Khrushchev Dough

This month I get to participate in my first challenge from Fresh from the Oven.  I’m so excited for all the different techniques I am going to learn from these wonderful bakers!

Many thanks to Silvia and Ivan from mushitza for this month’s challenge! They challenged us to make Khrushchev Dough. It is a Russian recipe and is said that it was the favorite dough recipe of the Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev. It can be fried or baked and made into a number of delicious treats. Silvia and Ivan provided some images to get our baking inspiration flowing and the challenge began!

I must admit, for me the first challenge of this recipe was converting it from grams into something that made more sense to what I am used to in the kitchen – hopefully this is a skill I will get better at with time.

Two confessions here:

#1. I must have made a mistake in my calculations because the liquid to dry ratio did not let my dough come together at all – as you can see in the picture above. But after adding a bit more milk, it came together fine. So, I apologize if my conversions are a bit off.

#2. I realized in the midst of making the dough that I had somehow run out of sugar in my last baking endeavor and forgotten to get more. Rather than let the mixture go to waste I did the only thing I could think of, pulled out my brown sugar and carried on. Hopefully this wouldn’t affect the final product too much.

I chose to make 3 kinds of rolls with the dough, because I was curious how different fillings would work out. I used mozzarella cheese and fresh basil in some, nutella in others, and finally some leftover rhubarb-blueberry pie filling that I had in the fridge.

My rolls didn’t come out particularly pretty. But, they tasted great! I think my favorite were the fruit-filled ones.

So here’s the recipe with my conversions – hopefully I did it justice! (And feel free to leave me a comment if I messed up somewhere. I’ve got to learn some how!)

Khrushchev Dough

Recipe adapted from Silvia and Ivan, mushitza

Makes 2-4 dozen rolls (depends on how big you make them)

• 3 tsp (10 grams) active dry yeast
• 1/8 c (30 grams) water
• ½ Tbsp (10 grams) salt
• 1 c + 1 Tbsp (250 ml) cold milk
• 10 Tbsp (130 grams) unsalted butter, small cubed
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 4 c (500 grams) all purpose flour

1.Mix salt and dry yeast, then add water. Add milk, butter and sugar. Sift flour on top.

2.Mix with an electric mixer equipped with dough hooks until a soft dough forms.

3.Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

4.To make the rolls: Remove dough from the fridge and roll into desired shape, cut and fill as you like. Brush final shape with oil or egg whites.

5.Bake 325°F (180°C) for 30 min or until golden brown. (Silvia and Ivan say 15 minutes, but mine needed double that time.)

And just in case you’re wondering:

Blueberry-Rhubarb Pie Filling

Should make enough to fill one 8” pie

• 2 2/3 c rhubarb, thinly sliced
• 1 1/3 c frozen blueberries (if you use fresh you may need to add a little water)
• 6 Tbsp flour
• 1 1/3 c sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt

When I came up with this I was just experimenting with creating a filling recipe in a saucepan on the stove (I didn’t have the time or excuse to actually bring it to pie stage). But these ingredients should be able to be tossed together and placed in an unbaked pie crust, dotted with butter and baked at 450°F for 40-50 min or until bubbly.

If someone tries it before me, let me know!