A favorite recipe for a "traditional" yeast dough for bakery treats such as long rolls or shaped into three- cornered pastry called Hamantaschen.
This yeast dough is fun to make and what is most important, it is easy to handle. It was not the holiday of Purim so I did not make hamantaschen but used the dough to make a prune-filled roll. I used canned prune filling for the dough as had it in my pantry and time to use it. The filling seemed a bit runny so I added a bit of honey, lemon juice, and ground almonds that I keep in the freezer.
This recipe involves letting the dough raise two times, doubling in size each time.
The ingredients I use for the easy- to- handle dough are as follows:
1 1/4 tsp yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup sugar (or a bit less)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
2 cups unbleached flour -- plus a few pinches of flour to knead the dough
I mixed the yeast with the warm water and added a bit of the sugar and waited a few minutes until bubbles appeared. then added the remaining sugar, oil, egg and the two cups of flour.
I mixed all the ingredients and kneaded the dough until smooth and no longer sticking to the side of the bowl. I added a couple pinches of flour to keep the dough from sticking. I floured the bowl, covered with a kitchen towel and allowed it to raise for about an hour.
I love parchment paper and lined a large cookie sheet with the paper. I rolled the dough on the parchment paper and the paper helped me roll the dough in a long roll.
I rolled the dough into a rectangle and added prune filling and some cinnamon to the middle, rolled it up and put it in a cold oven to rise for another hour or until doubled in bulk.
Bake at 375 F.
A reference to this dough is at:
Reviving a Yeasted Hamantaschen Recipe Nearly Lost to the Soviet Era — Jewish Food Society
