Combine warm milk, 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar and yeast in a bowl. Stir it well, then cover with a lid. Let it proof 5-8 minutes. I was using a standing mixer, but you can do it by hand as well.

Sift the flour into a standing mixer bowl. Add salt, lemon zest and the rest of the sugar. Once the yeast has risen, mix in the egg yolks and stir it well.

Pour the milk-egg mixture into the flour and start kneading. When the ingredients start to form a ball, add the soft (almost melted) butter and knead it until it becomes a soft dough. It takes a while for the dough to absorb all the butter. Once you have a nice soft dough, take out from the bowl and knead it on a well-floured surface for a minute.

Place the dough in a bowl again, sprinkle with flour and cover well with a kitchen towel, or wrap the bowl in a plastic wrap. Let it sit until it doubles in size.

Make the filling when your dough has risen. Place the cottage cheese, egg, sugar, vanilla sugar, sour cream, semolina and lemon zest in a bowl. With a blender puree the cheese until you get a thick and smooth consistency.

On a floured surface roll out the dough into a 18x24 inch rectangle. Spread over the cheese, leaving at least one inch empty area at the bottom of the dough. Slightly brush the bottom of the dough with water. Water will help to stick the dough together.

Roll up the dough like a strudel, then with the sewing thread cut one-inch slices.

Place the thread under the dough and twist the two ends above the roll.

Carefully place the knife under the swirls and put them into a lined baking pan. Let the swirls rest for 25 minutes covered before baking, then brush with an egg. Bake it in a preheated 365 F oven for approximately 30 minutes.

​

This recipe makes a very soft yeast dough. Soft yeast dough will provide a beautiful and airy texture, however you need to be extra careful when you roll and cut the dough. Because it is a very soft dough and the filling is soft as well, we use a sewing thread instead of a knife for cutting up the swirls. You will see it is a much easier to cut the dough with the thread than with a knife. Once you have cut up the dough with the thread, with the help of a knife pick up the swirls from the working surface and place them in a lined baking pan.