Mekitsa/Mekitsi/Bulgarian Fried Dough

Mekitsa is a breakfast fried dough from Bulgaria, often served with powdered sugar, this fried doughs can be enjoyed with jam, honey or else with soft cheese. However this Mekitsa ressembles quite like the popular Hungarian Langos which is also fried and topped with cheese, mayonnaise or ketchup etc. Mekitsa is made usually with flour, eggs, leavening agents like baking soda or yeast with yogurt or milk. Wikipedia says that in some recipes, yeast, bread soda, milk or yogurt might be used. A recipe from Silistra involves yogurt and bread soda, one from a village near Stara Zagora uses yeast and yogurt, and a recipe from Aytos suggests yeast and milk. Since am trying this dish for the first time, i went with yogurt and baking soda. Trust me the end result was a flaky, super soft fried breads which we enjoyed thoroughly with some jam for our Sunday brunch.

Tutmanik/Mesenitza/Bulgarian Cheese Bread

Tutmanik or Mesenitza is a well known and popular Bulgarian cheese bread baked especially with Feta cheese. Every village, every region and even every family have their own way of preparing this cheese bread and also the name get changes depending upon how they are prepared. Thats why i couldnt stop myself to name this dish's title with both Tutmanik or Mesenitza. Obviously the shapes,recipes and the name may varies but the basic ingredient remains the same. Yes the basic ingredient for Tutmanik are flour, olive oil, feta, yeast. If you are googling for Tutmanik you may also notice that some of the Tutmanik recipes calls for quick bread preparation with baking powder and baking soda. But trust me yeasted dough Tutmanik is something to give a try as this bread smells insanely good while baking. Tutmanik dough doesnt call for egg but an egg yolk is needed to brush the top of this bread to get a nice a brownish colour top but i skipped it completely and went with a milk wash.