Directions: |
Directions: Note: Start with all ingredients at room temperature. You can make the filling the evening before, to conserve time and energy. For the buns: Melt 2 lbs. butter until it is a little warmer than lukewarm. Separately, beat 1 cup sugar into 6 eggs. Pour the butter into the sugar/egg mixture, and then stir in 1 cup milk. Add part of a yeast cake from the baker (crumbled)—about the size of a cigarette pack (2 ¼” x 3”) and stir well. Add 10 ½ c. flour and mix thoroughly. (A recipe and a half takes a 10-lb bag of flour.)
Let rise, covered, in a warm place one hour to an hour and a half. (Can heat oven to 350 and turn off, then thickly wrap the dough bowl with blankets and put it in the oven.)
When dough has doubled, divide it into about 10 equal buns (size of a baseball or large tennis ball). Put the buns on parchment paper, cover with freezer paper and a towel to keep temperature constant. Let rest 15 minutes.
To roll out, put a bun between two sheets of plastic butcher’s wrap. Roll into a circle. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap. Brush the edges with same egg mixture used (below) to brush the tops. Sprinkle filling evenly over the circle, leaving a 1” border. Fold in the 4 rounded edges to make a perfect rectangle or square. Using the plastic wrap to move the dough, roll one edge over to make a 1” to 2” fold. Repeat the rolling and folding to create a roll. Pat the roll flat (about 1 ¼” high). Cut diagonally into strips about 1 ½ inch wide. Put on lightly greased baking sheet. Brush with mixture of 2 eggs beaten with 1 tsp sugar.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes on next to bottom rack of oven (so the bottom browns), then 5-7 minutes on next to top rack (so top gets golden brown).
Vanilla Filling Cook together 4 cubes butter and 4 cups flour about ½ hour. Add 2 tsp dry vanilla (from Assyrian specialty store) when almost ready to take off the burner. When the mixture has cooled, mix in 3 cups sugar. Mix well; the mixture should look crumbly.
Walnut and Cinnamon Filling Mix together the following: 4 cups finely chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans) 4 cups brown sugar 3 tsp. cinnamon |