How to bake birds for magpies. Dough larks

Hello my dear readers! You know, many ancient pagan customs have become characteristic of Orthodox Christians. We bake delicious beautiful buns in the shape of birds. 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 bring spring from warm countries on their wings. In fact, spring usually began with the arrival of larks - vociferous messengers of the sun. In Rus', there was no single date for the meeting of spring. In each locality, this date was determined by special folk signs.
In the old days, larks were sculpted and baked from various doughs for the memorial day of the “Forty Martyrs of Sebaste” (40 Roman Christian soldiers martyred in the 4th century for refusing to bow to 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 shoots up like an arrow into the high blue distances, or “falls” like a stone almost to the ground. In a small bird, at the same time, special boldness and humility before the Lord were combined. The lark flies swiftly upward, but, struck by the majesty of God, in deep humility it goes down. The larks seem to lift up a song of glory to the merciful Lord, as the 40 Sevaitian martyrs lifted it up, 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 Sebaste is a sad but life-affirming holiday, when all nature comes to life, gentle sunny days come, and pleasant spring chores add up. The Feast of the Meeting of Spring takes place during Great Lent. Therefore, believers sculpt and bake larks of larks only from lenten dough. On Easter, you can pamper yourself and loved ones with spring lark buns made from pastry.

dough larks recipe

Lenten larks

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

How to make lean dough for larks

1. Dissolve the yeast in 250 ml of warm (25 ° C) water, put sugar, 2-3 tablespoons of flour. leave until the "bubble" of the mass.
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-sticky dough. You may need to add a little more flour - its quality varies everywhere.
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 according to 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 of salt.

How to make pastry dough for larks

1. Pour the crushed yeast with warm milk, let the yeast dissolve.
2. Sift flour, mix with salt, vanilla and simple sugar.
3. Make a “hill” of flour, beat off the eggs in the middle.
4. Pour milk with yeast into the flour, kneading the dough, add melted warm (but not hot) butter at the end of the kneading. Knead the dough until it stops sticking to your hands.
5. Place the container with the mixed dough in a plastic bag, let the dough rise warm.
6. There is not a lot of muffin in the test. It will fit fairly quickly. After doubling the volume of the dough, you can start sculpting and baking larks from pastry using one of the methods below.

Modeling larks from various dough

Method number 1

Before baking, you can sprinkle any "larks" with sugar.

Method number 2

Method number 3

Method number 4

I gave you the larks - bake to your health! Involve the kids in the process - children love such undertakings. Happy Easter days to you! In Transcarpathia, it is customary to give lark buns from pastry to godchildren and goddaughters on the eve of Holy Sunday of Christ.

They entered the life of Orthodox Christians. One of them is baking "larks" - delicious bird-shaped buns to mark the beginning of spring and the return of birds from warm countries.

In the view of our ancestors of the Slavs, feathered guests brought spring from there on their wings. The real spring usually began with the arrival of larks - these good messengers of the sun.

In Rus', there was no single day or week for the holiday of meeting spring. In each locality, this date was determined by folk signs.

In the old days, such buns were baked on the day of remembrance of the “forty martyrs” (40 Roman Christian soldiers martyred in the 4th century because they refused to bow to pagan gods) - March 9 according to the church calendar (March 22 according to a new style).

What an affectionate and life-affirming holiday it is, when all nature comes to life and joyful and kind spring chores come.

The feast of the meeting of spring falls on the time of Great Lent, therefore, for believers, larks are baked only from lenten dough. And the rest can indulge in sweet spring buns.

For making pastry, see the section on the page:

"Larks" on proofing.
These larks are made in the 1st way (see below "Larks - 1st way").
"Wings" are molded separately.

NOTE:
* - according to the recipes marked with an asterisk, you can cook on fasting days.

Dilute yeast in warm water, add flour, sugar, vegetable oil, vanillin, a little carrot juice for color and knead the dough (it should be denser than regular lean dough).
Let it rise, then roll it out on a floured surface and cut into strips 15 cm long and 2 cm wide.
Tie each strip in a knot so that a "bird's head" is obtained on top.
Stick 2 raisins on it - “eyes”, at the end of the strip - “tail” - draw a few shallow lines with a knife.
Sprinkle the larks with sugar and bake in the oven.
You can also form a “sun” symbolizing warmth: roll out the pieces of dough in the form of a circle, stick “rays”, and make “eyes” and “mouth” out of raisins.

Ingredients:
3 cups flour, 125 g milk, 10 g yeast, 15 g butter, 1 egg, 2 tbsp. spoons of sugar, salt, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of vegetable oil.

Prepare yeast dough from the indicated ingredients and form larks from it, as from lean dough.
Brush them on top with egg and bake in the oven.

Ingredients:
3-3.5 cups of flour, 1-2 eggs, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of yogurt or curdled milk, 1/2 pack of butter, 1 teaspoon of soda, vinegar.

Grind the eggs until white with sugar, pour in kefir or yogurt, put soda quenched with vinegar, melted butter, flour and knead the dough.
Let it stand for 10-15 minutes, then form the larks, as if from lean dough, brush with egg and bake in the oven.
NOTE.
See the section and for many different types of pastry.
See the page and links on this page for how to sculpt and decorate holiday curly pastries.

The design of the larks can be different

Moscow larks (see below "Larks - 2nd method").

Arkhangelsk larks.

Nekrasov's larks.

Ural larks.

Ryazan larks.

Ryazan larks.

Tula larks.

Easter larks (see below "Larks - 1st method").

Tula gift lark (rather, it is a whole firebird).

There are many ways to sculpt skylarks. We'll show you a few.
So, the first way. We make a long sausage from the dough and turn it into a knot.

Flatten one end and cut. We stretch the other end a little, form the head and beak.

Now we make eyes. To do this, cut the raisin into pieces. It is more convenient to attach the eyes with a toothpick. We put the raisin on a toothpick and press it into the dough.
Transfer the finished birds to a greased baking sheet.
Before planting in the oven, the larks need to be given a little distance.
We place the birds in a preheated oven.

Ready-made larks:

We make a short thick sausage. On the one hand, we form the head and beak. We squeeze the other side. This will be the tail and wing.

Cut the flattened side in half. We make "feathers" with a knife.

We bend the wing up. We make an eye.
Before baking, the lark can be brushed with a loose egg or yolk. Or sometimes smeared with sour cream.

Ready lark, lubricated after baking with vegetable oil for shine:

We make a sausage of medium length. We bend into a loop.

We flatten the tips of the sausage and cut it - these are the wings.
On the other hand, we form the head and beak.
We make eyes.

We make two sausages and lay them crosswise.

Flatten both ends of the top sausage and one end of the bottom sausage.
We lift the second end of the lower sausage and form the head and beak.

We cut the tail and wings, make eyes.

March 22 is the spring equinox. The days are getting longer and summer is getting closer. The people always celebrated this day, because it marked the end of winter, the awakening of nature from hibernation. The holiday itself is called Magpies, or Larks, and in the church calendar - Forty Saints.

Traditionally, sweet larks or other spring birds are baked on this day - cookies, buns - as if calling for spring and as a sign of the return of birds from warm lands, and, therefore, the full end of winter. It is not customary to eat them immediately, they are part of the holiday: larks are seated on branches, thrown up, pricked on sticks and raised, accompanied by songs and dances.

Sweet larks will be fun for kids to make. Made from tender rich dough, they are lush and fragrant. Spring will definitely come much faster if you fill your home with sweet cozy scents!

Cooking time: about 3 hours.
Yield: 8 large larks.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of flour
• 0.5 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 30 grams of butter
• 15 grams fresh yeast
• 2 tbsp. teaspoons sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• a pinch of salt
• 4 highlights for the eyes
• 1 egg yolk for brushing before baking

Cooking

Add butter to milk.



Heat this mixture in the microwave or just on the stove. The butter should melt and the milk should be at a pleasantly warm temperature.



Knead the yeast a little in your hands so that it dissolves faster.



Pour the yeast mixture into the butter-milk mixture and stir until the yeast dissolves.



Then add salt, sugar, sifted flour and beat in an egg.



Using a mixer or by hand, knead the dough. At first it will be sticky - this is normal.



After a while, you will notice that the dough has become more elastic and smooth.



Sprinkle a little flour into the dough, gather it into a ball and put it in a warm place to rise.



Since there is not a lot of muffin in the dough, it will grow quite quickly. When it doubles in volume, you can start sculpting larks.



Divide the dough into 8 portions and reserve a small portion for the wings.
From each part, roll a tourniquet with a diameter of about 1.5 cm.



Tie the resulting sausage into a knot - this will be the lark.



One end will be the bird's head. Flatten it a little, giving it the shape of a beak at the end. Make eyes from raisins cut into 4 parts.
Press the other end and make cuts - this will be the tail.



From the remaining dough, pinch off pieces of dough the size of large beans, flatten them and make cuts on one side.



Place the larks on a baking sheet and stick on the wings. If they do not mold well, grease them with water from the underside, and then they will stick better.



Leave the larks for 20 minutes to rise. Then generously grease them with yolk.



Sprinkle sugar on top of the birds.



Bake the larks at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes until the crust is very golden brown. Cool the finished birds at room temperature and you can treat your family and friends.

Turn on the oven and heat it to number 3 (about 170 ° C) so that the dough can be placed on it if there is no other warm place, for example, a radiator, for it. Prepare a dough, for this, dilute 20 g of sugar in 250 ml of warm boiled water, pour it into a large 4-5 liter saucepan and pour in the yeast. Let the yeast get wet and sink to the bottom. Sift flour (70 g) into the pan through a fine sieve, stir it in with a whisk. Set the pan in a warm place and let the dough bubble and double in size (this may take about 20-30 minutes).

Measure and lightly heat vegetable oil in a separate saucepan. Weigh the required amount of wheat flour for the dough (400 g) according to the recipe and set it aside for now.

Start kneading the dough. To do this, add sugar, salt, vanilla sugar or finely grated lemon zest (if you use them in the recipe) to the dough, mix with a whisk and add about ⅓ of the norm of flour for the dough (about 130 g), sifting it through a sieve and also mixing with a whisk.

Then pour warm vegetable oil into the dough and mix it in with your hands, as if squeezing the dough into them and passing it through your fingers, and then collecting the dough from the walls of the pan to the center with your palm (do not forget to first collect the rest of the dough from the whisk). Then add another ⅓ flour, sift in. Then, in portions, introduce the rest of the flour, each time carefully kneading the dough, until it is smooth and uniform and stops sticking to the hands and walls of the dish (it is allowed if the dough only sticks to them slightly). Do not save time on kneading the dough: the better you knead it, the more magnificent and tastier the "larks" will be.

Shape the dough into a ball, put it in a saucepan, cover with a lid or a towel and leave it in a warm place for 60-90 minutes, so that the volume of the dough has increased by about 2-3 times.

While the dough is coming up, brew strong black tea according to your taste, then pour 50 ml of tea leaves and dissolve in it 3 teaspoons with a medium slide (20 g) of granulated sugar (to lubricate the top of the blanks). Set aside the resulting syrup to cool.

Punch down the risen dough with your hands and return to a warm place. When it rises a second time (increases 2-2.5 times), crush it into a ball and divide it into 2 parts. Leave one in a saucepan (you can on the table at room temperature), and form a rather plump sausage from the second.

Divide the resulting sausage from the dough into 10-12 parts. Roll a ball out of each, collecting a cake of dough in your palm from the edges to the center and so on in a circle, and start sculpting "larks".

Now roll each ball between your palms into a thin sausage 17-18 cm long, one side of which should be a little thicker than the other. Trim the sausage a little on the table, then tie it in a knot, while the weave of the knot, as well as the thickened tip of the sausage (it will have a bird's head) should be on top.

Form a beak on the head by stretching out some of the dough with your fingers. If desired, you can also make a crest on it by cutting the dough with scissors and then lifting it up.

Gently flatten the other end of the sausage with your finger and make two cuts on it with a knife, imitating feathers on the tail.

Wash the raisins and dry them on a paper towel, cut each raisin into 3-4 parts. On both sides of the bird's head, make small indentations with a knife and insert into them, helping yourself also with a knife, ⅓-¼ of raisins (which must first be dipped in sweet tea). Try to sink each raisin as deep as possible into the dough so that they do not fall out during baking.

Turn on the oven and heat it to number 3 (about 170°C) (if you have not already done so). Line a large aluminum baking sheet (21 x 32 cm, 5 cm high) or any other similar or larger area with non-stick baking paper. Lay out the fashioned birds at a great distance from each other, because. they increase in size when baking, let them stand in a warm place for 30 minutes for extra rise, covering them with a paper towel to keep their surface from drying out.

You can store ready-made "larks" at room temperature in an open container for up to 3-4 days. Over time, they dry out and become crispy.

March 22 is the Feast of the Larks, the main attribute of which is the "Larks" cookies, made from lean dough in the shape of birds. The dough for skylark biscuits must be lenten for the reason that the feast of the Skylark falls during the period of Lent. Of course, now Zhavoronki cookies are made not only from lean dough, so we will offer you different recipes for Zhavoronki cookies - for those who fast, and for those who do not fast.

Cookies "Larks": a recipe for lean dough in vegetable oil

2 kg flour

half a liter of water

50 g yeast (dry or pressed),

250 g vegetable oil,

1 cup of sugar,

some salt

strong sweet black tea (for lubrication).

First prepare the brew. To do this, mix 1 cup of warm water with half a cup of flour and add yeast. After that, put the resulting dough for cookies "Larks" in a warm place, cover the container with the dough with a towel and wait until the amount of the mixture has doubled.

After that, add the remaining sugar, salt, the rest of the vegetable oil to the dough and pour out all the flour, leaving half a glass to pour it on the table where the dough will be rolled out.

Mix all the ingredients into a homogeneous mass. After that, dump the dough out of the container onto the table and knead it with your hands until it becomes smooth, uniform and does not stick to your hands. This is the future Zhavoronki cookie, which now needs to be covered with cling film and left to rise until the amount of dough has increased by about 2 times. For now, make strong black tea with sugar.

After that, we begin to sculpt "Larks" cookies according to this recipe. Divide the dough into small balls, make flagella out of them and tie these flagella in a knot. Give the upper part of the knot the shape of a bird's head and stick raisins in the shape of eyes into it, and flatten the lower part - and cut it with a knife so that it looks like a tail. Lubricate the Skylark cookies with sweet black tea and put them in the oven. Bake the cookies until they are browned (about 20-30 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees).

Cookies "Larks": a recipe for lean dough with honey

This recipe allows you to bake "Larks" cookies, similar in taste and appearance to butter cookies - they are soft, tasty and sweet.

To make this cookie recipe, you will need:

1 cup flour

1/3 cup boiled water

3 art. l. vegetable oil,

2 tbsp. l. honey,

1/3 tsp baking powder,

some salt

a few raisins (in order to make the eyes of the larks).

To make the Larks cookies according to this recipe, boil water, then pour it from the container where you will make the dough, dissolve honey in boiling water, add sunflower oil and add a pinch of salt. After that, add the baking powder and flour (slowly add flour) and start kneading the dough. The consistency of the dough for cookies "Larks" should be like plasticine.

After the dough becomes homogeneous and dense, divide it into small lumps, then roll flagella from these lumps. Tie the flagella into knots and make larks, as in the first recipe. To make the “Larks” cookies sweeter, sprinkle them with water and sugar on top. Bake the Larks cookies according to this recipe for about half an hour in the oven, heated to 180 degrees.

Cookies "Larks": a recipe for lean dough from the monastery

This cookie recipe "Larks" is quite extravagant, because it contains ... vodka! True, you need quite a bit of it.

To make this cookie recipe, you will need:

1 kg flour

½ cup of water

2-3 tbsp. l. Sahara,

1 sachet dry yeast

3 art. l. sunflower oil,

1 st. l. vodka,

2 pinches of salt.

To prepare Zhavoronki cookies according to this recipe, pour a bag of dry yeast into a container where you will knead the dough, dilute them with warm boiled (not hot!) Water, add sugar, vegetable oil. Mix all the ingredients and add vodka to the dough (in order for it to fit better). Then start adding flour, sifting it through a sieve. Gradually add flour to the Zhavoronki cookies, and knead the dough until it stops sticking to your hands.

After that, put the dough for cookies "Larks" in a warm place, cover the container with the dough with a towel and wait until the amount of dough has increased by about 2 times. The dough is ready when it stops rising or even falls off.

After that, start sculpting the larks in the same way as in the previous two recipes. Bake the same way.

The recipe for this cookie "Larks" involves the manufacture of about 40 large larks. The dough for cookies "Larks", obtained according to this recipe, is not lean, but also very tasty!

To make this cookie recipe, you will need:

about 7 cups flour (+- ½ cup),

2 cups of kefir,

1 cup of sugar,

200 g butter or margarine

1 tsp salt,

1 tsp baking powder

a few raisins (for the eyes of a lark).

To make the Larks Cookies, first remove the butter or margarine from the refrigerator to melt the fat. Mix kefir, sugar and salt in a bowl until smooth, then add 3 eggs and baking powder to the dough. Stir and add softened butter or margarine to the resulting mixture. Stir.

To bake the Larks cookies, add about 6 cups of flour to the resulting mixture and start kneading the dough with your hands. If necessary, add more flour - the main thing is that the dough becomes dense and does not stick to your hands.

Roll out the resulting dough on a floured surface and start forming the Skylark cookies. The shape of cookies from such a dough will be different - not a “sitting lark”, as before, but a “lark in flight”. To do this, divide the dough into small pieces and roll out circles from them. After that, extend one side of the circle, as shown in the figure - this will be the bird's head in profile.

Cut the remaining circle diagonally with a knife so that the top is slightly larger than the bottom.

Tilt the bottom of the Lark cookie up and cut the "tail" of the future bird. After that, prick the Larks cookies with a fork so that they bake better.

Sprinkle a baking sheet with flour or oil and lay out the Larks cookies for baking. Break the remaining egg, beat it and brush all the birds with the egg.

Cookies "Larks", made according to this recipe, bake in the oven, heated to 180 degrees, for about 20-25 minutes, until it is browned.

After the Skylarks cookies are baked, remove the baking sheet from the oven and cover the cookies with a towel so that they cool down and do not become stale later. After the liver has cooled, place it in a tin or plastic bag so that the Skylark cookies do not dry out for a long time.

Cookies "Larks" is a great opportunity to once again do something with your child. In addition, any modeling - even from dough, even from plasticine - is a wonderful exercise for developing fine motor skills in your baby's hands. And the ready-made Zhavoronki cookies are a tasty reward for the work done! Therefore, be sure to use the Zhavoronki cookie recipes on the eve of the March 22 holiday!