Today is National Doughnut Day, but these clearly are not donuts. 🙂 I didn’t know that it was national doughnut day until this morning, and I already had these lovely dinner rolls on deck so I decided to make these after all. I added in a bit a spelt flour, for flavor — really delicious. Best eaten the same day, but these freeze well too.
A bit of a “controversial” Breakfast item this week as I know that many people aren’t fans of raisins. I love raisins and along with dill pickles, they were some of the very first things that my grandfather would give me as a treat when I was little (I don’t know what is stranger, pickles or raisins, to be honest). Combine that with “swirls” (or Schnecken, which translated is “snails” from the German) and we have one of my favorite breakfast treats. My Oma used to call me ‘schneckle’ or little snail. 🙂
It’s May first and in many places, this is a celebratory day. Not much going on here in Camberville, except the sun is shining and I am in a good mood and so I tried the channel that into my treats that I baked this morning. Back to some of my “more unusual” flavor combinations: Rhubarb Rosehip Shortbread Bars!A little tart, a little sweet, overall delicious and definitely not something that you would have every day. Not everyone has had rosehips, but they are floral and fruity tasting; combine that with the spring-rhubarb flavor and you have a winner!
Back to baking things that are “Ukrainian-inspired” although this could also be Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, Czech, or from the Baltics (did I cover everything?!?) …. this is Makivnyk (маківник): a sweet, poppy seed filled sweet bread, with a dough similar to a cinnamon roll, although not nearly as sweet and cinnamony. It’s often baked as a breakfast bread or something for afternoon tea, and often during celebratory seasons like Christmas or Easter. I’ve sprinkled it with raw sugar, but you can also add coarse pearl sugar or confectioners sugar. I love it because it isn’t overly sweet. The original recipe that I found was yeast-based but I converted to sourdough.
It’s Wednesday, so that must mean a new sourdough experiment for the week! Sticking to my “learn about Ukrainian food” theme, this bread is a Whole Wheat Sunflower Seed Sourdough Artisan Bread. The Ukraine produces some of the largest crops of sunflower seeds globally (although with Russian and other Eastern European countries). And the sunflower is also a symbol of peace in the Ukraine. So, this bread is meaningful and economically appropriate. The Ukrainians, I have read, also eat a lot of rye, so that will be next Wednesday’s experiment. In the meantime, this bread is moist, rounded (literally and figuratively), hearty and has good flavor with the sunflower seeds, whole wheat and honey.