Yeast | Talk to me about Austria

Wie Austrians looove Flesserl in every form :). We love to eat them for breakfast, lunch, even dinner. Filled with butter or ham and cheese, whatever the Austrian heart desires. The probably most popular Flesserl is the so-called Mohnflesserl.

But what the heck are we talking about now you might wonder? Well, for those of you who don’t recognize the word, a Mohnflesserl is a specially braided Poppy Seed Roll.

And here’s how Mohnflesserl are supposed to look like:

And here’s how you can make them:

Zutaten:
500g bread-flour (625g white spelt flour)
2¼ teaspoons dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
200ml lukewarm water, plus additional water (up to 150ml more) as needed
Milk, for brushing
Poppy seeds

Zubereitung:

Combine lukewarm water and dry yeast and stir mixture; allow the yeast to dissolve.

Combine dry and wet ingredients in a bowl; stir the mixture adding water as needed to form a soft but not sticky dough. Knead the dough for several minutes before returning it to the bowl. Allow the dough to rise for around 30 minutes in a warm place.

Preheat oven to 425˚F (220˚C). Divide the risen dough into 16 equal pieces. To form the Flesserl, take one piece of dough and roll out into a long braid. Take the ends of the braid and fold one over and one under the braid to create a loop at each end (with some of the dough hanging over the ends of the loop. Take the ends that are overhanging and tuck through the open loops — again one should go under the loop and one over. As each Flesserl is formed place it on a lined baking sheet; allow to proof for around 30 minutes.

Brush the Flesserl with milk and then sprinkle with poppy seeds or a mixture of poppy seeds and salt. Bake until the tops of the Flesserl are starting to brown, just over 20 minutes. Remove to a rack and cool.