Hungarian kurtos kalacs a.k.a. chimney cake

Preparing the dough – 15 minutes + 1 hour waiting time

Warm up the milk somewhat in the small saucepan over medium-low heat. Combine the warm milk, sugar and yeast into the big bowl and give it a good stir. Set aside for 5 minutes or until a thick bubbly foam has formed on top of the milk.

Combine flour and salt in the stand mixer's bowl. Make a hole in the centre and pour in vegetable oil, two eggs and the milk mixture. Mix using the medium setting for about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on your stand mixer.

The chimney cake dough is ready when the dough has become a solid mass and does not stick to your hands. Don't add in extra flour if you notice that the dough is too sticky, add in a few more drops of vegetable oil instead.

Cover with cling film and set aside to rest for 1 hour, or doubled in size. Use this time to create the holders. We tried keeping this as simple as possible by using one or two paper towel tubes.  

Wrap them tightly in tin foil, fold the remaining tin foil inwards. Test it on the baking tray to see if it aligns, and stays put. We're going to wrap the dough over these holders in the next part.

Since these chimney cakes need to be heated all the way around and inside, these make-shift holders will do perfectly fine. You can check out some pictures below of our totally awesome construction: 

Baking the chimney cakes – 20 minutes

When the kurtos kalac dough has doubled in size, place it on a clean working surface. don't sprinkle your countertop with flour beforehand. Knead the dough until smooth, then divide into six portions.

Roll each portion into a long string and roll it onto the prepared holder. The thicker these strings are, the softer they will be eventually. Test a few out to see which thickness you prefer.

Pre-heat your oven to a temperature of 200 degrees celsius, or 392 degrees fahrenheit. Sprinkle each kurtos kalac with sugar and/or cinnamon. We like the version with sugar and cinnamon best!

Place each holder on the edges of your baking tray, and bake them for about 10 to 15 minutes. Roll each holder once in a while, so that the crust colour is evenly browned.  

When done baking, it's best to eat the chimney cakes immediately. But you can store these for up to two days when wrapped in cling film.

We certainly liked these kurtos kalacs very much, ever so since we ate them at the sziget festival in budapest, hungary. Enjoy!