Kürtöskalács - Barbecued chimney cake - recipe

The worldwide famous Kürtöskalács is a traditional Hungarian pastry originated from Transylvania. I have encountered a very funny renaming of the Kürtöskalács, on the web: the "Barbecued Chimney Cake".
Kürt is Hungarian for horn and kalács means milk bread.
These tasty Transylvanian treats are giant rolls made of dough covered with caramelized sugar and walnut, coconut and many other toppings. Kürtöskalács is made in smaller rolls too (the first two photos), so people can taste more flavors.
It is sold in specialized stands, at street corners, in open markets and occasional fairs, or you can make it yourself.

Kürtöskalács recipe:

1. Ingredients:

1,000g flour
500 ml lukewarm milk
50 g yeast
6 egg yolks
100-120 g butter
1/2 tbsp. salt
2 tbsp.sugar
crushed nuts, coconut, almonds

2.Indications:

- Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk and let it raise.
- Beat the egg yolks and melted butter together, and add the salt and sugar.
- Add the egg mixture and the yeast to the flour and blend together thoroughly.
- Cover with a cloth and leave it in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume (about 30 minutes) .
- Remove the dough from the bowl to a flour-dusted board and divide it evenly into 4 parts. Round each into balls and place them back in a bowl for a second rise. Cover with a cloth, and let them rise in a warm place for an additional 20-25 minutes.
- When done, roll them out and cut into 2-3 cm wide, long strips.
- Wrap the strips one by one around a cylindrical mold brushed with oil, beginning from one end to the other. Each dough roll will make approximately 4 giant chimney cakes, in total, 4 x 4 = 16. The dowel pins seen in the pictures bellow are 40 cm (15.7 in) long.
- Push lightly and roll the spiral (dowel pins) to press the strips so that the edges nearly meet.
- Brush the dough spirals with oil or melted butter and roll in sugar.

Here comes the interesting part: bake over open coals (if possible), or in an infrared oven.
Turn the spirals constantly so that each part gets evenly browned. When they are perfectly caramelized, they are taken off the coals and rolled in crushed nuts, cinnamon, coconut or simply, in more sugar.
This last additional topping is not really necessary, they taste great with just the plain caramelized sugar glaze.

Watch a video with step by step instructions about making kurtos kalacs, in my next post.

Here is a short video captured at the annual autumn fair of craftsmen in my town.