Zagorski Štrukli (Baked)

Štrukli is a pulled dough filled with fresh cottage cheese, eggs and sour cream, rolled into a log, sliced into pieces and baked in cream until golden. It sits somewhere between a dumpling and a strudel, deeply comforting, rich, and completely unlike anything in the Italian or French culinary tradition. It is pure Central European peasant cooking elevated to the table of a head of state.

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Prep Time 45

Cook Time 40

Resting Time 30

Ingredients

For the dough:

2 cups plain flour
1 egg
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp neutral oil plus more for coating
½ to ⅔ cup warm water added gradually
1 tsp white wine vinegar helps the gluten relax for stretching

For the filling:

2 cups fresh cottage cheese or ricotta well drained
2 eggs
½ cup sour cream
½ tsp salt
Pinch of black pepper

For the topping:

1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter cut into small cubes

Instructions

Make the dough

Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the egg, oil, vinegar and warm water gradually, mixing as you go. Knead for 8 to 10 minutes until very smooth, soft and elastic. The dough should not stick to your hands. Coat the surface with oil, cover with a clean cloth and rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. This rest is essential — it relaxes the gluten enough to allow the dough to be stretched paper thin without tearing.

Make the filling

Combine the drained cottage cheese, eggs, sour cream, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix until smooth. Set aside.

Stretch and fill

This is the most important and most rewarding step. Lay a clean tablecloth or large piece of parchment on your table and dust generously with flour. Place the rested dough in the centre and roll it out with a rolling pin as thin as you can. Then, using the backs of your hands and your fingertips, begin stretching it from the centre outward, working around the dough slowly. The goal is to stretch it until it is almost translucent, thin enough to read through. If it tears slightly do not panic — you will be rolling it up and the tears will disappear inside. Traditional Zagorje housewives stretched štrukli dough so thin you could read a newspaper through it.
Once stretched to roughly 60x40cm (about 24x16 inches), spread the cheese filling evenly over the surface, leaving a small border around the edges.
Using the tablecloth to help you, roll the dough from the long side into a tight log like a strudel. Seal the edges by pressing firmly. Cut the log into pieces about 10cm (4 inches) long.

Bake

Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter a large baking dish generously. Arrange the štrukli pieces cut side up in the dish with a little space between each one and brush each with melted butter.
Whisk together the sour cream, eggs and a pinch of salt and pour over the štrukli, making sure each piece is coated. Dot the tops with the small cubes of butter.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until puffed, deeply golden on top and the cream has set into a light custard around each piece. The tops should be genuinely golden brown, not pale.
Serve immediately, straight from the baking dish. Štrukli must be eaten hot. They do not improve with reheating.

Video

Notes

The vinegar in the dough is traditional and important. It helps the gluten relax without affecting the flavour, which is what allows the dough to be stretched to translucency without tearing.

Use the best fresh cottage cheese you can find and drain it overnight if it seems wet. In Croatia the traditional cheese is svježi sir, a fresh curd cheese with more body than standard supermarket cottage cheese. Well-drained ricotta is an excellent substitute.

A note on the sweet version: If you want to try the sweet štrukli that I think takes this dish to another level, add 2 tablespoons of sugar and ½ teaspoon of vanilla to the cheese filling, and fold a handful of pitted cherries or sliced plums into the filling before spreading. Everything else stays the same.