Štrukli

the Zagorje pastry of stretched dough rolled round fresh cottage cheese, boiled or baked, and drowned in cream

Origin: Zagreb, Hrvatsko Zagorje & the Pannonian Basin

From the journey of Wheat.

Štrukli is dough stretched until it is translucent, spread with fresh cottage cheese beaten with egg and cream, rolled up, cut into lengths, and then either boiled and dressed with butter and breadcrumbs or baked under a flood of cream until the top blisters. Zagreb serves the baked version and calls it zagorski štrukli, and the Croatian Ministry of Culture placed it on the national register of intangible cultural heritage in 2007. The dough is the same principle as a strudel and the same family: stretched by hand over the backs of the knuckles on a cloth-covered table until it is thin enough to read through and then filled and rolled. Central Europe does a great deal of this and the technique travelled with the Habsburg kitchen, which is why an Austrian strudel, a Hungarian rétes, a Slovenian štruklji, and a Croatian štrukli are all recognisably the same manoeuvre performed on different fillings. Slovenia makes it too, spells it štruklji, and treats it as its own, which it is. The Zagorje hills of northern Croatia and the Slovenian countryside immediately across the border are one landscape and were one administrative region for most of their history; the dish belongs to that whole area rather than to the frontier drawn through it. Slovenian versions run to a wider range of fillings, savoury and sweet, including tarragon, walnut, and buckwheat. The cheese should be fresh, soft, and slightly sour, which is what a Central European svježi sir or skuta is; ricotta is the usual substitute and is milder and wetter, so it wants draining and a squeeze of lemon to bring the sourness back.

Ingredients

Dough

  • 300 g plain flour
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 1 tsp white wine vinegar
  • 0.5 tsp salt
  • 140 ml warm water, approximately

Filling

  • 600 g fresh cottage cheese or drained ricotta
  • 2 eggs
  • 150 ml soured cream
  • 1 tsp salt

To assemble

  • 60 g butter, melted

To bake

  • 300 ml double cream
  • 50 g soured cream
  • 1 egg yolk

Method

  1. Work the flour, egg, oil, vinegar, salt, and water into a soft, smooth dough and knead it for ten minutes until it is silky and elastic.
  2. The vinegar is not for flavour: the acid relaxes the gluten and is what lets the dough stretch as far as it has to without tearing.
  3. Brush the dough with oil, cover it, and rest it in a warm place for at least forty-five minutes. An unrested dough will spring back and tear.
  4. Beat the cottage cheese with the two eggs, the soured cream, and the salt until smooth but not liquid.
  5. Spread a large cloth on the table and dust it with flour. Roll the dough out on it as far as you can with a pin.
  6. Now stretch it by hand, working underneath with the backs of your knuckles and moving round the table, until it is thin enough to see the cloth through.
  7. Use the backs of the hands rather than fingertips, which puncture it. Trim off the thick edge.
  8. Brush the sheet all over with melted butter and spread the cheese filling over about two thirds of it.
  9. Lift the cloth from the filled edge and let the dough roll itself up into a long cylinder, which is far easier than rolling it by hand.
  10. Cut the roll into 8cm lengths, pressing each cut firmly with the side of your hand so the ends seal.
  11. For the baked version, arrange them in a buttered dish, whisk the double cream with the soured cream and yolk, pour it over so they are half submerged, and bake at 190°C for thirty-five to forty minutes until the top is deep gold and blistered.
  12. For the boiled version, simmer the pieces in salted water for fifteen minutes, drain, and dress with butter and toasted breadcrumbs. Rest baked štrukli ten minutes before serving.

Notes

The vinegar and the long rest are what make the dough stretchable; without both it tears. Stretch on the backs of your knuckles rather than with fingertips, and work over a floured cloth so you can use it to roll the finished sheet. Drain ricotta overnight in a sieve if using it, and add a squeeze of lemon, since it is wetter and milder than the Central European fresh cheese this is built for. Press the cut ends firmly to seal. The baked version wants enough cream to come halfway up the pieces; less and the tops dry out.

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