Daring Bakers July 2013: Blast from the past
(Obligatory blog-checking lines: In a "celebration" of past Daring Baker and Daring Cook challenges, Lisa challenged all of us to search through the Daring Kitchen archives and pick any one we'd like! The REAL challenge was picking which delicious recipe(s) to try!)
I decided to go back and make the Armenian pastry nazook.
I was intrigued by the bizarre combo of ingredients for a dough and didn't feel quite up to some of the more painfully elaborate challenges of the past, which is why I chose it!
Dough ingredients ready to go. Sour cream, butter, and yeast?! Yeah. The finished dough gets rolled out into a thin rectangle and then sprinkled with filling.
The filling: butter, sugar, vanilla, and flour.
It all gets rolled up, cut into slices, and baked.
The end result!
A few more.
It had a beautiful, flaky texture, and it puffed up wonderfully in the oven. However, I thought the flavor was b-o-r-i-n-g and made for a waste of an interesting dough. To Americans especially, who are used to/spoiled by very flavorful fillings, having a filling with no spices or add-ins, just basically big lumps of sugar and flour, was weird, and it was hard to overcome the temptation to add some pizzazz. This was definitely a very simplistic and rustic dessert. I had fun making it, though!
I decided to go back and make the Armenian pastry nazook.
I was intrigued by the bizarre combo of ingredients for a dough and didn't feel quite up to some of the more painfully elaborate challenges of the past, which is why I chose it!
Dough ingredients ready to go. Sour cream, butter, and yeast?! Yeah. The finished dough gets rolled out into a thin rectangle and then sprinkled with filling.
The filling: butter, sugar, vanilla, and flour.
It all gets rolled up, cut into slices, and baked.
The end result!
A few more.
It had a beautiful, flaky texture, and it puffed up wonderfully in the oven. However, I thought the flavor was b-o-r-i-n-g and made for a waste of an interesting dough. To Americans especially, who are used to/spoiled by very flavorful fillings, having a filling with no spices or add-ins, just basically big lumps of sugar and flour, was weird, and it was hard to overcome the temptation to add some pizzazz. This was definitely a very simplistic and rustic dessert. I had fun making it, though!