Overview
These sweet little pastries are another Latvian staple. They can be made in several different shapes – rolled up (what I do), bear claws or pretty much anything else. The dough is the same one I use for my pīragi (or, to be more accurate, I use this dough for the pīragi! That dough should have the extra 1/4 cup of sugar removed… but it’s tasty!). I have no idea if these freeze well, they’ve never made it to the freezer.

Time
Preparation and dough rising – approximately 2 hours
Baking time 15-20 minutes

Ingredients:
¼ cup warm water
1 ts sugar
2 ts yeast

1/2 cup milk
90g butter
90g fat (goose or duck)
¼ cup plus 1 TB sugar
1 ts salt

1 egg, slightly beaten
¼ cup sour cream

4 – 5 cups plain flour

Melted butter
Granulated sugar
Poppy seeds (or ground cinnamon)

Egg wash

Method
1 – Combine water, sugar and yeast. Set aside.

2 – Scald milk. Add butter, fat, sugar and salt. In a large bowl, set aside until only warm.

3 – Combine egg with sour cream. Add to milk mixture.

4 – Add yeast to milk mixture.

5 – Slowly add flour to the milk mixture to form a dough. Let rise in a greased bowl.

6 – Preheat oven to 200° C.

7 – Punch down and roll out dough into a large rectangle on a floured benchtop.

8 – Brush generously with butter, leaving 2cm along one of the long edges.

9 – Sprinkle the butter with the sugar and poppy seeds. Don’t be stingy!

10 – Roll up as tightly as you can, pinching along the edge when done.

11 – Cut into 1 1/2 cm slices and arrange on Glad Bake covered trays. Cover with egg wash.

12 – Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on racks.

Store in air-tight containers or freeze when cold.