Kiflice Recipe in English - Best Ever Serbian Cheese Rolls
Kiflice with cheese, chilli and garlic filling (Serbian cheese rolls). Adapted from Maja at Cooks and Bakes' challenge for Fresh from the oven November 2010
Prep Time1 hourhr30 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr50 minutesmins
Servings: 40rolls
Author: Sarah Trivuncic
Ingredients
For the dough:
500gall purpose flour
1tspsalt
20gfresh yeast2 tsp instant yeast or 2.5 tsp active dry yeast
1tspcaster sugar (superfine baking sugar)
250mlmilk
75mlsunflower oil
1large eggs
For the filling:
200-250gfeta cheese
1egg whites
2clovesgarlicvery finely chopped
1small green chillideseeded and very finely chopped
For the glaze:
1egg yolks
1tbspmilk
100gbutter
2tsppaprika
Instructions
Crush the cheese using a fork and stir in the egg white, chopped green chilli and garlic. The filling shouldn't be runny, but thick and compact, thicker than the cream cheese, and pretty salty.
To make the starter - warm 50-60mls of the milk until it is lukewarm and dissolve the yeast in it with a teaspoon of sugar and a tablespoon of flour, stir to get smooth batter. Set aside in a warmish place to give the yeast time to activate and bubble up filling the cup.
Sift the flour and salt. Add the frothy yeast mixture, egg, oil and milk, then combine using a wooden spoon to get smooth dough. Your dough should start to separate from the bowl, and form a ball. It is not necessary to knead the dough by hand. Grease some cling film with oil and cover the bowl setting aside for at least an hour in a warm place until the dough doubles in size.
After this time as passed, knead the dough a little. On a floured work surface, divide into 5 equal balls. Each ball will yield 8 rolls, giving 40 rolls in total to be lined up in 5x8 formation on a baking sheet.
To create the rolls, you need to roll a series of dough circles which are then cut into 8 segments; flatten each ball by hand on the floury work surface, then roll into a circular shape 0.5cm thick.
Cut the circle into 8 triangular segments. Take one triangle, stretch it gently with your hands so that it becomes long and pointy (around 20cm long and very thin toward the end). Put a generous teaspoon of filling at the triangle base, then fold the edges of the base inwards before rolling the triangle up into a crescent sausage shape. Continue and line up the rolls in 5 x 8 formation, fairly close together.
When you are half way through forming your rolls, preheat the oven to 180c or gas mark 4.
For the glaze, beat the egg yolk with the milk and brush the top of each roll with the mixture. Sprinkle the rolls with paprika.
Finally, dot the butter in knobs placed in the gaps between the rolls, do not avoid this step since it fries the rolls in the oven and is essential for the flavour and texture. Bake for 18-20 minutes taking care not to over do and dry out. The kiflice are at their most desirable warm but take care to give the cheese filling chance to cool before you tuck in. They are just as nice cooled down but like many bakes, they are even more delightful when fresh from the oven.