Búrkifli is a crescent shaped Hungarian bakery product, that is made from puff pastry and filled with ground walnuts or poppy seeds. Puff pastry is usually an ingredient you buy in the grocery store freezer section, it’s not that kind of thing you’d make yourself. However, homemade puff pastry is worth the time and effort, it’s much more delicious than the store-bought sheets.

Making homemade all-butter puff pastry is not as difficult as you might think. It only takes 5 ingredients and will be ready in about 1,5 hour. Similar to plunder dough puff pastry is folded several times to layer butter within the dough and create flaky layers. Between two foldings the dough sits in the fridge chilling for 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

For the puff pastry:

• 450 + 50 g (~3 2/3 cups + 1/3 cup) flour
• 450 + 50 g (~2 cups + 3 1/2 tbsp) butter, diced
• 250 ml (~1 cup) cold water
• 10 g (~2/3 tbsp) salt
• 1 tsp vinegar

For the walnut filling:

• 2 egg whites
• 150 g (~1 cup + 2 tbsp) powdered sugar
• 150 g (~1 3/4 cups) ground walnuts
• 2 tbsp breadcrumbs
• zest of a lemon

For the poppy seed filling:

• 2 egg whites
• 150 g (~1 cup + 2 tbsp) powdered sugar
• 150 g (~5 1/4 oz) ground poppy seeds
• 2-3 tbsp apricot jam

For the egg wash:

• 4 egg yolks
• 1-2 tbsp milk

In a bowl quickly combine 450 grams (~2 cups) of butter and 50 grams (~1/3 cup) of flour. Form a block and put in the fridge.

Rub 50 grams (~3 1/2 tablespoons) of butter into 450 grams (~3 2/3 cups) of flour, then add salt, vinegar and cold water, and knead until smooth.

On a floured surface roll out the dough into a rectangle shape, place the butter pad in the middle and boundle it up by folding the edges of the dough over it. Roll out the dough again, then fold the left third of the dough to the centre, then fold the right third over that.

Rotate the dough 90 degrees. Roll out and fold 1/4 of the dough to the middle both on the left and right side, then fold them over each other.

Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 15 minutes. Repeat folding 3 times in the same way, with a 15 minute resting time between each section.

After you have finished folding, you can leave the wrapped dough in the fridge overnight or you can use it immediately (keep it cold while preparing the fillings).

For the walnut filling beat egg whites and powdered sugar until very stiff. Gently fold in the ground walnuts, breadcrumbs and lemon zest.

For the poppy seed filling beat egg whites and sugar until very stiff, then fold in ground poppy seeds and apricot jam.

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 392°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Divide the dough in two equal parts. Roll out the first piece of dough into a thin oblong (meanwhile keep the other piece cold) and cut into 10 cm / 4 inch wide strips. Scoop the filling in the middle of the strips, roll up and cut into 12-15 cm / 5-6 inch long pieces.

Bend each piece into a crescent shape and place onto the prepared baking sheets. Brush the crescents with the egg yolk-milk mixture, and bake them for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.