Pastry & pies Fasting
Gjevrečinja
Rings of dough boiled first in honeyed water, then rolled in sesame and baked. Suitable for fasting exactly as written.
Recipe from Кире Банишки · Toronto, ON
- Prep
- 1 hr 30 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Total
- 1 hr 55 min
- Fasting
- Suitable
Ingredients 7 ingredients
Method
- Knead the flour, yeast, salt and sugar with water into a medium-soft dough. Work it for about ten minutes until smooth and elastic.
- Leave the dough covered somewhere warm to rise until doubled, about an hour.
- Divide it into 12 equal pieces. Roll each into a rope about 25 cm long and join the ends into a ring, pressing them firmly so they do not open while boiling.
- In a wide pot bring a litre of water to the boil with three tablespoons of honey. The honey is what gives the rings their shine and a light caramel colour.
- Lower the rings into the boiling water a few at a time, so they do not touch. As soon as they rise to the surface, lift them out with a slotted spoon.
- Straight away, while they are still wet, roll them in plenty of sesame on all sides — sesame will not stick to a dry ring.
- Arrange them on a greased tray and bake in a hot oven, 220 °C, for about 20–25 minutes until well browned.
- They are best eaten at once, with sheep’s cheese or apricot jam.
If you cannot find it
Substitutions that work outside Macedonia.
- Honey in the water
- Two tablespoons of sugar or barley malt syrup; the effect on colour is much the same.
- Fresh yeast
- 7 g dried yeast, slaked in a little warm water with a pinch of sugar.
- Sesame seeds
- Black sesame, poppy seeds, or a mixture of the two.
