Lenten larks

Lenten larks

The tradition of baking birds from dough goes back centuries. The day of the spring equinox was a significant event, because it was on this day that the Slavic new year began, and with it new worries and joys. After March 20, work began in the field. With the advent of Orthodoxy, this day became the day of remembrance of the forty Sebastian sufferers, which is why the people have another name for this holiday - “magpies”.

Be that as it may, we will all bake Lenten larks on this day, and we will all spend the winter together in her chambers and finally welcome spring! It is better to prepare Lenten larks together with the children, because they so love to sculpt little birds! Besides, it's not difficult at all.

Lenten larks

Ingredients:
500-600 g flour,
1-2 tbsp.
sugar, 1 tsp.
salt, 250 ml water,
1 packet of yeast,
6 tbsp.
vegetable oil, 2 tbsp.
vodka, 1 packet of vanilla sugar.

Preparation:
Dissolve dry yeast in warm water and add a spoonful of sugar, stir and let it rise like a cap, wake it up, in other words. When the dough rises, pour in vegetable oil, vodka, add salt, remaining sugar, stir and evenly add sifted flour. You can get more or less flour, it all depends on its properties. Don’t be surprised by the presence of vodka in the dough: this ingredient helps the yeast work better and prevents the baked goods from drying out. Knead the dough into a smooth, non-stick dough and leave it to rise under a napkin in a warm place. Knead several times. Place the finished dough on the table, cut into uniform pieces, which roll into flagella. Make the birds, brush them with strong sweet tea and bake them at 180°C for 15-25 minutes, depending on your oven. Once the larks are browned, you can remove them from the oven. Grease the still hot larks with vegetable oil and cool under a towel.

In each region of our country, Lenten larks are sculpted in their own way. Here and there a flagellum is rolled out of the dough, tied in a knot, a head with a beak and eyes is molded from one end, the other is cut into strips - a tail. A voluminous bird emerges. Here and there they cut the dough into strips, which are folded at an angle, the resulting angle is formed in the form of a head with a beak and an eye, and the ends of the dough are cut - the birds are flat. Here and there two wide planes of dough are placed crosswise on each other, one edge is the head, the other is the tail, and the transverse ones are the wings. Here and there they roll out the dough into a circle, cut a quarter (tail), wrap the rest on top of each other (wings), twist out a piece (head) from under the wings... There are a huge number of options! In any case, the lark from the dough must be decorated - cut or press with a fork on the sides of the tail and wings, create eyes from raisins or buckwheat grains and certainly brush with tea or just sweet water so that the lean larks are perfectly browned.

Lenten larks made from yeast-free dough

Ingredients:
1 cup.
flour, ½ packet of baking powder,
¹/₃ cup.
boiling water, 3 tbsp.
vegetable oil, 2 tbsp.
honey, a pinch of salt.

Production:
Dissolve honey and salt in boiling water, add vegetable oil and, adding flour evenly, knead into a smooth dough. Divide into pieces and make larks. Brush with sweet tea. Bake at 180°C until browned. Grease still hot larks with vegetable oil.

There is absolutely a belief that on this day it is necessary to bake 40 larks, according to the number of forty sufferers. Therefore, if you see that the recipe contains a small amount of ingredients, feel free to increase everything 2-3 times. If you bake larks, following the oldest customs of “invoking spring,” their number is not so important.

By the beginning of spring, there was not much expensive wheat flour left in the chests and in the bottom of the barrel, so larks were often baked from rye flour.

Larks made from rye yeast dough

Ingredients:
200 g rye flour,
300 g wheat flour,
2 tsp.
dry yeast, 2 tsp.
salt, 3 tbsp.
honey, 2 tbsp.
vegetable oil, 350 ml water.

Production:
Wake up the yeast by mixing it with warm water and a spoonful of sugar. When the dough rises, add honey, vegetable oil, salt and both types of flour, having sifted it beforehand. Knead a non-sticky dough and let it rise in a warm place. Rye dough always takes longer to rise, so be patient. Divide the finished dough into pieces and make larks. Make rye larks a little smaller in size than wheat ones, because this dough takes a little longer to bake. Place the birds on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, brush with sweet water and bake at 170-180°C until done.

Lenten larks from rye flour without yeast

Ingredients:
1 cup.
rye flour (you can add bran), 1 cup.
wheat flour, 1 tbsp.
vegetable oil, 2-3 tbsp.
honey, 1 cup. water.

Preparation:
Sift both types of flour and pour into a bowl in a heap. Mix honey in a small amount of hot water, add vegetable oil. Make a well in the flour and pour honey and butter into it. Add water evenly and knead into a stiff dough. The dough should not stick to your hands. Let it rest for about 20 minutes on the table under a napkin and cut it into small pieces from which you can make birds. Cover a baking sheet with parchment and place the larks on it, brush with sweet tea and place in the oven preheated to 180°C for 20 minutes. Grease hot larks with vegetable oil and cool under a towel.

In this recipe, wheat flour can be completely omitted, but in this case the addition of bran is necessary, otherwise the products will turn out to be very tough. It is better to make Lenten larks from rye flour flat and not very thick, so that the baked goods do not take a long time to cook.

Bon appetit and the latest culinary discoveries!

Zhavoronki buns made from Lenten dough

A regular, lean, economical, all-purpose version of dough for buns and pies, and a regular version of molding dough birds. Step by step recipe.

Ingredients for the “Larks” bun made from Lenten dough:

• Wheat flour / Flour – 1 kg
• Salt - 1 tsp.
• Sugar (sweet sand) - 1.5 tbsp. l.
• Yeast (dry) - 10 g
• Water (boiled, room temperature) - 0.5 l

Production time: 60 minutes

Number of servings: 40

Nutritional and energy value:

Recipe for “Lark buns” made from Lenten dough:

Prepare ingredients: wheat flour – 1 kg
salt – 1 tsp.
sugar (sand) – 1.5 tbsp./l.
yeast (dry) – 10 g
boiled water (room temperature) – 0.5 l

Sift the flour through a sieve.

Combine dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar, yeast) together.

Pour water into a wide, tall container.

Pour the dry mixture evenly into the water, stirring first with a spoon and then with your hands. Knead the stiff dough in a bowl.

Cover with a towel. Place in a warm space for 40 minutes.

Knead the risen dough.

Divide into two equal parts. Leave one part for work. Cover the second one again with a towel to prevent it from getting too windy.

Roll out the remaining dough into sausage. Cut it into equal parts.

Roll out each small piece of dough into a rope about 15 cm long.

Form birds by tying the rope in a knot. Buckwheat grains may be suitable for our bird’s eyes.

Place the birds on a baking sheet lined with foil and let the dough rest for a little while.

Brew strong tea, dilute sugar in it. Use a brush to lubricate our birds' heads, backs and tails.

Place the baking sheet in the oven preheated to 180 degrees. We look when the crust on the buns browns.

Baking time depends on the size of the products and the features of your oven. We take the second part of the test to work. We repeat in the same order.

Bon appetit! Orthodox Christians on the Day of Remembrance of the 40 Sufferers who suffered in Lake Sevastia.

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March 18, 2017 photius #

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Lenten larks

Ingredients

Sunflower oil – 30 g

Dry yeast – 2 tsp.

Wheat flour – 350 g

For lubrication:

Turmeric – 0.5 tbsp.

• 277 kcal
• 3 hours
• 3 hours

Photo of the finished dish

Video recipe: Lenten larks

Step-by-step recipe with photos and videos

Lenten larks - savory and airy pastries for a homemade sweet table and more. You can prepare them for a picnic, for a gala table, on the road or at work. During Lent, Lenten dough is made to make such baked goods. In other versions, use rich yeast dough. The manufacturing process is quite simple and does not require expensive goods. For production, take the following products.

Pour a little sugar into warm water, dissolve it and add dry yeast. Cover with a towel and leave to activate for 10-15 minutes.

Add the remaining sugar, salt, sunflower oil. Stir.

Add sifted wheat flour and turmeric.

Knead soft dough. It doesn't have to stick to your hands. Cover with a towel and place in a warm space for 40-60 minutes. During this period of time, the dough should rise perfectly.

Punch down the finished dough, divide into 8 pieces and work with each separately.

Roll into a long sausage, approximately 20-25 cm.

Take one edge and place it on top of the flagellum approximately in the center.

Thread it through the hole. Make a beak. Cut the tail into thin strips. Make raisin eyes.

Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, spaced apart. Place in a warm space for 30-40 minutes.

In a separate bowl, combine water, sugar and turmeric. Lubricate all workpieces with the prepared substance. Place in the oven for 30-50 minutes at 180 degrees.

Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Uspenskoye

with the blessing of Bishop Ignatius of Armavir and Labinsk

"Larks"

Recipe for Lenten buns for the holiday of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste

“Spring is coming.
The starlings made noise over the garden, the coachman heard them, and the larks also flew to the 40 Sufferers.
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’re not bad, and I’m starting with the tail.”

Ivan Shmelev “Summer of the Lord”

Now we will tell you about the custom of baking Lenten buns, which are affectionately called “larks”.

What are "Larks"

Larks are baked birds made from unleavened dough. Their mistresses in Rus' were preparing for the feast of the forty sufferers of Sebaste, which is celebrated in the Church on March 22 according to the new style. The 40 sufferers of Sebaste are saints of the first centuries of Christianity, warriors of a valiant army, Christians. They refused to renounce the Savior and accepted death from the pagans in 313.

“Larks” symbolize the souls of sufferers soaring towards God. According to another version, the song of these birds symbolizes the prayer of the Sebastian sufferers to God.

This holiday is immutable in the church calendar , in other words, its date is fixed. Baking “larks” during Great Lent is a wonderful folk tradition. It is not prescribed by the Church Charter.

Folk traditions of celebrating the day of remembrance of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste

In Russia, the church holiday - the day of remembrance of the forty sufferers of Sebaste - was called Larks or Magpies ( with emphasis on the first syllable). The most striking custom of this day is to bake Lenten buns in the shape of birds - “larks”.

The Day of Remembrance of the Forty Martyrs of Sebastia was familiar to ordinary people. April was approaching, Great Lent, the “spring of the soul,” was in full swing.

Tradition of baking larks

From time to time, these bird buns were made from lean dough together with nests and eggs. Larks were usually baked by the whole family. Any common cause brings the family together, and especially baking bread... You can let the children roll small, absolutely tiny balls - these will be eggs.

Not counting the larks, for the feast of the 40 sufferers of Sebastia they also baked Lenten pancakes - “presnushki”.

There is one point that confuses some Orthodox Christians: is this tradition pagan?

After all, from history we learn that “larks” were baked in Rus' back in the pre-Christian era...

The answer to uncertain people can be given as follows: after all, on Maslenitsa we bake pancakes not as a sign of the deification of “Yaril the Sun”, and on Radonitsa we do not (we try very hard, at least) perform a funeral feast on the graves of deceased loved ones. So here too - there will be no harm from these lean birds if you do not perform magical rituals on them and do not eat them with the words: “spring, come quickly!”

The Church very wisely and carefully ennobled almost all folk traditions and rituals with a higher meaning.

Lark Recipes

Let's take into account the fundamental point:

Larks are baked from strong, elastic dough.
Otherwise they will not retain their shape.

Option 1.

We will need:

For the dough: 2 kg of flour, 50 g of yeast, 250 g of vegetable oil, 1 glass of sugar, 0.5 l of water, a pinch of salt.

To coat larks: sweet, strong tea.

Manufacturing:

Roll out a piece of perfectly fermented dough, cut it into pieces weighing approximately 100 g, and roll them into ropes. After:

1. Tie the tourniquet in a knot, give the head the appropriate shape, stick in the raisin eyes, lightly press the tail with your fingers, create feathery cuts with a small knife, lubricate the surface with an infusion of strong tea with sugar, bake.
2. The dough rope needs to be rolled out so that one end is narrow and flexible - the head, and the whole body is thicker, elongated, it needs to be slightly pressed with your fingers. Cut the tail into a fan shape with a knife. For the wings, roll out the dough thinly, cut out the wing, cut the feathers, brush with tea, the last detail is the raisins-eyes.

Recipe creator: prosphora from St. Simeon's Cathedral (www.sobor-chel.ru)

Option 2.

0.8-1 kg flour
0.5 liters of plain water
200 g sugar
120 ml vegetable oil
30 g new yeast
10 g vanilla sugar
1 tsp.
salt without a slide + raisins for decoration

1. Combine yeast in a bowl with 3 tbsp. sugar, mash with a fork. Pour in about 200 ml of warm water (40C), add a spoonful of flour, grind again and leave the dough for 20 minutes at room temperature until a foamy “cap” forms.

1. In a separate bowl, sift about 800 grams of flour with salt, remaining sugar and vanilla sugar through a sieve, stir. Alternately pour the flour mixture into the risen yeast dough and pour in warm water with vegetable oil, knead into a homogeneous dough that does not stick to your hands (add a little flour as needed). Knead the dough by hand for about 5 minutes, then grease it with vegetable oil and cover with cling film. Leave the yeast lean dough for larks for 1.5 hours in a warm place.

1. After the designated time, knead the dough with your hands, grease with oil or sprinkle with flour, cover again with cling film and leave in a warm place for 1-1.5 hours to rise. Divide the risen dough into two parts, grease one of them with oil/sprinkle with flour and cover with film, leave in a warm place.

1. Form the second half into a sausage and cut it into 20 equal pieces. Stretch any piece alternately into a rope about 15 cm long and roll it into a knot. Give one end of the knot the shape of a bird’s head with a beak, and flatten the second end of the knot and create small and short cuts in it (in the form of a bird’s tail and plumage).

1. Grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil or cover it with parchment paper, transfer the yeast larks onto it and leave for 10-15 minutes in a warm place. Preheat the oven to 180C, cut each raisin into several parts.

1. Stick pieces of raisins into the eye space of each bird, moderately grease the surface of each bun with sweetened tea or vegetable oil and place in a preheated oven. Bake the larks from lean dough for about 20-25 minutes.

1. Remove the baking sheet, transfer the finished products to a plate and leave to cool. Prepare buns from the remaining dough in the same way and cool them.