Buchteln with sweet cheese filling

Buchteln, or sweet yeast buns filled with fresh cheese curd, are wonderfully soft, buttery and generously dusted with icing sugar. This traditional recipe is said to have been brought to Vienna by Czech bakers, where the buns became known as Buchteln. Although they can also be filled with plum butter, apricot jam or poppy seed filling, sweet cheese remains one of the most popular and beloved versions. One important detail in this recipe is the filling: the cheese mixture is folded with stiffly whipped egg white. This helps the filling stay beautifully light and prevents it from separating from the dough after baking — the same technique often used in traditional poppy seed rolls. These buns are absolutely wonderful: soft, delicate and practically melting in the mouth!

Makes 12 buns.

Ingredients for the yeast dough:

• 490 g strong white bread flour
• 30 g fresh yeast or 14 g dried yeast
• 215 ml milk
• 100 g butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 2 large egg yolks
• 100 g caster sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp almond extract
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Additionally:

• 45 g butter, melted, for brushing
• icing sugar, for dusting

Mix the flour with the dried yeast (if using fresh yeast, prepare a starter first). Add the remaining ingredients and knead, incorporating the melted butter towards the end. Knead thoroughly until the dough becomes smooth, soft and elastic. Transfer to a lightly floured bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1½ hours.

Once risen, briefly knead the dough again and divide it into 12 portions of approximately 85 g each. Shape each portion into a ball, then flatten slightly with your hand or a rolling pin. Place a generous tablespoon of the cheese filling in the centre and seal carefully. Arrange the buns close together in a baking tin measuring approximately 32 × 22 cm lined with baking parchment. Cover with a tea towel or cling film and leave to rise again in a warm place until doubled in size, about 40 minutes or longer. Just before baking, brush the buns with melted butter.

Bake at 180°C for about 27 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the oven and immediately brush the warm buns once more with melted butter. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Serve generously dusted with icing sugar.

Ingredients for the sweet cheese filling:

• 250 g full-fat or semi-fat curd cheese (twaróg), finely ground three times
• 3 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 egg, separated
• ⅓ cup raisins (optional)

In a bowl, mash together the cheese, icing sugar and egg yolk until smooth. Add the raisins, if using. Just before filling the buns, whisk the egg white until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the whipped egg white into the cheese mixture.

Method for bread machine users:

Place all the yeast dough ingredients into the bread machine in the following order: liquid ingredients first, then dry ingredients, and finally the yeast. Select the ‘dough’ programme (kneading and first rise). Once the programme has finished, remove the dough, knead it lightly, and continue according to the main recipe above.

Enjoy!

Recipe source — Kaffeehaus by Rick Rodgers.