16 brânzoaice

 

Dough

450g flour

1 egg

40g dry yeast

350ml sana or yoghurt

Filling

250g cottage cheese

1 yolk

a pinch of salt

150g sugar

raisins (as many as you like)

 

+1 egg white for brushing, flour for rolling out the dough

 

I used to love brânzoaice as a child – we could find them in all pastry shops around Romania. So, I wanted to bake them myself. I found an old recipe and I adapted it. It wasn’t as hard as I thought – and it never is when we do it with love.

 

If you like raisins, hydrate them in a cup of water a few hours before baking the brânzoaice.

Make the dough combining the flour, the whole egg, the yeast, and the sana (=fermented milk found in Romania) or the yoghurt and then knead a bit. Cover the dough and let it rise for one hour in a warm place.

Meanwhile, make the filling by mixing the cottage cheese, the yolk, the salt, the sugar, and the raisins.

On a baking mat, cut the dough into four pieces and roll out each sheet of dough adding as much flour as needed. From the centre of the sheet, cut out a rectangle and split it into two squares. Fill each square with the cottage cheese mix and stick the corners of the square in the middle, by also sticking together the dough on the sides, like a rag bag. Roll out the remaining dough – it will make two more brânzoaice; that’s four for each sheet of dough.  

After you finish rolling out all the dough sheets and shaping the brânzoaice, brush them with the egg white and place them into two baking pans (that’s what I needed) covered with baking parchment. Bake them in the preheated oven, at 200°C, for 12-13 minutes.

 

I really hope you like them! J