Spring on your plate

Now that spring is peeking over the Gastein mountains every now and then, you really get a craving for delicious spring recipes that delight the palate.

In the last few days, I’ve especially been craving fresh, homemade lye pastry and a cheese roll with a radish-Topfen filling! Whose mouth is watering already? So, here is the recipe to try for yourself!

Cheese roll Katharina-style:

• approx. 9-12 slices of Gouda or Tilsiter cheese (no cheese with large holes, don’t slice too thinly)
• approx. 9-12 slices of ham
• 150 g Topfen
• Yogurt
• Radishes, grated or finely sliced
• Radish leaves, spring onions, herb salt

Place the cheese slices on a baking tray with baking paper (overlapping) and let them melt for a few minutes at approx. 70 degrees, so that the cheese slices become one large “sheet”. Let it cool down a bit, then place the ham on top and spread the filling made of Topfen, yogurt, salt, finely chopped radishes, radish leaves, and finely chopped spring onions on top, and roll it up like a sponge roll. Place on a flat plate or tray and put it in the fridge to set. Slice with a serrated knife after a few hours and enjoy.

Fresh lye pastry goes great with this ;)

Homemade lye pastry: (15-20 pieces)

• 1,000 g wheat flour
• 2 cubes of fresh yeast
• 8 dag soft butter or oil
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 500 ml lukewarm water
• For the lye solution: 1 liter water, 2 tablespoons (1 packet) baking soda.

1. Put the wheat flour in a bowl and salt the edge.
2. Make a well in the middle and add the yeast, sugar, and a little of the lukewarm water
3. Briefly stir the yeast, water, and sugar in the middle with a spoon and let it stand for a few minutes until the yeast rises. Then add the remaining liquid as well as the butter or oil and knead the whole dough with the machine. (The dough benefits from being kneaded longer, as it becomes finer.)
4. Let it rise a little in a warm place and cut 15-20 pieces from the dough, shape them, and let them rise again for approx. 15 min. (Whether you make knots, braids, or balls is up to you)
5. Do you have an apple slicer at home? Then just before the 15 min are up, press down on the round ones with the apple slicer and turn them over (so the pattern is on the bottom) and let them rise a little longer.
6. In the meantime, bring the water with baking soda to a boil, dip the pastry briefly (on both sides), and place it on the tray (including baking paper!!) using a spatula. With this pattern, the lye rolls look like footballs. If you leave them in the lye longer, they get darker, or you can add more baking soda to the water, as you like. Our children prefer it when they are crispy but not so dark.
7. Bake at 200 degrees for approx. 15-20 min. If the bottom sounds hollow when tapped, the pastry is ready. You can also add a teaspoon of baking malt to the mixture, then the pastry will be even crispier and get a nice brown color.

Enjoy your meal. Best wishes and good luck. Katharina from Zittrauerhof

If anything is not clear, just let me know. For the next recipe, the steps will be photographed again; this time there was no camera nearby :-)