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 close-up

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.
Woman baking Kürtöskalács at the marketKürtöskalács dough stripes wrapped on the pin

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

17 comments:

Martha Z said...

Yum, those look so good. I'm tempted to try making them. Thanks for the instructions.

Sylvia K said...

How interesting! And they look delicious! Terrific captures! And thanks for the recipe!

Enjoy your week!

Sylvia

Marie said...

Yummi!

Stine in Ontario said...

Do these ever sound delicious! I might even try the recipe. :)

Oman said...

That was quite a treat. I am sure it taste great. Every place definitely has their own tasty delicacy and i am so glad you shared this to us. Great shots by the way.

Wolynski said...

Wow, these look scrumptious - don't think I ever tasted one. Lovely photos.

Arija said...

Mmmm, that looks absolutely delicious. It is the culinary as well as other differeces that make this meme such fun.

ninja said...

Wouldn't mind trying that and I wonder how I didn't notice it during my Hungarian travels. Excellently prepared post!

Janie said...

I was wondering why they are called "barbecued" until I got to the part about cooking them over open coals. they look delicious!

catcent said...

Yumm yumm ca a l'air délicieux.Un peu dans le style de nos beignes.
Bye maia

S-V-H said...

Nagyon szeretem! :)

Sue's Daily Photography

aliz said...

Szia,

Az általad feltöltött youtube videón (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNUSYA6NHqU&playnext=1&list=PLBC737A91AF33D849) a mi kűrtőskalács cégünk látható. (kovácskalács.ro).
Elkérhetnénk tőled a videó nyersanyagát? Kitennénk a honlapra, a szerzőjog maradhat a tiéd.

Köszi

Maia T said...

Aliz,

Orvendek hogy megtalaltatok a videot. Ugy siettem amikor ezt filmeztem, hogy el is felejtettem egy cimet kerni vagy akar megkoszonni.

Levehetitek a videot a YouTube-rol, ossze van kotve a masik videoval aminek nagyobb a kozonsege. Sot, ha kuldtok egy web cimet, en is tennek egy linket a blogomrol hozzatok.

Arne71 said...

thanks for the recipe, i just got home from hungary and i bought a "Kalacs Stick" but the recipe was in hungarian, so i looked it up and found this one. cant wait till i get to use it, to everyone that havent tried it, i can only say TRY IT, it taste wonderfull

Unknown said...

We just got back from Romania, and this was our favorite treat that we found. Thanks for posting the recipe! I know hubby and I will definitely give it a try.

Hungirl said...

Ket kerdesem lenne. Mennyi ideig kell keleszteni a tesztat es ennyi alapanyagbol hany darab kalacs jon ki? Valaszod elore is koszonom.

Maia T said...

Hungirl,

Good point! Others may have the same questions, so I updated this post with the answers to your questions. Please read the instructions again.

(A tésztát 30 percen át kelesszük, majd még 20-25 percen át másodszor.
15-16 kalacs lessz (kb.), kevesebb, ha vastagabbra nyújtod. Ha nagyon vékony a tészta, igen elszárad a sutésnél. Megfelezheted a hozzávalókat ha kevesebbet akarsz.)

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