Kringle is a Northern European pastry, a variety or pretzel, which in the 13th century was introduced in Denmark by Roman Catholic monks. From there it spread throughout Northern Europe evolving into several kinds of sweet, salty or filled pastries in the shape of kringle.
In Latvia klinģeris, sometimes also called yellow bread, is traditionally made for festive occasions, like birthdays, name days, holidays, etc. After baking, klinģeris is often dusted with powdered sugar and decorated with fruit, chocolate or birthday candles.
Ingredients
- 35 g / 1.2 oz fresh yeast (15 g / 1.5 tbsp instant yeast)
- 125 g / 0.6 cups granulated sugar
- 500 – 600 g / 4.2 – 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 250 g / 1 cup milk (2% or full fat)
- 0.2 g / a pinch of saffron (can be omitted if you don’t have it)
- 125 g / 0.6 cups / 4.4 oz butter (unsalted, room temperature)
- 1 egg (room temperature)
- 2 g / 1/3 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1 tsp vanilla
- zest of 1 lemon or orange
- 200 g / 1.3 cups dried fruit / berries – raisins, cranberries, apricots, etc.
For the top:
- 1 egg
- 30 g / 2 tbsp butter (unsalted, cold)
- 2 tbsp almond flour (can be replaced with all-purpose flour)
- 2 – 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar (white or brown)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- about 20 g / 0.4 cups almond flakes
- cinnamon and powdered sugar for dusting
Directions
- To prepare leaven, crumble fresh yeast in a big bowl and mix with a tablespoon of sugar, half the amount of milk, slightly warmed up, and about 200 g of sifted flour. Cover the bowl with a lid or a towel and leave at room temperature for about 1 h – 1.5 h for the yeast to activate and start growing.
- Add saffron to the rest of the milk and heat it on medium low for a few minutes so that the saffron colours the milk yellow. Remove the milk from the stove and let it cool. If you do not have saffron, you can skip it and make klinģeris without it. The klinģeris just won’t be that yellow and will not have the light saffron flavour.
- After an hour the leaven should have grown, be bubbly, foamy. Add to it the milk with saffron, egg, sugar and spices – salt, cardamom, lemon or orange zest, and vanilla. Mix everything well.
- Sift in the flour and add the soft butter. Mix everything and add more flour if the dough is still sticky. Add a tablespoon at a time not to add too much flour. For me usually, when the dough starts to separate from the sides of the bowl and not stick to my hands or the bowl, is the sign of having enough flour added.
- Dust the kitchen countertop with some flour, remove the dough from the bowl and knead it for a few minutes till the dough feels smooth, elastic, easy to shape. The dough should be soft and easy to knead without much strength.
- Gradually knead in the dried berries / fruit. If you want you can add more dried fruit than indicated in the recipe as the dough will grow and there will not be that many of them in the ready klinģeris.
- Shape the dough into a ball. Dust the bowl with a bit of flour, and put the dough back in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a lid or a towel and let the dough grow for about 1.5 h – 2 h till it has at least doubled in size. During this time, when the dough has visibly grown in the bowl, push it gently back 1 or 2 times with your fingers.
- Prepare a sheet of parchment paper in the size of the baking tray and grease it with a bit of oil.
- Dust the kitchen countertop with some flour to prevent the dough from sticking to it and remove the dough from the bowl. Gently roll it into a long sausage.
- Pull the dough onto the parchment paper and shape the klinģeris into a shape of something like 8 or letter B, which is how a klinģeris typically looks like.
- With the help of the parchment paper, pull the klinģeris onto the baking tray. Cover it with a clean towel and let it rest for another 30 – 45 minutes.
- To prepare crumbs for the top, mix with hands butter, almond flour, sugar, cinnamon and all-purpose flour, leaving lumps of butter coated with sugar and flour.
- For the egg wash, break an egg in a glass and beat it a little with a fork.
- Set the oven to heat to 200° C or 430° F.
- Brush the klinģeris with the egg.
- Sprinkle some cinnamon on top and cover it with the crumbs and almond flakes as last.
- Bake klinģeris for about 25 – 30 minutes. After the first 5 minutes of baking reduce the temperature to 180° C or 400° F. If the klinģeris starts to brown too quickly, cover it loosely with a piece of aluminium foil. Some of the browning happens because of the egg wash.
- Remove the klinģeris from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes before removing from the baking tray.
- Sprinkle with some powdered sugar and enjoy!