Gata
A soft, slightly flaky sweet bread rolled around khoriz — a crumbly filling of flour, sugar and butter that bakes into a sandy, buttery seam. Cut into diamonds and glazed with egg yolk, gata is baked for Candlemas and every visit to someone's home.
Ingredients
- natural yoghurt — 200 g
- baking soda — 0.5 tsp
- egg — 1 pcs
- butter, melted — 150 g
- salt — 0.5 tsp
- all-purpose flour — 450 g
- all-purpose flour, for the filling — 200 g
- sugar — 200 g
- butter, melted, for the filling — 150 g
- vanilla extract — 1 tsp
- egg yolk, for glazing — 1 pcs
Instructions
- Stir the baking soda into the yoghurt, then beat in the egg, melted butter and salt; work in the flour to a soft dough and knead for 5 minutes until smooth.
- Wrap the dough and chill it for 30 minutes.
- For the khoriz, rub the filling flour, sugar and vanilla with the melted butter until it looks like damp sand and holds together when squeezed.
- Heat the oven to 180°C. Halve the dough and roll each half into a rectangle about 30 × 40 cm and 3 mm thick.
- Spread half the khoriz over each sheet, leaving a 2 cm border, fold the short edges in and roll up from a long side into a log; press it flat with your palm.
- Cut each log on the diagonal into 8 diamonds and set them on a tray lined with baking paper.
- Brush with the beaten yolk and draw a pattern over the top with the tines of a fork.
- Bake for 30 minutes until deep golden, then cool on a rack.