Chimney Cake (Kürtőskalács) — Hungarian Spiral Pastry with Cinnamon Sugar

• 240 mlwhole milk (warmed to 38 C)
• 7 ginstant yeast
• 70 ggranulated sugar
• 500 gbread flour
• 6 gfine sea salt
• 80 gunsalted butter (melted and cooled)
• 1eggs
• 1egg yolk
• 1 tspvanilla extract
• 3 glemon zest
• 1 tbspneutral oil (for greasing the molds)
• 2 tspground cinnamon

Instructions

1. 1

   Combine the warm milk, yeast, and 10 g of the dough sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and let it stand for 8 minutes. The mixture should look slightly foamy, which confirms the yeast is active before you enrich the dough.

2. 2

   Add the bread flour, remaining 60 g dough sugar, salt, melted butter, whole egg, egg yolk, vanilla, and lemon zest. Knead with the dough hook on medium-low speed for 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky but not wet.

3. 3

   Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover it, and let it rise at room temperature for 75 minutes. It should nearly double in volume, which gives kürtőskalács its soft, bready interior beneath the caramelized sugar crust.

4. 4

   While the dough rises, prepare 8 cylindrical baking forms or sturdy rolling pins wrapped tightly in aluminum foil. Brush each form with a thin layer of neutral oil so the chimney cakes release cleanly after baking.

5. 5

   Mix the 150 g granulated sugar with the cinnamon in a shallow tray. This cinnamon-sugar coating is the classic street-fair finish for Hungarian chimney cake, though plain sugar is also traditional in some kürtőskalács stalls.

6. 6

   Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 8 equal portions of about 115 g each. Roll each portion into a rope about 75 cm long, keeping the thickness even so the spiral bakes uniformly.

7. 7

   Wrap one dough rope around each prepared form in a loose spiral, leaving a 3 mm gap between turns. Roll the wrapped form gently on the work surface so the dough flattens slightly and the seams meet without crushing the rise.

8. 8

   Brush each wrapped dough cylinder with melted butter, then roll it thoroughly in the cinnamon sugar. Make sure the outside is evenly coated because the sugar must caramelize into the crisp shell that defines authentic kürtőskalács.

9. 9

   Heat the oven to 220 C and set the wrapped forms across the rim of a deep roasting pan so air can circulate around each cake. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, rotating the forms every 4 minutes, until the pastry is deeply golden and glossy.

10. 10

    Remove the chimney cakes from the oven and brush them with the remaining melted butter while hot. Roll them once more in any remaining cinnamon sugar and let them cool on the forms for 3 minutes before sliding them off carefully.

11. 11

    Serve the cakes warm, standing upright or laid on a platter so the hollow centers remain visible. The exterior should crackle with caramelized sugar, while the inside should pull apart in tender spirals like a festival kürtőskalács.