Armenian Nazook

It seems as though I have a lot of time on my hands this month, so I thought I would try another Daring Baker's challenge: Armenian Nazook. It's a layered pastry dough with a sweet filling.

Apparently, there are a number of variations you can do for the filling of these nazooks. I decided to go with the traditional vanilla-scented ones, but I added some ground hazelnuts. You can also use ground walnuts, almonds, pecans, etc. I guess you can also try chocolate if you'd like. Although I saw a blog of someone who tried chocolate and to be honest, the nazooks looked kind of messy —however, they could have been absolutely delicious! Give it a try if you want.

Okay, so here we go. I halved the original recipe, so that it makes about 20 nazook pieces. 

What you'll need: 

Pastry Dough

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 softened butter

Filling

3/4 cup all purpose flour, sifted

3/4 cup sugar

6 Tbsp softened butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup hazelnuts

 Egg Wash

1 egg yolk

First of all, you need to make the pastry dough. To do this, place the sifted flour into a large bowl and add the yeast. Mix together with a wooden spoon. Add in the sour cream and softened butter and mix together with a wooden spoon. 

Either your hands or a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, knead the dough until it forms a soft ball. I used my hands and needed the dough for about 7-10 minutes. If you're using a dough hook, then knead for twice as long. If the dough is sticky, add a bit more flour. Once you're finished kneading the dough, it should not stick to your hands or the bowl. 

Roll the pastry dough into a ball and place in a clean bowl. Cover with saran-wrap and place in the refrigerator for 3-5 hours or overnight. Because I wanted to have mine done for an after supper treat, I only refrigerated the dough for 5 hours.

While your dough is spending its last few minutes in the fridge, you need to make the filling. Mix the flour, sugar and softened butter in a bowl. You can do this by using a pastry cutter (which I don't have) or your fingers. Add in the vanilla extract and any hazelnuts, and mix together until the filling mixture looks like a clumpy, damp sand. Set aside. 

Now, you need to make the individual nazooks. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Take the pastry dough out of the refrigerator and cut the ball in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one half of the dough into a large rectangle or oval. The dough should be quite thin, but not so thin that you can see through it.

Spread half of the filling across the rolled-out dough. Try to spread the filling out so that you get as close to the short edges as possible, but keep some of the pastry dough uncovered on the long edges (~1 inch).

Starting from one of the long edges, slowly roll the dough up. Try to keep the filling so that it's evenly distributed. Once you're finished rolling, you should have a long, thin loaf. 

Pat down the loaf with your palm and fingers so that it flattens out —but just a little bit. Beat the egg yolk with a fork and apply the egg wash to the loaf using a brush. 

Cut the loaf into 10 nazook pieces. Put the pieces onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (the pieces should be oriented so that the filling faces out on both sides). Repeat with the second half of dough. While the first half of the nazook pieces were baking, I placed the other half in the fridge, so the dough stayed firm.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy with a cup of tea!