Soft Milk Dough

Soft milk doughs form the base of ciasta drożdżowe, the everyday yeasted pastries in Poland. The prevalence of chałka in the Polish bakery is a relic of the days when Jewish bakers made up a vast part of the profession; even today, the lost Jewish bakery has left an indelible mark on the way contemporary Poles bake. Infinitely versatile, these milk doughs can be braided into a loaf, folded into fruit pockets, balled into simple buns, and more. As with the other base doughs in this chapter,