Friday, July 6, 2012

Blueberry Walkaway

These. Are. Amazing.  Borrowed and slightly altered from The Italian Dish this is a great breakfast anytime, but especially if you have guests, or in my case bringing it into work for a bunch of co-workers.  These are kind of like a pastry, but kind of not, I'm not sure how to classify them other then: tasty.  Name comes from the fact that you can tear off one strip, grab a napkin and walk away.  No muss or fuss.
Combine milk, water and butter in a small sauce pan.  Heat over low heat until just warm.  Remove from heat and stir until butter is completely melted.
Place 2 cups of flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl.  You can either use a stand mixer or a wooden spoon. Mix for a few seconds then add egg gradually. 
Mix and then add liquids and mix for a few minutes.  Add remaining cup of flour until dough clings and cleans the sides of the bowl.
Knead for about 5 minutes, then place in a greased bowl.  Cover and set in a warm location, let rise until double, around 45 minutes to an hour.
For the filling, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and lemon zest in a bowl.
Place a piece of parchment paper on the counter.  Punch the dough down and place on the parchment paper.  To be blunt: parchment paper is very important here!  Unfortunately because I was making this without my full array of kitchen supplies I choose to skip that step due to lack of parchment paper in my kitchen.  Let's just say it got messy later! Roll the dough out with a rolling pin until you have a 13" by 16" rectangle, or around there!
Spread the cream cheese mixture down the middle of the dough, in about a 4 inch stripe.  Leave an inch of dough on each end uncovered. 
Spread blueberry preserves on top of the cream cheese and top with fresh blueberries.  You can easily change this recipe and use any kind of berry you like with the matching preserves.  Squeeze the lemon juice over the blueberries.
Using a very sharp paring knife, cut stripe on the diagonal down the sides of the dough.  Make two cuts on each end to make an end flap.  Fold the short end flaps over the filling.
Then start folding the diagonal stripes over the dough.  I did alternate stripes from each side.  Trim away any excess dough.  Now here's the messy part comes in.  All finished, ready to bake, and looks beautiful.  Now, how do I get it on the pan?  Parchment paper would have made this a lot easier when transferring to a baking sheet.
In the end I had to cut it in half because it was two long to move all in one piece without falling apart.  Note to self (and to all of you) following directions is a good idea most times :)
For the egg wash mix together egg, water and sugar and wash over the dough.  Bake at 375 degrees F for around 20 minutes until golden brown.  
Best served any which way: hot, cold, room temperature.  It tends to get soggy after a full day so make sure there will be enough people to finish this off within that amount of time.  If I could have this for breakfast every morning, it would be a pretty awesome start to every day!

Have a great weekend everyone!
Blueberry Walkaway
Serves 10, 1 walkaway
Adapted from The Italian Dish

Dough:
1/2 cup cold milk
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
3 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
1 large egg, room temperature
Filling:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup blueberry preserves
1/4 cup fresh blueberries
Egg Wash:
1 egg
1 teaspoon water
2 tablespoons sugar

Combine milk, water and butter in a small sauce pan.  
Heat over low heat until just warm. 
Remove from heat and stir until butter is completely melted.
Place 2 cups of flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl.  
Using either a stand mixer or a wooden spoon mix for a few seconds, then add egg gradually.
 Mix and then add liquids and mix for a few minutes.  
Add remaining cup of flour until dough clings and cleans the sides of the bowl.
Knead for about 5 minutes, then place in a greased bowl.  
Cover and set in a warm location, let rise until double, around 45 minutes to an hour.
For the filling, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and lemon zest in a bowl.
Place a piece of parchment paper on the counter.  
Punch the dough down and place on the parchment paper.
Roll the dough out with a rolling pin until you have a 13" by 16" rectangle, or around there. 
Spread the cream cheese mixture down the middle of the dough, in a bout a 4 inch stripe. 
Leave an inch of dough on each end uncovered. 
Spread blueberry preserves on top of the cream cheese and top with fresh blueberries. 
Squeeze the lemon juice over the blueberries.
Using a very sharp paring knife, cut stripe on the diagonal down the sides of the dough. 
 Make two cuts on each end to make an end flap. 
Fold the short end flaps over the filling.
Then start folding the diagonal stripes over the dough, trimming away any excess dough. 
Transfer to a baking sheet.
For the egg wash mix together egg, water and sugar and wash over the dough. 
Bake at 375 degrees F for around 20 minutes until golden brown.
Grab a piece and hang out or walkaway, enjoy!

2 comments:

  1. I never saw these. Are you starting to hide food? Not cool!

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  2. Hi! I am comparing yours and the Italian dishes and not seeing any changes... what did you do differently (other than using regular sugar in place of swedish pearl) ... yours look way more blueberry-y and pastrey-y and moist... what's the secret?

    ReplyDelete