Cottage cheese flat bread

Cottage cheese flat bread with raisins is another Latvian classic – a childhood visit to a pastry shop was unimaginable without it. I remember how my friends, who did not like raisins, would pick them out. But even if you didn’t like the raisins, the cake itself was very delicious. It was plain, everyday cottage cheese turned into something completely different – a dessert, a cake, and snack. The base for this pastry is good cottage cheese, a unique Latvian product found nowhere else. There are similar things – ricotta, quark, and other pretenders – but it’s just not the same, not by a long shot. The cake can be served with milk, flummery, or juice.

Ingredients

base:
250 g fine wheat flour (150 oat 100 wheat)
pinch of ground ginger
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
75 g butter
100 ml milk
50 g demerara sugar
25 g fresh yeast, crumbled 7 g instant

filling:
200 g raisins
200 g sour cream
40 g wheat flour 
80 g butter, melted
3 eggs + 1 egg white
220 g light brown sugar
1 organic lemon zest, finely grated
25 g vanilla sugar
1100 g whole milk cottage cheese*

topping:
1 egg yolk
50 g sour cream

Preapre

Place the raisins in a bowl and cover with cold water to soak. Prepare the topping by beating the egg yolks with the sour cream and store in the fridge.

Prepare the dough. Sift the flour in a bowl, and add the ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, salt, and mix. Melt the butter in a pot, then add the milk and yeast and heat gently, but definitely not more than 30°. Add to the flour mixture and knead for about 5 minutes until a uniform dough results. Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover with cling film, and let rise until doubled in bulk. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. When the dough has risen, press the dough into the pan and let rise again until doubled in bulk.

Heat the oven to 200° and while the oven is warming, prepare the cottage cheese mixture.

In a bowl, mix the sour cream with the flour. Add the eggs, egg yolk, sugar, both citrus zests, vanilla sugar, and mix well. Add the cottage cheese and butter and mix well. Add the raisins and mix. Pour the cottage cheese mixture on the risen dough, smooth, pour over the topping, and bake for 35‒45 minutes until the top is firm and golden. Remove from the oven, cool to room temp, and then place in the fridge. Cut into squares before serving.

*If the cottage cheese is too grainy, push through a food mill or meat grinder first.

From my book “Time to cook”