All ingredients should be at room temperature.  Sift the flour into a bowl.  Break up the yeast and dissolve in the lukewarm milk.  Combine with the oil, sour cream, 2 egg yolks, salt and sugar.  Add to the flour and knead into a smooth dough.  Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let rest for 30 minutes.  Put the dough on a flat surface and knead again.  Form into a roll and divide into 5 equal portions.  Take one portion, roll into a round shape about 3 mm thick.  Starting in the centre, cut into 8 equal-sized triangles.  Roll up from the wide end to the point. You can fill them with chees or jam - or even not.

Bend into crescents and place 1 cm apart on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.  (Yeast dough will expand during baking)  Repeat this procedure with the remaining 4 portions of dough.  Yield: 40 crescents.  

Glaze:  Lightly beat 2 egg yolks with 2 tbsp. milk.  Brush on crescents and sprinkle with coarse salt and caraway seeds.  Let rest another 10-20 minutes.   Preheat oven to 240ºC.  Bake on the middle rack for 15 minutes (12 minutes in convection oven) A baked crescent weighs about 30-40g. Allow about 5 crescents per person.  They are best when freshly baked, but they can be frozen and reheated before serving.

Translated by Rose Vetter