Vatroushka: Russian Cheesecake

Since the blog seems to be evolving from ingredients into something more general, here's a recipe of a vegan Russian cheesecake. The real prototype uses cottage cheese as filling and sweet yeast dough. Veganizing this cake was incredibly easy and it turned out exactly like the original, taste- and texture-wise. The color on the picture is a bit grim, but it's because I'm obsessed with whole wheat flour, and also used hemp milk (which is kinda grey).

Ingredients:

I. Dough base:

- 1 1/2 tbsp flour

- 1/2 tsp sugar

- 1/4 cup warm water

- 1 tbsp (7.5 to 9 grams) active dry yeast

Dough rest:

- 1/2 cup liquid (water, soy/rice/hemp/etc milk, soy yogurt... anything goes)

- 3/4 tsp salt

- 1/8 cup sugar

- 1/4 cup oil or melted margarine

- 1 egg substitute (e.g. 3 tbsp apple sauce, 1 banana, etc)

- 3-4 cups flour

II. Making the dough:

- in a bowl mix 1 1/2 tbsp flour with 1/2 tsp sugar and yeast.

- add 1/3 of the warm water and mix well, then add the remaining water

- put in a warm (20-30 C) place until bubbles start to appear (5 - 10 minutes)

- when bubbles appear, add oil and the 1/2 cup of liquid

- beat in the egg substitute, salt and sugar

- stir in 2 of the 3 cups of flour

- keep adding flour by 1/4 of a cup while the dough can be mixed with a spoon

- pour 1/2 cup flour on the table and knead until smooth and then some more, adding flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking to the table

- form dough in a ball, place in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and keep in a warm place until doubled in size

- beat down, cover and let seat again until doubled

- beat down, form into desired shape, and let stand about 30 minutes

- bake at ~400-450 F (200-230 C), for this recipe 15-20 minutes

III. Filling:

Ingredients (no exact quantities, adjust to taste):

- 2 packs (1 lb each), of soft (NOT silken, it has to crumble) tofu 

- lemon juice

- orange zest (fresh or dried)

- vanilla

- sugar

- soy/rice/hemp/etc milk

IV. Making:

- blend tofu into small crumbs

- add all the rest and blend well

tips: 

- since you're simulating cottage cheese, the result should be grainy and not liquid, but sticking together relatively well; be careful with soy milk

- you can increase the stickiness by adding oil, cornstarch dissolved in a bit of water, or apple sauce

V. Assembly:

- separate the dough into a big ball and a small one (size of approximately 1/2 of your fist)

- roll the big piece into a circle and put it into a lightly greased oven-friendly cast iron pan (or baking dish, anything that can go in the oven); you should be able to bend the edge of the dough to cover the walls of the pan

- pour the filling on the dough and fold the edge of the dough (if any)

- cut the little piece into 10 even smaller one, roll them by hand into strips and make the grid on top of the filling

- bake for 15-20 minutes at 400-450 F (200-230 C)