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In this post, I would like to share another Hungarian recipe with you. Crescent rolls or kifli in Hungarian.

Kifli, kiflice, kifle, or kipfel is a traditional yeast bread roll that is rolled and formed into a crescent before baking.
It is a common type of bread roll throughout much of central Europe and nearby countries, where it is called by different names. It is thought to be the inspiration for the French croissant, which has a very similar shape but is made with a different type of dough. /Wikipedia/

Kifli is a staple food in Hungary. It’s eaten as a bread roll and also used to make sandwiches and puddings.

Very popular kifli/crescent roll meal ideas: salami sandwich, mákos guba (type of poppy seed dessert), or just kifli with cocoa or yogurt.

Happy baking! Jó étvágyat!

Let me know if you try this recipe…you can use #cutecuisine on Instagram. Let us connect.

Crescent roll Ingredients

• 300 g bread flour ( 1 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp.)
• 200 g plain flour ( 1 1/4 cup)
• 11 g instant dry yeast (1 tbsp.)
• 1 tbsp. melted butter
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 200 ml milk (3/4 cup)
• 100 ml water (1/2 cup)
• 2 tsp. salt

Instructions

1. In a bowl add the flour, then add the salt to the flour, mix it.
2. Add the instant dry yeast to the flour mixture. Mix it again.
3. Then in a measuring cup mix lukewarm milk, water, melted butter, and sugar. Add this to the floury mixture. Mix it with a spatula until it makes a shaggy dough.
4. Knead it for about 15-20 minutes. At first, the dough will be quite sticky, but after 10 minutes it should be elastic and come away from the edge of the bowl and your fingers. If not, add a bit more flour, little by little.
5. When the dough is ready let it proof until it doubles in size. Took me about an hour, but it varies according to the temperature of your house.
6. After proofing, divide the dough into eight pieces. Try to make 8 100 g pieces. If you want you can make smaller crescent rolls in that case divide the dough into 10-16 pieces. Shape them into balls. Let them rest for 10 min.
7. Lightly grease your work surface and roll the balls out as thinly as possible. One by one.
8. Starting from the widest point, roll each one up tightly into a croissant shape, forming a crescent moon.
9. Grease and flour or line a baking tray with baking paper. Place them in the tray, allowing plenty of space between them to double in size. Let them prove for about 15-20 minutes, whilst the oven heats up.
10. Turn on the oven to 220°C (428 F).
11. Put another tray on the bottom shelf of the oven. When the oven heats up and you put in the kiflis, fill this tray with 1 dl water (0,5 cup).
12. Before baking using a silicon brush, brush the tops with milk or water. Or you can spray them with water. Bake the kiflis for 15-20 minutes until golden. After removing them from the oven spray them again with water, while still hot.
13. Let them cool on a wire rack.

Kifli ingredients & substitutions

Flour: I used bread flour as well as all-purpose flour. The bread flour provides a crispier shell.

Yeast: I used instant yeast which doesn’t need proofing. In Hungary, we usually use fresh yeast but it is harder to come by in France. You can use active dry yeast but that needs proofing.

Butter: Use unsalted, melted butter. Provides extra fat and makes the crescent rolls inside super soft and helps them to remain soft longer. If you are vegan feel free to use vegan butter or vegetable oil. Preferable neutral-flavored vegetable oil.

Notes

You can top the crescent rolls with flaky salt, poppy seeds, caraway seeds, flax seeds.