Austrian Style Sweet Pull Apart Yeast Buns Recipe
These soft, fluffy and airy sweet yeast buns are filled with apricot jam and are simply irresistible. This baked treat is similar to a crown loaf, it breaks into 12 individual rolls which makes it perfect for sharing, and they transport very well to take on a picnic.
As soon as they are baked the outside is lightly golden and slightly crispy but the crust becomes soft when the buns cool down.
They can be enjoyed as a dessert and are perfect for breakfast, great with tea or coffee, and kids love them as a snack, any time of the day, with a glass of milk or hot chocolate.
They are Austrian in origin (Buchteln plural form and Buchtel singular) where they are very commonly served with the vanilla sauce. These sweet buns are unknown to many people, and because they are slightly off the beaten track, this makes them a bit of an undiscovered treasure. However, they are very popular in Slovenia which borders Austria, and was once part of Austro-Hungarian Empire.
I remember that these buns were baked in school for our mid morning snack, accompanied by a hot drink. The aroma of freshly baked buhteljni (this is what they are called in Slovenian) would travel through the corridors into the classrooms – disrupting at times our concentration! Indeed, just before the break we children would get so excited the teachers found it almost impossible to contain us.
Here I am sharing the recipe of my maternal grandmother, stara mama Iva, she baked them often on a regular basis, they went down as a real treat every single time, and she never seemed to bake enough of them...
Ingredients
This recipe makes 12 buns
400g all purpose (plain) flour
40g butter, melted and slightly cooled
pinch of sea salt
finely grated lemon zest of one unwaxed lemon
½ Tsp vanilla extract
2 medium eggs, at room temperature
140ml semi-skimmed or full fat milk, lukewarm
60g caster sugar
5g (1 ½ Tsp) dry fast-action yeast
apricot jam or a jam of your preference for the filling
For the glaze
40g melted unsalted butter for the brushing
For serving
icing sugar or vanilla icing sugar for dusting
Method
Put the sifted flour in a large mixing bowl and add the sea salt to one side of the bowl.
Make a well, pour in lukewarm milk and add the yeast.
In a separate smaller bowl, add the eggs and whisk them lightly. Add the sugar, melted and slightly cooled butter, and vanilla extract.
Pour the egg mixture to a big mixing bowl and add finely grated lemon zest.
Stir the mixture with the fork first so all the ingredients come together, incorporate, and combine well to make a fairly sticky dough.
Tip the dough into a lightly floured working surface and knead by hand for about 10-15 minutes, adding a little extra flour if needed.
The dough should be very soft, shiny and elastic.
Transfer the dough to a large lightly oiled container or bowl. Cover tightly with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about at least 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
Form into a sausage and divide into 12 equal pieces.
Flatten them to the thickness of about 1cm to obtain mini pizza shaped discs. You can do this by using floured rolling pin or stretch the dough with your hands.
Put one teaspoon of apricot jam in the centre, on top of each circle, and close the ends well. Do not try to be overgenerous with the jam, if the filling gets on the edges of the disc, it is almost impossible to seal them because the dough will stop sticking. Wrap the dough around the filling, pinching and sealing it tightly You should end up with 12 parcels.
Lightly grease a 23cm round, deep springform cake tin. You can use other shapes of baking trays, just make sure they are greased to prevent the buns from sticking.
Place the parcels, one next to each other, so they are snug and touching with the seam side down in a non stick baking tray. Melt the butter and brush the top and all the sides.
Leave to proof for a second time, for about 30min, by covering them with a clean kitchen cloth in a warm room with no draft until they are nicely risen and puffed up.
Bake at 180º static in the preheated oven, on the middle shelf, for about 30minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
The buns should be lightly golden on top and well risen.
Leave in the tin for about 5 minutes, then release the sides of the tin.
Remove and place the sweet buns to a wire rack to cool.
Dust the buns with regular or vanilla icing sugar and enjoy.
