Buchteln
I promise that buchteln are easier made than pronounced 😄. I stumbled upon this recipe a few years ago and each time I make them, it’s as good as the first time. This time around I tried a new recipe and although it’s equally as delicious, I recommend trying the first recipe I linked as I found it to be a bit better. For the purpose of this blog, I went with the second recipe.
What’s great about buchteln, is you can fill them with any type of jam or chocolate filling your heart desires. We prefer filling them with jam, particularly my favorite rose hip (šipak) jam and P’s fig jam. If they make it past the first two days, they will remain pretty soft for 4-5 days but I highly recommend microwaving them for 20-30 seconds if you eat them again the next day.
Ingredients:
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 ml) warm milk
1 ½ teaspoons (5 g) active dry yeast
3 tablespoons (40 g) sugar
1 large egg
5 ½ tablespoons (77g) melted butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
325 g (about 2 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
Your choice of jams and/or chocolate spread (highly recommend Nutella)
Lemon zest (I added this although it was not part of this recipe but highly recommend)
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and set it aside for 10 minutes for the yeast to dissolve and activate.
Stir in sugar, egg, melted (lightly cooled) butter, vanilla and salt with a hand whisk.
Stir in about 1 ½ cups (200 g) of the flour to get a thick batter and stir vigorously with the whisk until no lumps remain. Time to change your tools: Get rid of the whisk an use a sturdy (wooden) cooking spoon to gradually stir in the rest of the flour.
When all ingredients come together fold the edges into the center for a couple of minutes. Keep your dough in the mixing bowl for that. The dough will be sticky, but refrain from adding more flour. It helps if you oil your clean hands before you knead a sticky dough. Knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.
Let the dough rise, covered at warm room temperature until doubled in volume (about 3/4 to 1 hour).
Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 12 equal parts. Keep pieces you don’t need right away covered.
Fold the edges of each piece into the middle a couple of times so you will get a nice ball with a smooth surface on the bottom side. Flatten each ball with your palm to a circle with a diameter of 3 to 3 ½ inch, keeping the center slightly thicker than the edges. Usually this part works without using any additional flour. If the dough keeps sticking to your countertop, add some.
Put 1 teaspoon of apricot jam (not more) in the center of every circle. Wrap the dough around the filling, pinching and sealing it tightly. Round the buns again, creating a bit of surface tension. If you use too much filling, it’s difficult to seal them. Also avoid getting jam onto your edges, because this way it is almost impossible to seal them (see more troubleshooting in the note).
Put every Buchtel with the sealed side down onto a lightly floured surface until you have finished filling all of them.
Put about 2 ½ tablespoons melted butter (you might need a little more) in a small bowl. Brush a baking pan (I used an oval 11 x 7 inch ceramic pan) with melted butter, just until coated. Put every Buchtel in the bowl with the melted butter, turn it around until well coated. [Update 6/19/2015: Instead of turning the buns around in the bowl with melted butter it is easier to brush each bun when you've placed them in the pan.]
Place the Buchteln, coated with butter, in your baking pan. You can do this tightly packed (traditional way) or give them a little, but not too much space. They will still rise during the second proofing and baking. If you feel there are too many of them, you can place the remaining in a lined muffin tin.
Let them proof a second time for about 20-30 minutes at warm room temperature until puffy. It is best to cover the whole pan with a lid or cling wrap in this step. If you have a rather shallow pan, don’t cover the Buchteln, since they will stick to the plastic wrap. If you couldn’t cover them and they seem kind of dry before baking, you can brush them another time with melted butter.
Bake them at 375 °F/ 190 °C in the preheated oven (center) for about 25 minutes (minimum 20 minutes). When they are golden-brown in color, take them out of the oven.
Let the Buchteln cool for 5-10 minutes and serve them dusted with confectioner’s sugar. Enjoy!
