for another hour or so until doubled in volume again. While dough is rising, fashion the decorations out the remainder of the dough. Place them on wax paper or plastic wrap, keep covered to prevent drying and put in a cool place to discourage excessive rising.

Take dough and knead briefly. Separate into two loaves, place in buttered round pans (oven-proof glass bowls, 2 lb. coffee cans, stainless steel dog dishes, etc.) and let rise until doubled.

1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
Beat milk and egg. Place the decorations on the Paschas. A crown effect can be achieved by cutting the dough all around the loaf with scissors. Brush the Paschas with the egg mixture to give an additional sheen to the loaves. Bake at 350° for approximately 45 minutes until brown. When tapped on the bottom it should sound hollow. If browning too quickly place aluminum foil over the Pascha towards the end of the baking cycle. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter for a soft crust.
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