Buchty - Slovak Sweet Rolls

Buchty (pronounced like book-tee with the k sounding like you are clearing your throat!) are a Slovak sweet yeast bun with fillings like jam or cheese or cheese and jam, nuts or poppy seeds inside. They are really like a baked jelly donut with powdered sugar on top.  My mother always made them with jam or cheese and as a kid I remember how nice the house would smell when she would baked these. They are best when eaten warm or same day. The nice thing is you can make them and make a few and freeze the rest unbaked. Then when you want to eat them first,  let them come to room temperature and  then they will have their second rise and can be baked. Perfect for a nice weekend or holiday breakfast.

You will need:

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp vanilla sugar (or just regular white sugar)
• 1 cup milk (any kind) warmed in microwave 30 seconds
• 2 tsp dry yeast
• 1/4 cup melted butter (1/2 stick)
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla (or vanilla paste- this is really nice stuff lots of vanilla seeds in it too!)

Fillings

• your favourite jam
• your favourite jam + some cream cheese and sugar/honey mixed together
• your favourite ground nut and sugar/honey mixed
• pie filling
• poppy seed filling

Step 1: Mix flour, salt and sugar in a medium sized bowl. Add milk to a measuring cup and heat in microwave for 30 seconds to make warm but, not boiling. Add yeast to warm milk and leave a few minutes to make sure yeast starts to bubble and activate. Melt butter in small container (mine is clearly a bit too small!) in microwave 20-25 seconds.

Step 2: add the butter, egg, honey and the vanilla to the milk/yeast mixture and stir to mix. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until it is too difficult to continue in the bowl.

Step 3: turn out the mix onto the counter and continue folding and kneading until it forms a smooth, soft dough. I like to use a plastic scraper to make sure all the flour and dough comes off counter easily. Add more flour (a bit at a time if the dough is too sticky) You are kneading it until the dough no longer sticks to your hands and is soft and smooth. Takes approx 4-5 minutes.

Step 4: cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rise until it is double in size this can take 1-2 hours depending on how warm your home is.

Step 5:  turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and roll out a rectangle shape with a rolling pin. Do not roll out too thin you are looking for enough dough to form around the filling so it does not break when baking. Slice the dough into squares. I prefer mine on the smaller size. (3-4 inch squares) but, you can make them the size you like. Place a small amount of jam on the middle (I used blueberry and also black current) Pinch opposite corners and then pinch the remaining corners. It is similar to making a dumpling. You form the little purse and keep pinching until the entire bundle is sealed. Then do it again and again. These are traditional fillings using in Slovakia but, you can fill them with anything you like. The dough is a rich sweet brioche type of dough and is easy to work with.

This is some ground pistachios and cinnamon and honey.

You can use a poppy seed filling. I bought this from a European grocery store.

Step 6: place them on a parchment lined baking pan or freeze the same way (once frozen you can peel off parchment and place in a Ziploc bag then you can bake as many as you like at a time) If you are baking them the same day then let them rise for a second time 15- 30 minutes until they puff up again. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F and brush with egg wash or just some milk. Bake until lightly browned 20-30 minutes (depending on how big or small you made them this may take a bit more or less) 

Let them cool 10 minutes then sprinkle with icing sugar and dive in!!

These have cream cheese and black currant jam.

You cannot eat just one!! Yummy blueberry.