Orange-scented Raisin Cardamom Pastry Rolls

It took me a while to overcome many distractions and laziness and get back to blogging..so many things so little time !

Now talking about these pastry rolls, I got inspired by this post from Kelly of Sass&Veracity which is interesting that having cardamom as an ingredient for the dough.. anyway,I chose to make it in a different shape with a different filling since I was not in the mood to play with chocolate !

As a first try of making a pastry dough, although it's not as good as Delifrance's ones but I thought it was considerably good and the filling was a real satisfaction !

The recipe

For the pastry…

1 lg. eggs
6 tbsp. warm water
1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 c. all-purpose flour, sifted
1/4 heaped tsp. salt
2 tsp sugar
1 c. unsalted butter, divided
3/4 tsp ground cardamom

For the filling…

50 g sugar
2-3 tbsp orange zest
handfuls of raisins

1 egg+milk for egg wash

In a small bowl, beat the eggs well. Add the warm water (105-115 degrees F) and sprinkle over the yeast. Stir to dissolve the yeast and set aside for 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, sift the flour and add the salt, sugar, and cardamom. Cut 1/4 c. of the cold butter into small cubes and mix it into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter, or with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the yeast liquid. With a wooden spoon, working from the center and circling outward, incorporate the flour gradually until it is all combined. With a floured hand, knead the mixture in the bowl into a smooth dough, about 2 minutes. Form a ball and cover, allowing it to rest int the fridge about 20 minutes.

While the dough is resting, with a rolling pin, beat the remaining cold butter between sheets of plastic wrap until it is soft and creamy and set aside.

On a very lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a loose rectangle, about 3/8″ thick. With an offset spatula, spread butter over 2/3’s of the rectangle. Fold the unbuttered third of the rectangle over the center third. Then fold the remaining buttered third over the other two. You now have three layers of dough with butter in between two of them.Turn the dough so that the long side is perpendicular to you. This is a quarter turn. Roll it into another rectangle, about 1/4″ thick. Fold it into thirds exactly as before but no butter is added this time. Complete 3 more turns. Sprinkle it very lightly with flour, wrap well in plastic and refrigerate at least 2 hours.


Toward the end of the chilling time, make the filling by rubbing sugar and zest together with fingertips.Set aside.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Roll the chilled dough to 3/8″ thickness and a rectangle about 25″ x 10″. Spread the filling over the dough. Sprinkle the raisins over the filling.Beginning at the nearest long end, tightly roll the dough away, creating a cyliner. Cut the dough with a pastry cutter into 1-1.5 inches pieces, Place the pieces ( cut-side up) on a parchment covered baking sheet. Cover and let it rise for 45 minutes. Brush with egg wash and bake for 15-18 minutes, turning the pastry once in the middle of the baking time. It should be well-puffed and very deep brown when it is done. Allow it to cool for few minutes on the baking sheet before moving it to a rack to cool a bit more before serving.































PS. This will also be posted to yeastspottng, a bread making event run by Susan of Wild Yeast which this week specially hosted by Zorra of kochtopf