Grandma's Church

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 500 g flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• 250 ml milk
• 1 cube of yeast
• 3 eggs
• 50 g butter
• 50 g sugar
• e.g. raisins
• 1 bottle of rum flavoring
• 1 bottle of lemon flavor
• 1 bottle of vanilla flavor
• some vegetable fat or lard

Instructions

Working time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Total time approx. 4 hours

Extended

Marinate the raisins in the rum, lemon, and vanilla flavoring. Preheat a bowl and the milk. Sift the flour into the preheated bowl and make a well in the center. Crumble in the fresh yeast, salt, and 10 g of the sugar. Gradually add the preheated milk, but not all of it (about half). Mix a little of the flour with the milk, sugar, salt, and yeast. This creates a “doagal” (pre-dough), a somewhat thicker mixture. However, there should be a good edge of flour left over. Cover the mixture and let it rise for half an hour. Meanwhile, mix the milk with the eggs, the remaining sugar, and the butter. The “doagal” should now be twice as large as before. Now mix the “doagal” with the remaining flour. Then add the milk, butter, and egg mixture and mix until smooth. The dough should now taste sweet and have a consistency like bread dough. Cover the dough again and let it rise for another half hour. It should now be twice as large as before and stick together. It should definitely not be dry. You can now fold in the raisins if desired. Discard any remaining flavoring that the raisins were in. Do not stir it in! Now you can scoop out portions of the dough with a tablespoon and place them on a floured surface. Dust your hands well with flour beforehand and dip the spoon in the flour frequently. The resulting balls should then be covered and let rise for another half hour. The balls should then have risen to the size of rolls/bread rolls. Now halve these balls and form them into a round flatbread. Pull the flatbreads apart from the center, leaving a border of about 1.5 cm. The Kirchl can now be stretched further either over your knee or in a smooth sieve or bowl. Failed flatbreads or torn ones can easily be made into “Vögerl” (little birds). To do this, simply knead the dough together again and shape it into any desired shape. The frying oil/vegetable fat is hot enough when small bubbles form around a wooden spoon. Always shape the Kirchl fresh before frying; do not “pre-form” them. Place only one Kirchl at a time into the hot oil and wait until it rises to the surface. Then—very important!—pour three ladles of oil over it. Turn the Kirchl when a small, brown edge forms. Never pierce the Kirchl when turning. The Kirchl are done when they are slightly darker than golden yellow. After frying, let the Kirchl cool briefly on some kitchen paper. The fried Kirchl are great for freezing.