Romanian Fluffy Mucenici - Walnut and Cinnamon Bread

Elena Butuc

This is a simple and perfect recipe for fluffy mucenici. Now it's also good for those who want to make the vegan version - the ingredients are adapted easily since they aren't many and the whole process is beautiful. Here you'll have fluffy and tender layers of cinnamon dough (cinnamon can be omitted or replaced with coconut), which will absorb the syrup very well and the mucenici will be very soft. The shaping process is extremely simple, you can collaborate with the little ones in the family, they will be the first to appreciate these delicious buns.

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Ingredients

Metric US

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Milk

250 ml

for the Lenten version, use vegetable milk (soy, almonds, coconut) or water

●

Active dry yeast

10 g

or 25g fresh yeast

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Vegetable oil

100 ml

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White flour

400 g

●

Vanilla Extract

2 tsp

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Sugar

250 g

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Baking powder

10 g

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Melted butter

50 ml

or oil, for the Lenten version

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Cinnamon powder

40 g

or coconut, or none, just sugar

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Lemon zest

1 tsp

or rum, or any flavors you like

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Egg

1 piece

optional, to brush the top

Step by step

Step 1

Combine warm milk (not hot!) with 1 tablespoon of sugar and dry yeast.

Step 2

Let sit for 10-15 minutes until it foams on top, then stir a little more.

Step 3

In a bowl, combine flour with baking powder, mix.

Step 4

Add the milk and yeast mixture, the oil and 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence to the bowl with flour.

Step 5

Start mixing with a spatula or spoon.

Step 6

Until the dough comes together and starts to get smooth.

Step 7

Now sprinkle the table with a little flour, turn out the dough and knead actively for 1-2 minutes.

Step 8

Return to the bowl, cover and let rise for 30-40 minutes.

Step 9

After this time, turn the dough out again onto the table, cut into 12 pieces of equal size and shape into balls.

Step 10

With the rolling pin, roll out each ball into a rectangle.

Brush the top with a little melted butter or oil.

Romanian Fluffy Mucenici - Walnut and Cinnamon Bread - Step 10

Step 11

Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar and a little cinnamon.

If you don't like cinnamon, you can omit or replace with coconut, cocoa, poppy seeds etc.

Romanian Fluffy Mucenici - Walnut and Cinnamon Bread - Step 11

Step 12

Roll up the rectangle.

Step 13

Cut the roll into 2 parts, but don't cut in the middle.

Step 14

Take the edges from one side, twist 1-2 times.

Step 15

And stick the ends together. This way we shaped one half of the 8.

Step 16

Do the same with the other side and we get a beautiful, simple and elegant mucenic - bun.

Step 17

Shape the rest of the buns in the same way.

Along the way, arrange in an oven tray lined with baking paper. Let rise in the pan for 10-15 minutes before baking.

Romanian Fluffy Mucenici - Walnut and Cinnamon Bread - Step 17

Step 18

For beautiful shine and color, you can brush the buns with eggwash before placing in the oven. In the Lenten version, skip this step.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees C or until evenly browned.

Romanian Fluffy Mucenici - Walnut and Cinnamon Bread - Step 18

Step 19

While the buns are in the oven, quickly prepare the syrup. Bring 1 glass of water to the boil, add in 0.5 glass of sugar, lemon zest, vanilla and rum, to your liking.

Step 20

Moist the baked, hot buns with plenty of syrup.

I had 2 trays of buns and I evenly distributed the syrup, making sure it was enough for both batches.

Romanian Fluffy Mucenici - Walnut and Cinnamon Bread - Step 20

Step 21

Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top, while the syrup hasn't dried yet, so that the walnuts can stick better.

Step 22

Let the buns cool a little and the flavours infuse, but I can tell you for sure that you won't be patient ...

Mucenici are very soft, tender, fluffy and all the layers of cinnamon perfectly match the walnuts and syrup. The shape of the buns helps them stay very moist.