Štrukli, or Zagorski Štrukli, originates from the Zagorje region of Croatia which is North of Zagreb. It is a traditional Croatian dish that can be prepared two different ways: boiled and baked. Much like most people, I prefer them baked. These salty and creamy poufs of deliciousness are made using few ingredients – fresh cottage cheese, sour cream, butter, flour, eggs and salt. The cottage cheese has a fresh, slightly acidic taste with a refined taste of milk in its early stage of fermentation.
The dough preparation makes up for most of the work, it’s imperative you be a bit more careful when handling and stretching it than you would be preparing other types of pastry dough. There are a few tricks of the trade in preparing the dough for the Štrukli. The most important rule is to make it almost paper thin, without breaking it. However, if it happens (and it will), don’t fuss about it, just keep going.
When kneading the dough, you can either make it the easy way and put it all in a stand mixer which will do all the work, or you can prepare it the old-school, traditional way like many women have done for dozens of years before.
Traditional Baked Zagorski Štrukli
ingredients
- five hundred grams of all-purpose flour
- six whole eggs
- two tablespoons of butter, softened
- two teaspoons of salt
- one hundred milliliters of water
- five hundred and fifty grams of fresh cottage cheese
- two hundred grams of sour cream
- one tablespoon of extra butter, softened
instructions
To prepare the dough, begin by sifting flour combined with half the salt onto clean working surface and make indentation in the middle. Put two eggs into that indentation, add the butter and combine all ingredients using your fingers.
Gradually add some water to the dough, until it all comes together. Knead the dough with your hands until it's smooth. It should be smooth and elastic, not too soft and sticky.
Divide the dough into three equal parts, brush each with butter and leave it to rest for at least forty five minutes.
While the dough rests, prepare the filling. Mix the softened butter with the fresh cottage cheese, four eggs, half the sour cream, and the rest of salt.
On a clean work surface, dust with flour and put one part of the dough onto it, roll it out with a rolling pin until thin and then begin stretching it with your palms and place on the floured surface.
Then sprinkle it with some softened butter. Brush the filling over one half of the dough. Using tablecloth, roll it over.
Using your hands, separate the dough into equal parts and cut them with a plate. This will firmly seal the edges and ensure the filling doesn't pour out.
Repeat this for the other two parts of the dough.
Grease e a baking pan with butter and assemble the strukli in it.
Preheat the oven to two hundred degrees celsius.
In the meantime, make the topping by combining the remaining sour cream with some salt and pour it over strukli.
Place a couple of cubes of butter on top and bake for about forty five minutes, until nicely golden.
Let cool slightly and serve warm.
