Kringle in an hour: step-by-step recipe

Many people find baking a kliņģeris, the traditional Latvian braided pastry, difficult, since the dough must be left to rise, filled, rolled and baked correctly. On 14 November, Aija Geida of «Praktiskais Latvietis», a publication of the Latvian newspaper Latvijas Avīze, published a recipe that lets home bakers finish it in roughly an hour.

Ingredients

The dough requires 300 g of wheat flour, 1.5 teaspoons of baking soda, 50 g of milk powder, 240 g of sour cream (15–20% fat) and 70 g of sugar. The filling calls for 1–2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, 3–4 tablespoons of sugar and 50 g of sour cream.

Dough

Mix the flour with the milk powder and soda, add the sour cream and sugar, and knead. The dough should be soft and elastic; if it is too dry, add a couple of tablespoons of water. Wrap it in cling film and leave it to rest for half an hour.

Shaping

Roll the dough out to about 3 mm thick and spread a thin layer of sour cream over it, then sprinkle evenly with cinnamon and sugar. If the dough is too thin, the kliņģeris cannot be twisted; if it is too thick, there will be plenty of bread and little filling. Roll it up carefully into a roulade, preferably tightly.

Cut the roll lengthwise in half with a sharp knife, leaving a couple of centimetres uncut at one end. Lay the left half over the right and braid it so that the cut side always faces upward. Secure the ends with a little sour cream. The kliņģeris can be shaped into a round or in the traditional form, with the ends crossed over each other in the middle.

Baking

Bake at 200 °C for 20–25 minutes, lowering the temperature to 180 °C for the last five minutes. The author stresses that the stated temperature must be followed, otherwise the pastry will not bake through, will collapse and will stay sticky. The filling can be varied, for example with a generous layer of poppy seeds, or with raisins and small pieces of marmalade.