By OnMilwaukee Staff Writers   Published Oct 28, 2009 at 11:18 AM

October is the third annual Dining Month on OnMilwaukee.com. All month, we're stuffed with restaurant reviews, delicious features, chef profiles, unique articles on everything food, as well as the winners of our "Best of Dining 2009." 

What do you get somebody for her 96th birthday?

That was the question I faced when the inspiration behind this little series of Dining Month pieces -- my great-grandmother -- celebrated her big day a few weeks back.

The woman -- still going as strong as one can at 96 -- shuns the idea of gifts. And, true, she probably doesn't need anything. I could have followed in my relatives' footsteps and picked up some flowers, boxed candies or mixed nuts ... but as the self-proclaimed (and secretly verified, at least for my consideration) favorite great-grandchild and former "roommate," I felt I needed to go the extra yard.

One night it hit me: I'd stray from my goal of writing about full-blown dinner recipes and whip up a batch of her incredible "Salzkipfel" and surprise her at her party.

For lack of a better description, these salty, doughy treats are a heavier and, well, German distant cousin of the croissant. They were a staple at major family events like birthday parties and also an aromatic and tasty surprise on random days.

I tracked down the recipe in a local German club's cookbook and starting calling around. But it seems that nobody else in my family had ever made kipfel, leaving me on my own with only second-hand suggestions.

How hard could it be, I thought. The recipe took up maybe a quarter of the page at best and only had a few ingredients. This, I told myself, would be a piece of cake.

OK, that was a gross misjudgment.

I made a trial batch a few days before the party. With my better half watching from a (reasonably) safe distance, I set to work. Over the course of the next several hours, I unleashed a string of vulgarities that surprised even myself. I couldn't get the infernal dough to stretch right, I couldn't get the pieces the right shape and for the life of me, I couldn't roll the damn things into a consistent size.

Finally, I had a batch done. They baked. I sat on a chair, staring at the oven, staring with anticipation and growing nervousness. After the 15 minutes of baking (a ridiculous amount of time, considering the several hours of prep necessary), I yanked the baking sheets out of the oven.

"They're good," she told me. I was less-than-impressed. Compliments are always nice, but when you've never had the meal before, there's really no frame of reference. I gave a few samples to my mom who was fairly blunt:

"They're edible."

Hmm, thanks.

With five days before show time, I sought more advice. Way too much flour, too much butter, not enough salt or egg and let the dough rise more were the basic suggestions.

So, as Oma would, I planed to get up at 6 a.m. Sunday to begin the process. I'll skip over the details, but let's just say I slept in a little bit before finally getting to task.

The dough, thawing overnight in the refrigerator, had expanded quite significantly. I adjusted the technique slightly with the hope of improving the outcome. Once again, getting things right -- at least from what I remember watching her do -- was difficult but by 3 p.m., they were baked, packaged -- in an old plastic tub, and under one of her old towels, just as Oma did, and we were off to the party.

Oma was playing cards with my grandparents, great-aunt and uncle and more of the clan when I arrived and I told her I had a present for her. Naturally, she gave me the usual "why did you do that" lecture but she smiled when I showed her the fruits of my labor.

Everybody seemed mildly impressed during the meal and Oma told me I did a good job -- along with some more tips (finally, the straight dish from the source). They were nowhere close to the kipfel she makes with what seems like the greatest of ease, but my mission -- to produce the perfect gift -- was accomplished.

I'm attaching the recipe below and I wish you much, much luck. These are great snacks or side dishes to any kind of meal. Be warned, they're not exactly the best for calorie-watchers and, well, they're a pain in the you-know-what to make. But I'm willing to bet that if you have an "Old Country" relative, bringing a few of these by will make their day.

Good luck.

Oma's Kipfels

 

Ingredients

  • Frozen bread dough (one loaf will make about 10 kipfel)
  • One egg
  • Salt
  • Caraway Seeds
  • Melted Butter

Directions & Preparation

  • Remove dough from freezer the night before you plan to bake.
  • Place each frozen loaf in a plastic bag and place in refrigerator to thaw overnight.
  • Remove loaves the following morning. Cover with towels and allow dough to rise for four hours.
  • When ready, cut each bag and remove dough, placing on lightly floured pastry board.
  • Cut each loaf in half and work dough into about a 12-inch square using your hands and a rolling pin. When done, slice each piece of dough into 5-6 triangles.
  • Stretch each triangle to approximately 12 inches.
  • Brush each piece lightly with melted butter and roll -- starting at the wide end -- each triangle.
  • Place the rolled kipfels on a lightly greased baking pan. When pan is full, cover with a towel and allow the dough to rise for about 90 more minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat each kipfel with beaten egg, sprinkling with salt and caraway seeds.
  • Bake about 15-20 minutes, or until lightly golden.