Pressburger croissants and beigels

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 375 g fat, trimmed (pork kidney fat – leaf lard)
• 900 g flour
• 100 g powdered sugar
• 25 g yeast
• 10 g salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 dl sour cream
• 2 dl water
• Grease for the tray
• 400 g poppy seeds
• some powdered sugar for grinding
• 350 g sugar
• 1 lemon(s), untreated, zest and juice
• ½ dl water
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 75 g raisins
• 2 tbsp rum
• 400 g walnuts
• 350 g sugar
• ½ dl milk
• 2 packets of vanilla sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 piece(s) lemon peel
• 75 g raisins
• 2 tbsp rum
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 egg whites

Instructions

Working time approx. 6 hours; Rest time approx. 12 hours; Total time approx. 18 hours

Traditional cakes: Pressburger Kipferl in Austria, Pozony kifli in Hungary, Bratislavské rohlíčky in Slovakia, Beigel at Christmas in Hungary

First, prepare the fillings. Soak the raisins in rum. Grind the poppy seeds, preferably in a coffee grinder with powdered sugar until sticky. Grind the nuts as well. Mix all the ingredients separately for both fillings, bring to a boil, and let cool. Be careful, especially with the poppy seeds. The filling shouldn’t be too thick, so the dough doesn’t burst during baking. Clean the husks from the lard and put it through a meat grinder. Mix the lard with half the flour and egg yolk, the sugar, and the crumbled yeast. Add the remaining flour, cream, and gradually add the water, and work well, preferably by hand. The dough should be firm but elastic; it shouldn’t stick to the work surface. Don’t use any extra flour; add the water carefully. Divide the dough so that 270 g is enough for beigels and 30-35 g for croissants. Weigh the dough precisely and form into balls. This amount makes 6 beigels or 4 beigels and 16-20 croissants. Let rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Use the same amount of filling for all beigels and croissants, i.e., 1:1. Roll out the beigel dough into a rectangle (approximately 25-30 cm x 20-25 cm). Do not flour the work surface; this is important to achieve a nice, smooth surface. Spread with filling and roll into a strudel. Roll out the croissant dough into an oval, add the filling in the center, fold over, and form small croissants. Place on a greased baking sheet. To achieve a marbled surface, you’ll need to be patient with the dough. Brush the prepared strudels and croissants with egg yolk and refrigerate for 3-4 hours (8-10°C, not in the refrigerator) to dry and rise. Then brush with egg white and refrigerate overnight. The strudel and croissants shouldn’t rise; the dough should only ripen slowly. The next morning, pierce the dough with a skewer slightly deeper, but not all the way through, leaving about 2 cm between each skewer. The holes are necessary to allow steam to escape and prevent the dough from bursting. Bake at 180°C for 30-35 minutes. Instead of lard, you can use the same amount of butter, or better still, 2/3 butter and 1/3 lard.