Yeast Animal with Quark and Blackberries

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1
  First, weigh all the ingredients. We will be taking some for the starter, so weighing them is important to avoid mixing up the grams.
• 2
  Pour 3 tablespoons of lukewarm milk into a cup, add 1 tablespoon of sugar, and crumble the yeast, mixing it into the liquid. Now add 3 tablespoons of flour and mix again to create a thicker batter. Scrape it from the sides of the cup and smooth it nicely at the bottom. Then let it rise for 15 minutes.
• 3
  Once the starter has risen, prepare the dough. Cream the softened butter with sugar into a fluffy white foam. Then add the egg yolks, mixing them carefully into this mixture. Next, add the grated lemon zest, the risen starter, the remaining milk, sifted flour, and a pinch of salt to enhance the flavor. Mix everything with a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients well, and then work it into a smooth, elastic dough. (If you have a kitchen mixer, let it do the work; if not, you can knead the dough by hand. Initially, the dough will seem sticky, but resist the temptation to add flour, as it would not benefit the dough and the rolls would not be as soft. Knead the dough by hand for about 10 minutes; if it still seems sticky after this time, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter for a few minutes. During this time, the gluten in the flour will activate and absorb all the possible liquid. After resting, the dough should no longer be as sticky, so knead it again and form it into a compact ball.).
• 4
  Let the prepared dough rise in a bowl covered with a cloth for 1 hour.
• 5
  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• 6
  Towards the end of the dough rising, prepare the quark filling. Cream the butter with sugar into a fluffy foam, then beat in the egg yolk, mix in the finely grated lemon zest and quark. Whip the egg white into a stiff peak and gently fold it into the quark mixture.
• 7
  Wash, dry, and halve the blackberries.
• 8
  Divide the risen dough into 12 equal parts. Roll 8 of them into a longer rectangle about 0.5 cm thick. Transfer the filling into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe a strip of filling across the entire width of the dough, leaving the ends slightly free. Then place a few blackberries on it and roll the dough to form a long snake. Seal the ends to prevent the filling from leaking out. Continue this with the remaining 7 pieces. Let them rise slightly (no more than 10 minutes).
• 9
  Now take two pieces and twist them into a braid (Place one piece vertically and the other horizontally over it. Fold the top tip down to form an inverted V. Then braid the ends like a challah, i.e., right end over the top inside, left end over the bottom inside, and cross the left over the right inside. Continue to the end.). Make 4 braids and transfer them to the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. From the remaining dough, make 16 smaller and 4 larger balls. Use the larger ones for the turtle's head and the smaller ones for the legs. Flatten the ends of the balls, gently brush with egg, and tuck them under the body so that the head and legs partially peek out. Let the animals rise well (depending on the room temperature, but it usually takes 20 minutes).
• 10
  Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
• 11
  Brush the entire animals with beaten egg mixed with a little rum and place them in the preheated oven, baking for about 20 minutes.
• 12
  Lightly dust the finished animals with sugar and decorate with fruit to make eyes.

NOTE

• 1
  The recipe is simple in itself, but if you want the animals to look as they should, it's important to follow a few key points when twisting them:
• 2
  It's very important to maintain the thickness of the dough; the thicker, the better. 0.5 cm is the minimum. This is to prevent the dough from tearing during twisting and also to prevent tearing during subsequent rising and baking.
• 3
  Don't overfill the filling, just enough. Cut the blackberries into small pieces. If the snake is overfilled, it may burst during twisting, which would be a shame.
• 4
  Roll the snake, but only lightly, to seal the seam without losing the dough thickness you were careful about at the beginning.
• 5
  Let the animals rise well before baking. If you underestimate the rising, the dough will try to catch up in the oven, rising very quickly, and the seams could tear.