Lichiu sau Hanklich

"Saxon style bread-base and sweet dairy topping dessert" 

'Lichiu' (pronouned 'licky-oo') or 'Hanklich' in German is a dessert most Romanians from Transylvania will be familiar with. Typically attributed to the cuisine of the Saxons of Transylvania, this dessert or pie is made up of a bread base, something like a thick pizza base in a way, which is then topped with a sweet creamy mixture and baked - ideally in a wood-fired oven. It is mostly something cooked at home, particular at times of the year when there is a surplus of eggs (my countryside neighbours frequently cook it around Easter time), and the recipe varies considerably from household to household.

The picture on the left shows the lichiu made by my neighbours in the countryside, freshly removed from the wood-fired oven, out of the tins, and cooling down ready to be sliced. As you can see, when they make it, they make a lot (it's hard worth firing up the wood oven unless you plan to do a big bake). Alongside this, they also baked bread, cozonac (a kind of traditional cake) and a few other goodies. In the end I think they made 12 tins of lichiu!

I have seen it on rare occasions in restaurants - a pizza place I visited once advertised it on the menu and out of curiosity I ordered it. It was basically a pizza base with the vaguely lichiu-like topping but with plums added. So if you want to try something less commonly known from the Romanian countryside, why not put on your baking hat and try some lichiu. 

Time: A couple of hours of prep and baking, depending on the oven 

Serving: 8-10 slices 

Ingredients: 

For the base dough:

350g of white flour 

25g cube of fresh yeast (or a teaspoon of dried) 

2 egg yolks (save the whites for the topping) 

Zest of one lemon 

3 tablespoons of sugar 

50ml of oil (vegetable is fine) 

1 teaspoon of salt Warm milk (have about 

250ml to hand, but you'll add it as needed) 

For the topping: 

1 litre of milk 

1 cup of 'gris' (this is semolina flour) 

Sugar to taste 

1/2 a teaspoon of salt 

6 egg whites 

4 egg yolks 

100g of butter 

350g of heavy cream 

2 small packets of vanilla (or equivalent in essence if preferred) 

Method: 

1. First of all, you should prepare the dough. Firstly, prepare a yeast starter by mixing together the yeast, one tablespoon of the sugar, one tablespoon of the flour and about 100ml of the warm milk (make sure it's not too hot or it'll kill the yeast). Mix these together well and leave in a warm place. In about 10-15 minutes, you should see it start to froth and smell 'yeasty', this means it's activated and ready to use. 

2. Once it's ready, put the rest of the flour in a large bowl (or on a surface if so inclined) and make a well in the middle. Into the well add the prepared yeast starter and the two egg yolks and the salt. Start to combined them (eggs, starter, salt) and then add the rest of the warm milk, the rest of the sugar, the zest. Start to draw in the flour and bring it all together to make a dough, adding the oil little by little once a dough it formed. Keep keep kneading the dough until it becomes more 'elastic' and stops sticking to your hands. 

3. When you feel the dough is ready (this is something bread or pasta makers amongst you will 'feel', otherwise, just kneed it until well combined and no longer 'sticky'), rub a little oil on the ball of dough, put it in a large bowl, cover, and leave in a warm place to rise to about double its original size. 

4. Meanwhile, make a thick semolina by boiling the semolina flour in the milk. Add sugar according to taste (I've had lichiu that's very sweet and other times almost savoury, but it is a dessert and I think it tastes better on the sweeter side). Leave the mixture too cool. 

5. Beat the egg whites until they start to make peaks, then fold it in gradually into the semolina, which should be luke warm. 

6. Separately, blend the four egg yolks with the butter, add the vanilla flavouring, and then gradually mix in the heavy cream. 

7. Finally, once the dough has risen, roll it out to about 3-4mm. You can use a shallow baking tray here, or maybe even a pie dish, whatever you have to hand. Traditionally they trays are greased but unlined, but feel free to use baking paper if you prefer. Lay the rolled-out dough in the tray and adjust it to go right to the edges. Pour the semolina mixture onto the dough base, then spread the cream mixture on top of that, making sure to spread it out evenly. 

8. Bake the lichiu for about 40-45 minutes (keep an eye on it) until it is gold brown on top. If using a conventional oven, pre-heat it to about 180 Celsius. 

 Pofta buna and let me know how yours turned out!