They entered the life of Orthodox Christians. One of them is the “larks” oven - delicious buns in the shape of birds to mark the beginning of spring and the return of birds from warm countries.
In the imagination of our Slavic ancestors, feathered guests brought spring from there on their wings. Real spring usually began with the arrival of larks - these good messengers of the sun.
In Rus' there was no single day or week for the holiday of welcoming spring. In each locality this date was determined by folk signs.
In the old days, such buns were baked for the day of remembrance of the “Forty Martyrs” (40 Roman Christian soldiers tortured in the 4th century for refusing to worship the pagan gods) - March 9 according to the church calendar (March 22 according to the new style).
What a tender and life-affirming holiday this is, when all of nature comes to life and joyful and kind spring chores begin.
The holiday of welcoming spring falls during Lent, so for believers, larks are baked only from lean dough. And the rest of us can indulge in some rich spring buns.
About cooking butter dough see section on page:
"Larks" proofing.
These larks are made using the 1st method (see below "Larks - 1st method").
The “wings” are sculpted separately.
NOTE:
*
- recipes marked with an asterisk can be prepared on fasting days.
Dissolve yeast in warm water, add flour, sugar, vegetable oil, vanillin, a little carrot juice for color and knead the dough (it should have a denser consistency than regular lean dough).
Let it rise, then roll out on a floured surface and cut into strips 15cm long and 2cm wide.
Tie each strip into a knot so that you get a “bird’s head” on top.
Stick 2 raisins on it - “eyes”, at the end of the strip - “tail” - draw several shallow lines with a knife.
Sprinkle the larks with sugar and bake in the oven.
You can also form a “sun” symbolizing warmth: roll out pieces of dough in the form of a circle, stick on “rays”, and make “eyes” and “mouth” from the raisins.
Ingredients:
3 cups flour, 125 g milk, 10 g yeast, 15 g butter, 1 egg, 2 tbsp. spoons of sugar, salt, 1 tbsp. spoon of vegetable oil.
Prepare yeast dough from the indicated ingredients and form larks from it, like from lean dough.
Brush them with egg on top and bake in the oven.
Ingredients:
3-3.5 cups of flour, 1-2 eggs, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of kefir or yogurt, 1/2 stick of butter, 1 teaspoon of soda, vinegar.
Grind the eggs until white with sugar, pour in kefir or yogurt, add soda dissolved in vinegar, melted butter, flour and knead the dough.
Let it stand for 10-15 minutes, then form larks, as if from Lenten dough, brush with egg and bake in the oven.
NOTE.
A lot of different types for butter dough, see section and.
How to sculpt and decorate holiday shaped pastries, see the page and the links on this page.
The design of the larks may vary
Moscow larks (see below "Larks - 2nd method").
Arkhangelsk larks.
Nekrasovsky larks.
Ural larks.
Ryazan larks.
Ryazan larks.
Tula larks.
Easter larks (see below "Larks - 1st method").
Tula gift lark (rather, it’s a whole firebird).
There are many ways to sculpt larks. We'll show you a few.
So, the first way. Make a long sausage out of the dough and roll it into a knot.
We flatten one end and cut it. We extend the other end a little, forming the head and beak.
Now let's make the eyes. To do this, cut the raisins into pieces. It is more convenient to attach the eyes with a toothpick. Place the raisin on a toothpick and press it into the dough.
Place the finished birds on a greased baking sheet.
The larks need to be allowed to rest a little before being placed in the oven.
Place the birds in the preheated oven.
Ready larks:
We make a short thick sausage. On one side we form the head and beak. We squeeze the other side. This will be the tail and wing.
Cut the flattened side in half. We make “feathers” with a knife.
We bend the wing up. Let's make an eye.
Before baking, the lark can be brushed with a loose egg or yolk. Or sometimes smeared with sour cream.
Ready lark, greased with vegetable oil after baking for shine:
Make a medium length sausage. We bend it into a loop.
We flatten the ends of the sausage and cut them - these are the wings.
On the other side we form the head and beak.
Let's make eyes.
We make two sausages and place them crosswise.
Flatten both ends of the top sausage and one end of the bottom sausage.
We lift the second end of the lower sausage and form the head and beak.
We cut the tail and wings, make eyes.
Turn on the oven and heat it to number 3 (about 170 ° C) so that you can put the dough on it if there is no other warm place, for example, a radiator, for it. Prepare the dough, for this purpose in 250 ml of warm boiled water dilute 20 g of sugar, pour it into a large 4-5 liter pan and add yeast there. Let the yeast get wet and sink to the bottom. Sift flour (70 g) into a saucepan through a fine sieve and whisk in. Place the pan in a warm place and let the dough bubble and double in size (this may take about 20-30 minutes).
Measure out and lightly heat the vegetable oil in a separate saucepan. Weigh the amount required according to the prescription wheat flour for the dough (400 g) and set it aside for now.
Start kneading the dough. To do this, add sugar, salt, vanilla sugar or finely grated lemon zest (if you use them in the recipe), stir with a whisk and add approximately ⅓ of the flour for the dough (about 130 g), sifting it through a sieve and also mixing with a whisk.
Then pour warm vegetable oil into the dough and mix it in with your hands, as if squeezing the dough in them and passing it through your fingers, and then using your palm to collect the dough from the walls of the pan to the center (not forgetting to first collect the remaining dough from the whisk). Then add another ⅓ of the flour, sifting and stirring. Then add the rest of the flour in portions, thoroughly kneading the dough each time until it is smooth and homogeneous and stops sticking to your hands and the walls of the dish (it is acceptable if the dough only slightly sticks to them). Don’t save time on kneading the dough: the better you knead it, the fluffier and tastier the “larks” will be.
Form the dough into a ball, place it in a pan, cover with a lid or towel and place it in a warm place for 60-90 minutes until the volume of the dough increases by about 2-3 times.
While the dough is rising, brew strong black tea to your taste, then pour out 50 ml of tea leaves and dissolve in it 3 tsp (20 g) of granulated sugar (to lubricate the top of the dough). Set the resulting syrup aside to cool.
Knead the risen dough with your hands and return to a warm place. When it rises a second time (increases 2-2.5 times), press it into a ball and divide it into 2 parts. Leave one in the pan (you can on the table at room temperature), and from the second form a rather plump sausage.
Divide the resulting sausage from the dough into 10-12 parts. Roll each ball into a ball, collecting a piece of dough in your palm from the edges to the center and so on in a circle, and start sculpting the “larks”.
Now roll each ball between your palms into a thin sausage 17-18 cm long, one side of which should be a little thicker than the other. Slightly straighten the sausage on the table, then tie it with a knot, with the interlacing of the knot, as well as the thickened tip of the sausage (the bird's head on it) should be on top.
Form a beak on the head by pulling out some of the dough with your fingers. If desired, you can also make a tuft on it by cutting the dough with scissors and then lifting it up.
Gently flatten the other end of the sausage with your finger and make two cuts on it with a knife, simulating feathers on the tail.
Wash and dry the raisins on a paper napkin, cut each raisin into 3-4 parts. Make small indentations on both sides of the bird’s head with a knife and insert into them, also helping yourself with a knife, ⅓-¼ of the raisin (which must first be dipped in sweet tea). Try to embed each raisin as deeply as possible into the dough so that they do not fall out during baking.
Turn on the oven and heat it to number 3 (about 170 ° C) (if you have not done this previously). Line a large aluminum baking tray (size 21x32 cm, height 5 cm) or any other similar or larger area with non-stick baking paper. Place the molded birds at a large distance from each other, since they increase in size during baking, let them stand in a warm place for about 30 minutes for additional rise, covering them with a paper towel so that their surface dries out less.
You can store ready-made “larks” at room temperature in an open container for up to 3-4 days. Over time they dry out and become crispy.
There is a custom at the beginning of spring, on the day of the vernal equinox, to bake buns in the form larks or other birds. Dough larks symbolize the arrival of spring; according to popular beliefs, they bring spring and warmth on their wings. Usually larks baked from unleavened dough, They may be different shapes and size. I baked my larks from rich yeast dough. They They turned out fluffy, rosy and very tasty. This recipe has no relation to religious rites. If you are fasting, bake Lenten buns.
Ingredients
To prepare larks from dough you will need:
1 glass of milk;
2 tbsp. l. Sahara;
a pinch of salt;
1 tsp. dry yeast;
50 g butter;
3 cups flour;
a few raisins.
For the syrup:
2 tbsp. l. Sahara;
2 tbsp. l. water.
Cooking steps
Grease a baking tray with vegetable oil and place the dough larks on it. Using scissors, make small cuts along the edges to create wings. Grease every bird sweet water using a brush. For cooking sweet water dissolve sugar in hot water and cool.
Place the baking sheet in the oven at 190 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Brush the hot buns again with sweet water. Transfer to a wire rack and cool.
Bon appetit, make your loved ones happy!
Let's call Spring together! Let's all bake larks together! These cute birds are true harbingers of Spring, sun and warmth! And if the whole world bakes many, many warm, rosy buns in the shape of larks, Spring will finally come
F.I. Tyutchev
No wonder winter is angry,
Its time has passed -
Spring is knocking on the window
And he drives him out of the yard.
And everything started to fuss,
Everything forces Winter to get out -
And larks in the sky
The ringing bell has already been raised.
Winter is still busy
And he grumbles about Spring.
She laughs in her eyes
And it just makes more noise...
The evil witch went crazy
And, capturing the snow,
She let me in, running away,
To a beautiful child...
Spring and grief are not enough:
Washed in the snow
And only became blusher
Against the enemy.
I had heard a lot about baking lark, but this was my first time baking. And I’ll tell you what a fascinating and enjoyable thing this is! Children will be especially happy, just let them make the dough. True, the results are not always larks, but sausages, pies, koloboks, little sunnies - but what a lot of fun!
I found how to sculpt larks. And we’ll make a lean yeast dough, like for pizza or donuts, only with more sugar.
Ingredients for Lenten yeast dough for larks:
- 5.5 cups of wheat flour and another half a cup for sprinkling the table, about 1 kg of flour in total;
- 2 glasses warm water;
— 30 g fresh yeast;
- 3 tablespoons of sugar;
- 3 tablespoons sunflower oil;
- raisins - smaller, darker shades are better suited for eyes; they are more similar than large, light, amber raisins.
How to bake larks:
Mix the dough.
Crumble the yeast into a bowl, grind with sugar until liquid, pour in 1 glass of warm water, stir.
Sift 1.5 cups of flour, knead the dough and put on a warm water bath for half an hour.
Gently mix the risen dough, add the remaining glass of warm water and gradually, sifting, stir in the flour - I added 4 glasses one at a time. At the end of mixing, add sunflower oil.
The result is a dense dough, a little steeper than usual for pies, so the larks will keep their shape well. Sprinkle the table with flour and knead the dough well until it becomes homogeneous and smooth. Then sprinkle flour on all sides so that it doesn’t dry out and stick to the bowl, and put it back in a water bath for 20 minutes.
Now the fun part - it's time to sculpt the larks!
We tried 3 methods. I liked the first one the most. When we made the second batch, it turned out so easy and great! The dough is over here
Let's make sausage.
We tie this sausage into a knot.
At one end we make a round head with a beak, cut the second with a knife, it turns out to be a fan - this is the tail.
Insert eyes from raisins. Stick them deep so they don't fall out when the dough rises.
Place the larks on a baking sheet to proof. As long as you blind everyone, they will fit just right. I do this: turn on the oven on low heat and place a baking sheet. On top of the stove. And the oven is warming up, and the buns are warm.
Second way.
We also roll the sausage, but do not tie it, but simply fold it in the form of a loop.
The loop itself is the head, the tips are the wings. Cut the feathers into a fan and make eyes.
Third way. We make a flat cake, narrow on one side, widening on the other.
On the narrow tip we make a beak and eyes, and the wide one, slightly pressing, is cut into two - a tail and a wing.
We cut “feathers” on the tail and wing, bend the wing upward.
We place the larks on a baking sheet not very close to each other, the distance between them should be at least 5-7 cm so that the baked goods do not stick together.
Sprinkle the larks with sugar and put them in a warm oven and bake at 180-200 (depending on how it suits), mine baked for 45 minutes.
The finished larks are very beautiful! Golden, but when you pick it up, it’s warm! This is how spring feels!
March 22 is the day of the vernal equinox. The days are getting longer and summer is getting closer. People have always celebrated this day because it marked the end of winter, the awakening of nature from hibernation. The holiday itself is called Magpies, or Larks, and in the church calendar - Forty Saints.
Traditionally, on this day, sweet larks or other spring birds are baked - cookies, buns - as if calling for spring and as a sign of the return of birds from warmer climes, and, therefore, the full end of winter. It is not customary to eat them right away; they are part of the holiday: larks are seated on branches, thrown up, impaled on sticks and raised, accompanied by songs and dances.
Children will love making sweet larks. Made from delicate butter dough, they turn out fluffy and fragrant. Spring will definitely come much faster if you fill your home with sweet, cozy aromas!
Cooking time: about 3 hours.
Yield: 8 large larks.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of flour
- 0.5 cups milk
- 1 egg
- 30 grams butter
- 15 grams of fresh yeast
- 2 tbsp. tablespoons sugar plus more sugar for sprinkling
- a pinch of salt
- 4 highlights for the eyes
- 1 yolk for brushing before baking
How to cook Zhavoronkov
Add butter to milk.
Heat this mixture in the microwave or just on the stove. The butter should melt and the milk should reach a pleasant warm temperature.
Mash the yeast a little in your hands so that it dissolves faster.
Pour the butter and milk mixture over the yeast and stir until the yeast dissolves.
Then add salt, sugar, sifted flour and beat in the egg.
Using a mixer or by hand, knead the dough. It will be sticky at first - this is normal.
After some time, you will notice that the dough has become more elastic and smooth.
Add a little flour to the dough, gather it into a ball and place it in a warm place to rise.
Since there is not a lot of baking in the dough, it will rise quite quickly. When it doubles in volume, you can begin sculpting the larks.
Divide the dough into 8 parts and leave a small portion extra for the wings.
Roll each part into a rope with a diameter of about 1.5 cm.
Tie the resulting sausage into a knot - this will be the lark.
One end will be the bird's head. Flatten it a little, giving it a beak shape at the end. Make eyes from raisins cut into 4 parts.
Press the other end and make cuts - this will be the tail.
From the remaining dough, pinch off pieces of dough the size of large beans, flatten them and make cuts on one side.
Place the larks on a baking sheet and stick the wings on. If they don't stick well, lubricate them with water on the underside, and then they will stick better.
Leave the larks to rise for 20 minutes. Then brush them liberally with yolk.
Sprinkle the birds with sugar on top.
Bake the larks at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes until the crust is very golden brown. Cool the finished birds at room temperature and you can treat your family and friends.
