Recipe: Bolus

Every baker in Zeeland sells the Zeeland bolus pastry. It is a rolled up twist of white bread dough, coated in brown sugar. Sweet and sticky, the stickier the better. You can eat them just as they are, but with a clot of Zeeland butter on top, they’re even nicer. Remember: leave your fingers on your hand. Think cinnamon roll, the Zeeland way.

Ingredients

(makes about 10 pieces):

  • Dough
  • 500 grams flour
  • 15 grams granulated sugar
  • 0.5 egg
  • 10 grams salt
  • 50 grams fresh yeast
  • 215 ml water
  • 50 ml milk
  • 25 grams butter
  • Sugar mix
  • 250 grams dark brown sugar
  • 4 tablespoons of ground cinnamon

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 225 ºC. To make the dough, mix all ingredients – except the butter – together, by hand or in a machine. Knead them for 2 minutes. Then add the butter and knead well for 4 more minutes. Divide the dough into balls of 80 grams and let them stand for 20 minutes.

Roll out each ball of dough to a strand of 30 cm long. Mix the brown sugar and the cinnamon well together in a baking dish. Moisten the strand of dough with water, then roll it through the sugar mix. Remove the strand and roll it up into a tightly coiled round.

Cover a baking tray with a sheet of baking paper. On it, place the boluses. Let them rise 5 more minutes, then bake them in the oven for 7 minutes. Remove from the oven, immediately turn each bolus upside down and lay out on a big dish to cool.