How to make a lark from dough. How to bake Easter larks

Hello my dear readers! You know, many ancient pagan customs have become characteristic of Orthodox Christians. We bake delicious, beautiful bird-shaped buns. Such dough larks symbolize the beginning of spring and the return of migratory birds from distant wanderings.

Our ancestors, the ancient Slavs, believed that winged birds brought spring from warm countries on their wings. In reality, spring usually began with the arrival of larks - vocal messengers of the sun. In Rus' there was no single date for welcoming spring. In each locality, this date was determined by special folk signs.
In the old days, larks from various doughs were molded and baked for the day of remembrance of the “Forty Martyrs of Sebaste” (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 ).

You are probably wondering why they baked birds in the form of larks? Our ancestors paid attention to the fact that the singing lark either soars like an arrow into the high blue distances, or “falls” like a stone almost to the ground. The little bird simultaneously combined special boldness and humility before the Lord. The lark quickly flies upward, but, struck by the greatness of God, in deep humility it heads down. The larks seem to raise a song of glory to the merciful Lord, as the 40 Sevaitian martyrs did, humbly accepting their death and rushing to the Kingdom of Heaven, to the Sun of Truth - Christ.

The Day of Remembrance of the Forty Martyrs of Sebastia is a sad but life-affirming holiday, when all nature comes to life, gentle sunny days come, and pleasant spring chores are added. The holiday of welcoming spring takes place during Lent. Therefore, believers mold and bake larks only from lean dough. At Easter, you can pamper yourself and your loved ones with spring lark buns made from butter dough.

Dough larks recipe

Lenten larks

• 500 g flour.
• 280 ml warm water.
• 20 g pressed or 1 teaspoon dry yeast.
• 1 teaspoon salt.
• 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
• 1 tablespoon sugar.
• 5 g vanilla sugar.

How to prepare lean dough for larks

1. Dissolve yeast in 250 ml of warm (25°C) water, add sugar, 2-3 tablespoons of flour. leave until the mass “bubbles”.
2. Add the rest of the water, flour sifted with salt, vegetable oil, a little carrot juice (for a beautiful color), knead an elastic, non-stick dough. You may need to add a little more flour - the quality varies from place to place.
3. Place the container with the dough in a plastic bag and leave to rise in a warm place.
4. Punch down the risen dough and let it rise again.
5. Cut the lark buns from the dough using one of the methods suggested below.

Butter larks

• 500 g flour.
• 250 ml warm milk.
• 2 eggs.
• 60 g butter.
• 30 g pressed yeast.
• 4-5 tablespoons of sugar.
• 10 g vanilla sugar.
• 1 teaspoon salt.

How to make pastry for larks

1. Pour warm milk over the crumbled yeast and let the yeast dissolve.
2. Sift the flour, mix with salt, vanilla and simple sugar.
3. Make a “slide” of flour and beat the eggs into the middle.
4. Pour milk with yeast into the flour, kneading the dough; at the end of kneading, add melted warm (but not hot) butter. Knead the dough until it no longer sticks to your hands.
5. Place the container with the mixed dough in a plastic bag and let the dough rise in a warm place.
6. There is not much baking in the dough. It will come up quite quickly. After doubling the volume of the dough, you can begin modeling and baking larks from butter dough using one of the methods below.

Modeling larks from various doughs

Method No. 1

Before baking, you can sprinkle any “larks” with sugar.

Method No. 2

Method No. 3

Method No. 4

I gave you the larks - bake for your health! Involve the little ones in the process - children love such ideas. Happy days before Easter! In Transcarpathia, it is customary to give lark buns made from butter dough to godchildren and goddaughters on the eve of Easter Sunday.

Recipe for making “larks” from yeast dough. Traditionally in Rus', the lark was considered a symbol of the spring equinox, so housewives prepared edible “larks” from dough in advance. Moreover, from any dough - shortbread, yeast (bun dough), lean (flour and water), etc. It doesn’t matter at all what kind of dough your larks are made from - the main thing is traditions, holidays and spring mood. After all, it was believed that it was the larks that drove away winter and with them came real spring.

According to this recipe, lark-shaped buns are prepared with dry yeast, with the addition of milk and eggs. Do not forget that the dough with the addition of eggs becomes denser and slightly heavier than the dough without eggs. For a more interesting aroma and taste, you can add vanilla or cinnamon to this dough. You can also bake bunnies instead of cranes; see how to make them.

Required ingredients:

650 – 700 g flour;

500 ml. warm milk;

3 tbsp. spoons of vegetable oil (butter);

A pinch of salt;

1 teaspoon dry yeast;

2 tbsp. spoons of sugar;

For lubrication:

1 egg + 1 tbsp. spoon of sugar.

How to cook:

Yeast dough for buns can be assembled in various ways, for me the most convenient is with dough. Pour warm milk, sugar, a couple of tablespoons of flour into a deep bowl for kneading dough and add yeast. Stir the mixture and cover the cup with cling film. Place the container in a warm place for 10-15 minutes. As soon as you see that the yeast has dissolved and foam or small bubbles have formed on the surface, the dough is ready.

Add egg, salt, vegetable or melted butter to milk (no significant difference).

Mix the mixture thoroughly with a whisk until it has a homogeneous consistency. Now start adding flour into this mixture in small portions.

It is most convenient to knead this dough in a food processor; if you knead it by hand (like me), then keep in mind that you will have to knead it for quite a long time, about 10 - 12 minutes. It seems to me that kneading the dough with a wooden spatula is easier and more convenient, but it’s harder to knead the dough with your hands. At first the dough will be sticky, but this is normal, keep kneading and adding flour.

As soon as the dough stops sticking to your hands, it is ready for proofing. My dough took about 680 grams of flour, yours may take a little more or less. Gather the finished dough into a ball and place it in a clean container greased with vegetable oil. Cover the dough with cling film or cover with a lid (wet towel).

Place the dough in a warm place for infusion. As soon as it doubles in size, grease your hands with oil and knead. Then remove it again - the finished baking dough should triple in size.

Once the dough has risen, you can start cutting. I will collect the “larks” in two ways - with a knot and with a twist.

The first way is with a knot.

Sprinkle your work surface with flour. Separate a small portion from the dough, punch it down and divide it into several small pieces. Knead each piece again, trying to make it as dense as possible and release the air from it. Then roll out the ball into a sausage and wrap it in a knot. Use your hands to form the head and tail of the future lark.

Make several larks this way and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave the larks to rise for another 10 - 15 minutes, then make eyes out of pieces of raisins for the birds.

While the larks are rising, preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Before baking, it is advisable to coat the buns with something: brewed tea with sugar, milk or beaten egg (yolk), and if desired, you can sprinkle the top of the buns with sugar or sesame seeds. For coating, I beat an egg with sugar and brushed the birds with a silicone brush.

Bake the “larks” until golden brown (everyone is different).

The second method is with a twist.

To collect larks with a twist, you first need to form small dense balls (ovals). Roll out the ovals with a rolling pin, shape the bird's head with your hands and cut the base to the head. Next, fold one side up or down and use a sharp roller to make characteristic cuts.
Place the “larks” on parchment and leave to proof for 10 – 15 minutes. Then, make an eye out of pieces of raisins, grease the product with coating and place it on parchment.

Bake the buns until the characteristic golden color appears.

That's all - serve the finished “larks” to the table with hot aromatic tea.

• 600 g white flour;
• 1-2 tbsp. spoons of sugar;
• 1 teaspoon (without a slide) of fine kitchen salt;
• 1 teaspoon dry instant yeast;
• 250 ml warm water;
• 100 g vegetable oil.

Preparation

We prepare all the ingredients for work: sift the flour into a large bowl, measure out other products. I use olive oil for my yeast dough larks recipe. I like it in baked goods, but if you don’t have olive oil, refined sunflower oil will do just fine. Our ancestors, by the way, did not use either one or the other. Old Russian housewives most likely baked with linseed oil.

Now let's prepare the dough. I want to say that dry yeast does not require activation (preparing dough), it can be immediately mixed with flour and water added. But I’m used to making dough, so I’ll do it this way, and you do as you wish.

So, in a bowl with sifted flour, we make a small depression with our fingers (a well, my grandmother used to say), pour warm water into the “well”, add yeast and, with a fork, carefully stir the yeast and water so that a dough is formed in the “well” - a batter with yeast ( along the edges of the “well” the flour remains dry).

Next, cover the bowl with a towel and leave for 15 minutes. During this time, the dough will ferment, forming foam. Now we can definitely make sure that the yeast is working and is capable of raising a fairly dense dough.

Add salt, sugar and vegetable oil to the bowl. Keep a mug of water handy as you may need liquid if the dough gets too stiff. And then mix all the ingredients together - first with a spoon, then with your hands, until you get a plastic lump.

You need to knead for at least 5 minutes, the dough should be quite dense, considering that when raised it will become softer. We will not be preparing simple buns, but knot buns, and in order for the dough for larks to hold its shape, it must be more or less dense. I would like to note that dense dough in no way means dry. If you see that the mass turns out to be dry, falls apart, and does not hold together as a dense, moist lump, feel free to add water.

After this, put the dough on the table and knead it again, simultaneously stirring in the flour if necessary. Cut a lump of dough, fold it with the edges inward and the middle outward, since the lump tends to dry out at the edges and retain moisture inside. Knead it for at least 5 more minutes. Ideally, you should end up with a very flexible dough that, without sticking, can be easily kneaded on a bare table, not greased with anything.

Grease the bowl with a small amount of vegetable oil. Form the dough into a ball and place in a bowl. Cover the dough with a towel and leave it in a warm place for 2 hours to rise (by the way, the towel must be soaked in hot water, wrung out, and only then cover the bowl, since the consistency of the lark dough is quite dense and it dries easily).

Knead the risen dough directly in the bowl, removing from it the gas that appears as a result of the vital activity of yeast. We form it into a ball and leave it to rise again for at least 1 hour, covering it with a warm, damp towel.

After the specified time, our dough fits just right. It is not sticky at all, so there is no need to flour the table. Place it on a clean, dry work surface and begin to form the larks.

Divide the dough into parts. You can use a knife to cut it in half, then each piece in half again, and so on until you have 16 equal pieces. I simply tore pieces from the lump by eye, so I ended up with 17 pieces, that is, there will be 17 larks.

We crush each piece in our palms, bending the edges towards the center to form a smooth ball, which we then roll between our palms until a smooth oval piece is formed. Cover all the pieces with a wet towel (because the dough dries out very quickly) and leave for about 15 minutes. During this time, the yeast will fluff up the dough a little, it will become softer and more pliable.

Now let's move on to creating larks (or knot buns). We take the prepared ball (it has become more fluffy and elastic), roll it into a long “sausage”, rolling first between the palms and then on the table, trying not to touch the very edges of the “sausage” so that thickenings form along the edges.

We tie the rolled out “sausage” with a knot...

We place the bundle on the table. The knot itself should not be tight, but rather loose, otherwise during baking the dough will rise and expand, and the lark itself may become warped. From one end we form the head of a bird with a beak, from the other - a wide tail, pressing it with your fingers to the table.

We cut the tail into “feathers” with scissors. We insert “eyes” made from pieces of raisins into the bird’s head.

We first pierce the place of the eyes with a wooden toothpick to form holes into which we insert pieces of raisins (to help them stick better).

We also cut the bird's beak into two parts with scissors to get a bird with an open beak (singing). This is what the lark should look like in the end.

In the same way we form the remaining larks. Place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, at some distance from each other.

And now our larks must distance themselves. Since the dough dries easily, it should be placed in a moist, warm environment. In this case, an oven (oven) is best suited.

We place the baking sheet with the larks on the middle rack of the oven, turn on the light there to keep it warm, and put a bowl of boiling water at the very bottom of the chamber so that evaporation occurs and the air is moist. Close the door and leave for 20 minutes.

After the specified time, take the baking sheet out of the oven and place it on the table, and turn on the oven - let it heat up to 200 degrees Celsius. In order for the birds to turn out ruddy and have a beautiful color, using a kitchen brush we cover them with strong brewed tea, almost tea leaves.

After the birds are greased, let them stand for 5 minutes and put them in the oven, preheated to 200 degrees. Bake for 20 (or so) minutes - the exact time depends on the size of the buns.

Immediately after baking, to make them shine, they need to be greased with vegetable oil using the same kitchen brush.

OK it's all over Now! Our lark buns are ready! Along the way, I want to say that they are baked in a variety of forms - both with wings and flying ones - all sorts of different ones - there is room for imagination. But this recipe for larks made from yeast dough is perhaps the most common and simplest.
Happy baking and bon appetit!

The recipe for dough larks is based on a recipe by Irina Khlebnikova.

Lately I often bake pies or pies from yeast dough, so I try different recipes. And somehow on the Internet I found interesting photographs of buns in the shape of little lark birds. It turned out to be quite easy to give the dough the required shape; I used my proven recipe for butter dough for pies. I just made some minor changes - added a little more butter and more sugar. After all, pies have a sweet filling inside, which gives sweetness to the whole product, but here there is only one dough, and it should be sweet.

The ingredients given in my recipe make 20 larks. To ensure they are the same size, it is better to use a kitchen scale. We weigh all the resulting dough, it turns out to be 800 grams, divide it in half so that we can bake our larks in two batches.

So, to prepare larks from yeast dough, we take all the products on the list.

As usual, for butter baking, sift the flour into a bowl, make a well, put the yeast in it and pour in slightly warm milk.

Add a little sugar and stir, adding flour from the edges of the well.

Cover with a slightly damp towel and leave for 30-40 minutes for the dough to rise. During this time, the yeast should work well, and this is what we will get.

The dough actively bubbled and increased in size. This means we can continue making butter dough for our larks. Melt the butter, break the eggs at room temperature and whisk them with a spoon or fork, add salt directly to the butter.

Pour eggs into the dough, add sugar and start mixing.

Add melted butter and salt there. Mix everything again.

During the process, add vanillin or vanilla cream extract.

Then remove the spoon and knead the dough with your hands. We do this for at least 15 minutes, it may even take more time until the dough begins to pull away from the walls of the bowl, just like in the photo. If you have a dough mixer, then entrust this troublesome task to him.

After kneading, I clean the walls of the bowl from adhering flour or pieces of dough, grease it a little with vegetable oil and again put the dough in for proofing, covering it with a slightly damp towel.

It took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to rise and increased to this size.

Now you can form the larks. We put all the dough on the table, divide it in half, put one part back in the bowl, covering it with a towel so as not to dry out. We roll the second part quite a bit to give it a shape convenient for cutting. Cut into 10 pieces.

We roll out each part on a board or table powdered with flour, make one side wide and the other narrow, and on this side we form a beak, as it were. We insert a highlight, this will be the eye of the future bird. We make five cuts on the wide side.

Now we turn the lower side of the central cut upward, this will be the wing of a lark. We do this with all preparations.

Cover the baking sheet with parchment, grease it with butter and lay out our future larks. Leave them alone for 20 minutes to proof, and at this time turn on the oven and preheat it to 180 degrees. Before baking, brush the birds with milk using a brush.

Bake the larks from the yeast dough until done, about 15 minutes. We take out a baking sheet, you can remove them from the parchment immediately. I usually put them on a wooden board.

Be sure to let them cool. Yeast larks can be served with either milk or tea. Choose according to your taste!

Baking buns in the shape of birds has very ancient traditions. All northern peoples have always welcomed spring with joy and celebrated the return of birds from warm countries. Among the Slavs, the holiday was called “Larks” and fell on the day of the vernal equinox, March 22. For this day, small lark buns were baked, since it was believed that with the arrival of these birds, spring comes into its own. In the Orthodox Christian tradition, larks are baked in the amount of 40 pieces, according to the number of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste, whose memory is celebrated on March 22. These buns are baked from Lenten dough, since early spring always coincides with Lent. Here is a detailed story about how to make birds, as well as a recipe for lean yeast dough, which was chosen through many tests and, in my opinion, this is the best recipe not only for larks, but also for other various sweet and savory lean pastries.

You will need:

• sugar 1-3 tbsp. l.
• salt 1 tsp.
• water 250 ml
• refined vegetable oil 6 tbsp. l.
• vodka 2 tbsp. l.

We are not embarrassed by the presence of vodka in the recipe - cooks have long noticed that alcohol helps to loosen the dough and this is true. I think that thanks to vodka, the yeast works more actively and this dough, despite the large amount of flour, always works very well.

You will also need raisins or prunes to make eyes for the birds, and sweet strong tea to grease the buns before baking - prepare it in advance (1 tsp or 1 bag of black tea per 0.5 cup boiling water + 1 tbsp sugar) .

To bake larks, I take 500 grams of flour. If you want the shape of the birds to be more clear and sculptural, take 600 grams of flour. This dough behaves perfectly in the oven both in small forms - buns, pies, and in the form of large pies. It can be used for deep-fried baking, but then reduce the amount of flour to 400 g.

Add 3 tbsp to the dough for sweet baking. l. Sahara. For savory baked goods - 1 tbsp. l.

Step-by-step photo recipe:

Sift flour (500 g) into a mixer bowl, add sugar (3 tbsp) and salt (1 tsp), mix, add water with foamed yeast and turn on the mixer with dough kneading attachments. Add vegetable oil (6 tbsp) and vodka (2 tbsp). Knead into a smooth dough.

Using a mixer, I kneaded the dough in 10 minutes - it will take longer by hand. The mixer is designed in such a way that it forms gluten in the dough in the best possible way (combines flour protein with water), so even a small amount of dough behaves perfectly during baking and turns out perfect.

Advice: if you are making a very stiff dough with 600 grams of flour, and also if you are not sure of the power of your mixer, knead the dough with your hands.Do you understand what I wrote?))) I wrote that our gentle female hands cannot be replaced by any household appliances))) - an excellent topic for a philosophical conversation, but that’s not about that now)))

Pick up the dough with your hand - form a ball, cover with cling film or a towel and leave in a warm place for 1 hour to rise.

After 1 hour, knead the dough well to remove carbon dioxide, cover again and leave to rise for another 1 hour. After two rises, i.e. after 2 hours, the dough is ready for cutting.

Advice: The finished dough can be placed in a large bag, tied loosely, leaving room for rising, and stored in the refrigerator, but no more than 2-3 days. After this period, the dough will begin to sour and become unusable. If you want to use the dough even after a week, put it in the freezer. When needed, remove and defrost.

Properly prepared dough has a very delicate consistency, is easy to cut, and does not stick to the knife, hands or work surface. To form products from this dough, you can use a small amount of vegetable oil - lubricate your hands with it.

Punch down the dough, form into a ball and place on the work surface.

Cut the ball of dough into 12 pieces and form 12 small balls - these are almost ready-made breakfast rolls.

Advice: These buns can be quickly baked for breakfast if you prepare the dough the night before and put it in the refrigerator. In the morning, let the buns rise well, brush with strong tea, sprinkle with, for example, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, oatmeal, coarse salt and bake. Great idea - homemade buns ! You can also bake Lenten , brushing the dough with vegetable oil instead of butter and sprinkling with cinnamon and sugar. And also . In addition, traditional for Russian cuisine pies and pies with various fillings, donuts - there are a lot of options for using this dough. But don’t forget that we are baking birds and then I will tell you how to shape them.

How to make larks from dough

There are many ways to shape larks, but this is my favorite ⇓⇓⇓

Roll out the ball of dough into a rope approximately 23-25 ​​cm long. The ends of the rope should be thickened - this is the future head and tail of the lark. To ensure that the birds are the same, use an object, such as a knife, as a measure.

Tie the rope in a regular knot and form a head and tail. Flatten the dough; there should be no tension in it.

Use your fingers to form a beak on the head and flatten the tail. Make 4 cuts on the tail with a knife. Now the bird is ready!

All that remains is to make the eyes. It is convenient to use a toothpick - poke holes in the head with it and insert pieces of raisins or other suitable dried fruits into them. I added small black peppercorns - it looks nice, but don't forget to remove the pepper before eating)))

Place the birds on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil or use baking paper - there is no need to grease it with oil. Leave for 20 minutes for the dough to rise.

Before baking, carefully brush each bird with strong, sweet tea to help them brown better in the oven.

Bake the larks in a preheated oven at 200°C for 20 minutes.

Small baked goods without filling usually do not cause problems and usually when the birds are browned they are ready and well baked inside.

Remove the birds from the oven and, while they are hot, brush with vegetable oil, cover with a towel and let the baked goods cool.

“Lent is already coming to an end, spring is coming. The starlings made noise over the garden, and the larks also flew to the Forty Martyrs. Every morning I see them in the dining room: sharp-nosed heads with raisins in their eyes looking out from the bread bowl, and ruddy wings braided on their backs. It’s a pity to eat them, they are so good, and I start with the tail.” (Ivan Shmelev, Easter)

These are the cute birds they bake in Russia for the holiday Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, who sanctify the entire holy Pentecost with their feat. Bake larks with your children, let this ancient tradition take root in your families.

Despite the fact that this lean dough is very strong and the baked goods are small, the buns turned out to be very tender and airy - they tear and stretch easily, almost the same as baking.

Happy spring, friends! Let it be early, bright and kind!

Larks. A short recipe for lean yeast dough.

You will need:

• premium wheat flour 400 - 600 g (depending on the type of baked goods)
• sugar 1-3 tbsp. l.
• salt 1 tsp.
• water 250 ml
• dry yeast 1 sachet (10 g)
• refined vegetable oil 6 tbsp.
• vodka 2 tbsp. l.
• vanilla sugar 1 sachet (optional for sweet baking)

Pour warm water (250 ml) into a small bowl, add sugar (1 tsp) and dry yeast (1 sachet), stir and wait until the yeast foams.

Sift flour (500 g) into a mixer bowl, add sugar (3 tbsp) and salt (1 tsp), mix with your hand, add water with foamed yeast and turn on the mixer with dough kneading attachments. Add vegetable oil (6 tbsp) and vodka (2 tbsp). Knead the smooth dough with a mixer for 10 minutes.

Form the dough into a ball, cover with cling film and leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, knead the dough well to remove carbon dioxide, cover again and leave to rise for another 1 hour. After two ascents, i.e. After 2 hours, the dough is ready for cutting.

How to make larks from dough

Cut the ball of dough into 12 parts: first into 2 parts, then each part again into 2 parts, and so on. Form into 12 small balls.

Roll out the ball of dough into a rope approximately 23-25 ​​cm long. The ends of the rope should be thickened - this is the future head and tail of the lark.

Tie the rope in a regular knot and form a head and tail. Use your fingers to form a beak on the head and flatten the tail. Make 4 cuts on the tail with a knife. Using a toothpick, make holes in the head for the eyes and insert pieces of raisins into them - the bird is ready.

Place the birds on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil or use baking paper. Leave for 20 minutes for the dough to rise.

Before baking, brush each bird with strong, sweet tea to help them brown better in the oven. Bake the larks in a preheated oven at 200°C for 20 minutes.

Remove the birds from the oven and, while they are hot, brush with vegetable oil. Cover with a towel and let the baked goods cool.

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