Armenian Nazook 2 ways … sweet and savoury

“Food is a central activity of mankind and one of the single most significant trademarks of a culture.”
Mark Kurlansky

These are literally hot off the press oven! Delightful little bites, crisp, flavourful, completely unexpected and a window to yet another culture. Trust Daring Bakers to throw up another fabulous challenge, this time an Armenian pastry full of infinite promise. Nazook, something I had never heard of. I went sweet and savoury, two ways – Nutella, Almond, Vanilla Bean Nazook and Cheddar Chimichurri Nazook, both delicious!

The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.

I read up the challenge pretty early in the month but this has been a tiresome month with plenty of kid issues. Have kids, will fret. Just as the ‘not so terrible anymore teen‘ has begun settle down, the preteen is offering us ‘challenges‘ galore. Not a moment of rest for the wicked I chide myself, and life goes on!Last night as I read the DB forum about all the wonderful Nazook experiences, I reached the kitchen in a trance and made the dough. ‘Rest the dough for 3-5 hours‘ said Aunt Aida.

Seemed like the challenge was tailor made for me, giving me time to relax too! I love make ahead bits of recipes as they make the work look so easy. The recipe called for sour cream and it was time for substitution as it isn’t locally available here!  With help from Google, I settled for hung yogurt and butter. I have yet to experience such a smooth fine pastry dough, pliable, flexible and so unassuming. It made me sit up and take notice. The texture seemed to hold a lot of promise especially in hot weather like ours in North India.

Yet another Daring surprise from another beautiful culture, this time Armenian cuisine. Last month we walked the wild side with an exciting Dutch Crunch Bread or tijgerbol from the Netherlands. Some time before that we made the stunning Povitica, a Croatian sweet bread that was unforgettable! I absolutely love the way Daring Bakers is embracing food cultures in the most amazing way!Our talented host this month, Jason, is half Croatian and grew up eating Povitica! Jason decided to share his Armenian heritage with us and introduced us to his Aunt Aida’s nazook recipe of which he wrote … “I’ve tried a LOT of nazook, and have to say hers is the best I’ve tried.” I halved the recipe even though all the reviews were great but it’s beginning to warm up a lot here, and I didn’t know how the butter would behave! The result was so good.  The crust is almost like a flaky shortcrust or shortbread, maybe somewhere in between, but quite amazing!

It’s always a sweet vs savoury tug of war for me in the kitchen. Even though I had chocolate something in mind for half, and pistachio for the other half, I reached for cheddar and went savoury on the first lot. So good! The flour in the filling intrigued me, so unusual, but like it needed to be there. The end result was crisp, buttery, flaky and full of good pizza flavour!For the second bit of the dough, Nutella called my name, and with a last minute almond distraction I ended up with Nutella, Almond, Vanilla Bean Nazook. I have stayed eggless with the challenge as I get loads of requests from my local readers to offer more eggless/vegetarian recipes. If you like, give the pastry an egg wash to get the characteristic shiny finish that nazook has.

Thank you Jason of Daily Candor {and your sweet Aunt} for a wonderful window to your rich heritage. Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!! Do stop by here to see the beautiful nazook and nutmeg cake our other daring bakers have done!

[print_this]Recipe: Nutella, Almond, Vanilla Bean Nazook and Cheddar Chimichurri Nazook

Summary: An Armenian yeasted dough sweet traditional pastry. The result was so good, the crust is almost like a flaky shortcrust or shortbread, maybe somewhere in between, but quite amazing! {Adapted from Aunt Aida’s recipe from Jason}. Makes 20-22 nazook.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes { plus resting time}
Ingredients:

• Pastry dough
• 210 gm all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 100gm hung yogurt {thick}
• 125gm softened butter (room temperature)
• Savoury filling
• 55gm all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted
• 50gm cheddar, grated
• 1 tsp chimichurri seasoning or dried Italian herbs
• 40gm butter,room temperature
• Sweet filling
• 100gm Nutella
• 55gm all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted
• 55gm vanilla sugar
• 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
• 40gm butter, room temperature
• 25gm almond meal
• Wash
• 1-2 tsp low fat cream or yogurt {or an egg yolk, or 1 whole egg}
• Dried herbs, sea salt, vanilla sugar, icing sugar etc for topping

Method:

1. Make the Pastry Dough
2. Place the sifted flour into a large bowl.  Add the dry yeast, and mix it in.
3. Add the sour cream, and the softened butter.
4. Use your hands, or a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, to work it into a dough.
5. If using a standing mixer, switch to a dough hook. If making manually, continue to knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl or your hands. If it remains very sticky, add some flour, a little at a time.
6. Cover the dough and refrigerate for 3-5 hours, or overnight if you like.
7. Make the savoury filling
8. Mix the flour, dried herbs, grated cheese and the softened butter in a medium bowl.
9. Mix the filling with a fork until it looks like clumpy, damp sand. It should not take long. Reserve.
10. Make the sweet filling
11. Mix the flour, almond meal, vanilla bean and sugar, then add the softened butter in a medium bowl.
12. Mix the filling until it looks like clumpy, damp sand. It should not take long. Set aside.
13. Make the nazook
14. Preheat the oven to moderate 175°C.
15. Cut the refrigerated dough into two.
16. Form one half into a ball. Dust your working surface with a little flour.
17. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle or oval. The dough should be thin, but not transparent.
18. Savoury  version:
19. Spread the filling mixture across the rolled-out dough in an even layer. Try to spread the filling as close as possible to the edges on the short sides, but keep some of pastry dough uncovered (1 inch/2.5 cm) along the long edges.
20. Sweet version:
21. Spread the filling mixture across the rolled-out dough in an even layer. Try to spread the filling as close as possible to the edges on the short sides, but keep some of pastry dough uncovered (1 inch/2.5 cm) along the long edges.
22. Continue for both versions…
23. From one of the long sides, start slowly rolling the dough across. Be careful to make sure the filling stays evenly distributed. Roll all the way across until you have a long, thin loaf.
24. Pat down the loaf with your palm and fingers so that it flattens out a bit (just a bit).
25. Apply the wash with a pastry brush.{Sprinkle with dried herbs or vanilla sugar etc if desired}
    
26. Use your crinkle cutter (or knife) to cut the loaf into 10 equally-sized pieces. Put onto an ungreased cookie sheet,
27. Place in a preheated moderate oven for about 30 minutes, until the tops are a rich, golden brown.
    
28. Allow to cool and enjoy!

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