Cevizli Lokum: Bursa Walnut Buns

This comes from Bursa, and despite the name it has nothing to do with Turkish delight. Lokum here means something soft — and these are: yeasted rolls layered with walnuts, cinnamon and allspice, glazed with grape molasses.

Closer to a cinnamon roll than to candy, and better than that comparison suggests.

Makes about 24

Ingredients

For the dough

5 to 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
2 sugar cubes, or 2 teaspoons sugar
Pinch of salt

For the filling

3 1/2 oz walnuts
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
Melted butter, for brushing

For rolling

1/2 cup vegetable oil

For the glaze

3 tablespoons grape molasses (pekmez)
2 tablespoons water

Method

Make the dough

Put the yeast and sugar in a bowl with the warm water and leave for 10 minutes, until it foams. If nothing happens, the yeast is dead — start again, because the rest of the recipe depends on it.

Warm, not hot. Water above about 110°F kills yeast.

Add the flour, melted butter and salt and knead until you have a smooth, elastic dough. About 10 minutes by hand.

Cover with a damp cloth and let it rise for 30 minutes, until noticeably puffed.

Make the filling

Pulse the walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and allspice in a blender — briefly. You want coarse pieces, not walnut meal. Over-processed walnuts release their oil and the filling turns pasty.

Shape

Divide the risen dough into 3 pieces.

Oil the work surface rather than flouring it. Roll and stretch the first piece out thin.

Brush with melted butter, then scatter a third of the filling evenly over the surface.

Roll it up into a log, not too tight.

Cut the log into even pieces, roughly 1 1/2 inches.

Repeat with the remaining two pieces of dough.

Second rise

Line a baking dish with parchment.

Arrange the pieces cut side up, spaced slightly apart — they will expand.

Cover and rest for 15 minutes. This second rise is what makes them light; skip it and they bake dense.

Bake

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Mix the grape molasses with the water and brush it over the tops.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until deep golden and cooked through. If the tops are browning too fast, cover loosely with foil.

Brush with a little more of the molasses glaze as they come out of the oven — it soaks in while they are hot and gives them their shine.

Cool for 10 minutes before serving. Best warm, and they reheat well the next day.

Chef’s note

Grape molasses is worth seeking out for the flavor — it is available in Middle Eastern grocers and increasingly in regular supermarkets. Honey thinned with water is the closest substitute, though it is sweeter and lacks the slight bitterness that makes pekmez interesting.