My paternal grandmother often made curd cheese bundles on Thursdays. Meanwhile my poor mom was relegated to menial tasks in her own kitchen. I remember Nagymama came home unexpectedly one time from one of her annual visits to Siklós. She was mortally wounded, [it happened more than once] because she met her match in her "other" daughter in-law. She didn't know yet but another heartbreak was waiting for her in Budapest; mom's perfect curd cheese bundles! "Olga, alig tudok magamhoz térni hogy te igy tudsz sütni!" [Olga, I can barely recover you can bake like this!] It was not known but my mother was a great cook except the kitchen was her mother in-law's domain. Nearly every family I knew back then was multi generational. Adult children were forced to live with their parents or in-laws. I watched my mother and my grandmother juggling for power and felt sorry for them both. What caused all that? Hungary being on the loosing side following two world wars and the lengthy Russian occupation; the lack of housing and the lack of livable pensions were some of the reasons. There were cultural pressures as well, but those were far too complex to go into. Suffice to say I couldn't have been more than ten when I decided this was not the type of adulthood I envisioned and hell or high water I will leave Hungary.
CURD CHEESE BUNDLE
Pastry:
2-1/2 cups flour
4 Tbsp sugar
1/3 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbsp instant yeast
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
Filling:
1 cup túró
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp sugar
1 pkg. vanilla sugar
1 Tbsp farina
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
powdered sugar
• In a bowl crumble together flour sugar, salt and butter to a fine meal.
• Stir in the yeast.
• Add the egg and the milk and kneed the dough until elastic.
• Cover and let rise until doubled.
• On floured board roll out dough and cut into 12 rectangles.
• In a bowl combine the túró, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla sugar and farina.
• Stir in the lemon zest.
• Spoon the túró mixture on top of the rectangles.
• Pinch together the opposite corners and twist the top to seal in the filling.
• Line a rectangular baking pan with parchment paper.
• Lightly grease or spray with cooking spray.
• Arrange bundles in the pan.
• Brush the tops with egg yolk and set aside to rise.
• When bundles doubled in size bake at 375F for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Sift with powdered sugar and serve.
4 Tbsp sugar
1/3 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbsp instant yeast
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
Filling:
1 cup túró
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp sugar
1 pkg. vanilla sugar
1 Tbsp farina
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
powdered sugar
• In a bowl crumble together flour sugar, salt and butter to a fine meal.
• Stir in the yeast.
• Add the egg and the milk and kneed the dough until elastic.
• Cover and let rise until doubled.
• On floured board roll out dough and cut into 12 rectangles.
• In a bowl combine the túró, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla sugar and farina.
• Stir in the lemon zest.
• Spoon the túró mixture on top of the rectangles.
• Pinch together the opposite corners and twist the top to seal in the filling.
• Line a rectangular baking pan with parchment paper.
• Lightly grease or spray with cooking spray.
• Arrange bundles in the pan.
• Brush the tops with egg yolk and set aside to rise.
• When bundles doubled in size bake at 375F for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Sift with powdered sugar and serve.
