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Biga Peynir Tatlısı

The balls are baked rather than fried, and they must not break apart once the syrup goes on.

Egg. Not vegetarian — contains cheese whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

the dough

the syrup

to serve

Method

  1. THE BALLS ARE BAKED RATHER THAN FRIED, and that is the whole difference from the fried cheese-dough dessert on its own page here. It is not a small one. Baking dries the outside gently instead of sealing it in hot oil, so what comes out is a light, biscuit-dry hemisphere with an open crumb -- and that open crumb drinks syrup much faster and much deeper than a fried shell will. It also means there is no oil in the finished dessert at all, so it tastes cleaner and more of the cheese. The two desserts share nearly the same dough and are genuinely different things to eat.
  2. THEY ARE SHAPED AS FLAT-BOTTOMED HEMISPHERES, NOT ROUND BALLS. Rolled and then pressed gently onto the tray so each has a flat base. A round ball rolls, bakes unevenly and browns in a stripe; a flat-bottomed dome sits still, bakes evenly and presents a broad flat face to the syrup.
  3. THEY MUST NOT BREAK APART ONCE THE SYRUP GOES ON, AND THAT IS THE TEST OF THE DOUGH. A baked crumb that is too loose collapses into sweet rubble the moment it is saturated. The guard against it is enough egg -- two, here, against one in the fried version -- which sets a protein structure strong enough to survive soaking. If they crumble, the next batch wants another egg and less water.
  4. THEY ARE BAKED TO A GENUINE GOLDEN BROWN AND LEFT TO COOL. Twenty-five minutes at 180°C, until properly coloured, then cooled completely on the tray. A pale bake leaves the inside damp and it will not absorb; and a warm ball meeting syrup softens on the surface before the centre has started drawing.
  5. COLD BALLS GO INTO HOT SYRUP. The reverse of the fried version, where both are hot. Here the balls are cold and dry and the syrup is hot, which is the arrangement that draws liquid deepest into a dry crumb.
  6. THEY ARE SOAKED UNTIL THEY HAVE STOPPED ABSORBING, NOT FOR A SET TIME. Turned once and watched: twenty to thirty minutes, and done when the centre of a halved one is wet through. Lifted too early, they have a dry core; left overnight, they go to pulp.
  7. The syrup ingredients boiled 10 MINUTES and kept HOT.
  8. The cheese, flour, 2 EGGS, baking powder and water worked to a soft dough. Rested 20 MINUTES.
  9. Rolled into 20 balls and each PRESSED GENTLY onto a lined tray to give a FLAT BOTTOM.
  10. Baked at 180°C for 25 MINUTES, to a genuine GOLDEN BROWN.
  11. COOLED COMPLETELY on the tray.
  12. The COLD balls lowered into the HOT syrup.
  13. Soaked 20 to 30 MINUTES, turned once.
  14. TESTED by halving one: it should be WET THROUGH to the centre and still HOLD TOGETHER. Crumbling means the dough needed another egg.
  15. Lifted out onto a dish once they have stopped absorbing, and the surplus syrup POURED OFF -- it is not part of the serving.
  16. Served warm or cold with clotted cream.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes