Dallaspulla - Awesome Finnish Pastry

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/8 cup softened butter
• 1/4 ounce dry yeast (1 packet)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 cups wheat flour

Finnish Filling

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup Quark (a.k.a. maitorahkaa)
• 1/4 cup vanilla cream flour

Alternative American Filling

• 8 ounces cream cheese (1 package)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon orange zest or lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla sugar
• 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

Icing

• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3 teaspoons fresh orange juice or lemon juice
• 1 dash water, to desired consistency

Directions

1. 1

   Prepare filling by mixing ingredients into a smooth paste. Refrigerate until needed.

2. 2

   In a saucepan over low heat, warm the milk and butter to about 40C/104°F.

3. 3

   In a bowl, crumble the yeast into the warm milk and butter mixture. Add sugar, salt and egg. Mix together well until the yeast is dissolved.

4. 4

   Add flour gradually until the dough forms a ball. Add more flour only if it's still sticky and add only a little at a time.

5. 5

   Knead dough for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.

6. 6

   Place a towel over the bowl and let the dough double in a warm, draft-free place for about 30 minutes to 1 hour [warming the oven to ~40C/100F works very well as a proofing box].

7. 7

   Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Gently shape dough into rough rectangle with long side nearest you. Lightly flour dough and roll into a 16-inch x 12-inch (40cm x 30cm) rectangle.

8. 8

   Spread filling on the dough leaving a 1cm/.5in border on the far edge.

9. 9

   Beginning with long edge nearest you, roll dough into taut cylinder.

10. 10

    Firmly pinch seam to seal and roll cylinder seam-side down.

11. 11

    Very gently stretch and roll to cylinder of even diameter and 18-inch/45cm length; push ends in to create even thickness.

12. 12

    Using a sharp serrated knife and gentle sawing motion, slice cylinder in half, then slice each half in half again to create evenly sized quarters. Slice 3,8cm/1.5in pieces from the rolls and place into a rectangular pan using a spatula.

13. 13

    Cover with a towel and allow to rise for about 30 minutes while the oven warms to baking temperature.

14. 14

    Make icing.

15. 15

    Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200-225C/390-435F for about 13-15 minutes.

16. 16

    Cut pulla apart and drizzle icing over the tops.

17. 17

    Try not to eat them all in one sitting. :).