This dish is the perfect combination of a jam doughnut and deliciously warm pull-apart bread, this dish comes from Austria and from reading all the comments in the recipes I looked up it seems like there are versions of this dish across Eastern Europe. It was relatively easy to make and definitely delicious! I have a couple of tips for you and I think I need to make these again and adjust the oven temperature so they don't come out quite so dark... I have quite a dodgy oven at the moment so if you have a good oven you shouldn't need to adjust anything. The buchteln are quite often served with a warm vanilla sauce or custard.
Makes 12 rolls
Ingredients
250g all-purpose flour + 100g
4g of yeast
50g of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla sugar
Zest of half a lemon
70g of butter softened
1 egg
115 ml of warm milk
Icing sugar for dusting (about 1tbsp)
Jam of choice to fill - you will need around 9tsp.
Method
In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, yeast, sugar and, lemon zest. Tip: this is a very wet dough so use an electric mixer if you can - if not rub a little butter on your hands or spoon to prevent the dough sticking.
Add the milk, the vanilla and the egg mix for 2 minutes. Add 50 g of the butter and mix for around 4-5 minutes if using an electric mixer or mix the ingredients and then knead by hand on a very well floured surface. Tip: This is a very wet dough but you should be able to shape it into a ball of sorts. Mix for a few minutes until it leaves the edges of the bowl clean, if it doesn't and it seems a little soupy add a bit more flour.
Form the dough into a ball and place it in a large bowl. Cover it and leave it to rise somewhere warm for 1-1/2 hours. Tip: this is an enriched dough and it can take a long time to rise, warmth is very important here. If you don't have somewhere warm turn the oven on for a couple of minutes to mildly warm it, turn it off and then put the dough in there - make sure it's just warm.
Grease a 9 inch cake tin - springform or loose bottom is best, but it's not a deal breaker if you don't have one.
Once it's doubled in size turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and roll it into a rectangle that's around 7mm thick. Cut the rectangle into 12 pieces, that should be about 7x7cm.
Add 1tsp of jam to each rectangle and then take one rectangle and pinch the edges to enclose the filling. Important tip: Don't get any jam on the edges or you won't be able to seal the bun. If you do wipe the jam away with some kitchen towel and try again - if you're unsuccessful use a portion of another rectangle to close or discard the bun.
Once you have finished go back over each of the balls and make sure they are well sealed. Gently roll them in your hands.
Melt the remaining 20g of butter in a small plate or cup and roll each ball in the butter. Place the little balls into the greased tin leaving only a small space between them (see below). Cover the tin and place it in a warm place for about 1 hour until they have doubled or almost doubled in volume.
Preheat the oven to 190C (355F) - if you're using the oven to prove the dough remember to take it out before pre-heating the oven.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until they are a medium gold colour. Take them out of the tin as soon as they are cool enough to handle, let them sit on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, dust with powder sugar and serve warm. Try not to eat them all at once!
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