Zwiebelzwirbel (onion swirl bread)
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
Onion filling
- 30 ml neutral oil rounded
- 300 g onion, thinly sliced rounded
- 5 g caraway seeds rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
Dough
- 350 g flour rounded
- 15 g baking powder rounded
- 6 g fine salt rounded
- 220 ml buttermilk rounded
- 40 ml neutral oil rounded
Method
Method
- Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Cook the onion with the caraway for 15 minutes, stirring often, until deeply browned. Season with salt and let cool.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan). Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Stir in the buttermilk and oil until a soft dough forms.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat into a rectangle about 25 by 35 cm.
- Spread the cooled onion filling evenly over the dough, leaving a 2 cm border. Roll up tightly from the long edge.
- Twist the roll into a loose spiral and place in a lined loaf tin, or simply place the roll seam-side down.
- Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the base and is deeply golden on top.
Notes
- Cook the onions hard until deeply browned, not just softened. Raw or barely softened onion rolled into the dough releases steam as it bakes and turns the surrounding crumb soggy; a properly caramelized filling stays contained and sweet instead.
- Let the onion filling cool before spreading it on the dough. Warm filling starts activating the baking powder unevenly and can make the dough slack before it goes into the oven.
- This dough comes together fast because it’s leavened with baking powder, not yeast. There’s no rising time, so have the oven preheated before you start rolling.
- Best eaten the day it’s baked, though it toasts well the next day.
Ingredient substitutions
- Buttermilk can be replaced with plain yogurt thinned with a little milk.
- A handful of shredded cheese scattered over the onions before rolling is a good addition.
- Serve warm alongside a bowl of soup.