Jidáše - Czech Easter Sweet Pastry

Traditional Czech pastry spirals, glazed with honey. Baked from sweet yeast dough at Eastertime. Authentic recipe.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Czech

Keyword Czech Easter Pastry, Sweet Yeast Dough

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Leavening 1 45

Total Time 2 15

Servings pieces

Calories 290kcal

Author Petra Kupská

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour (520 g)
1.1/4 cups whole milk (300 ml) lukewarm
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (6 g) I used 20 g fresh yeast
⅔ stick butter unsalted (75 g) melted and a bit cooled
2 egg yolk
⅓ cup granulated sugar (70 g)
pinch of salt
1 whole egg for egg wash
2 Teaspoons honey to glaze jidáše after baking

Instructions

Put the flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle.
Pour in two-thirds of the lukewarm milk. Add ½ teaspoon of sugar, and the yeast. Take a fork and stir the flour in from the sides, until a small puddle of semiliquid batter forms in the middle. Dust its surface slightly with flour and let it rise for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the butter. It shouldn’t be hot, just warm.
Add the melted butter to the bowl with activated yeast, add yolks, a pinch of salt, and the rest of lukewarm milk and sugar.
Stir everything together with a wooden spoon, then knead the mixture until it turns smooth and stiff and it doesn’t stick—or it´s sticky only a little bit. I knead and fold the dough with my hands on a dusted kitchen worktop for 10 minutes. Don´t underestimate this step.
Let the dough rise for a further 30 minutes.
Divide the raised dough into pieces of about 2 1/2 oz (80 g) each. Roll each piece into a string about 10 inches (25 cm) long and 2/3 inch (1.5 cm) thick, then form a spiral. Flatten the end of the string and tuck it under the spiral so that the Jidáš doesn't roll up on itself during baking.
Transfer the finished Jidáše to a tray lined with baking paper, cover them with a clean towel, and let them rise for 45 minutes.
Heat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C).
Whisk the egg in a separate bowl to make egg wash, and brush the Jidáše with it.
Bake Jidáše for 15 minutes until they turn golden brown.
Melt the honey so it gets liquid, and glaze Jidáše right after taking them out of the oven.

Notes

Makes about 10–15 pieces of Jidáše pastry, depending on their size.
Jidáše glazed with honey are sticky, but it should be that way; it is honey after all. The sooner you glaze them, the less sticky their surface will be.
Like all yeast dough pastries, Jidáše taste best on the day they are baked.

Nutrition