Buhtle (Jam-Filled Sweet Rolls)

It has been a while since I had Buhtle, and the other day I remembered how tasty they are and had a craving for them.  So I searched for some recipes online and came up with my version of them.  I am pretty happy with how they came out, even though I'm sure that if I made them again, they would probably come out even better.  They taste best when they are still warm, but the next day they do dry a little, so if you would like them to be more moist, you can add more butter.

Buhtle are sweet rolls filled with jam, marmalade or can be even filled with Nutella.  I tried a few with Nutella this time as well, and they were very tasty!  But whenever I think of Buhtle, I remember eating them as a child and loved them with apricot jam.  Those are my favorite!  :-P

First, I would like to tell you a little bit about Buhtle.  Buhtle is a Bosnian / Serbo-Croatian name for Buchteln and they originated in Bohemia.  They are sweet rolls made of yeast dough, filled with jam (or even poppy seeds or curd) and baked in a large pan so that they stick together.  They are served as a dessert, but can also be served as a main dish.

So, this is how I made them:

Ingredients: 

(Serving Size: 6)

• Yeast:
• 1 dcl (about 7 tablespoons or a little bit less than half a cup) of lukewarm milk
• 1 packet of yeast
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• Dough:
• 1/2 kg (about 4 cups) of all purpose flour
• 10 dkg (about 0.4 cups) of sugar
• 10 dkg (little bit less than a stick) of melted butter (the rest of the butter will be used at the end)
• 1.5 to 2 dcl (between 11 and 14 tablespoons) of lukewarm milk
• 1 egg
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar
• pinch of lemon zest (I used lime zest since I did not have lemons in the house)
• pinch of salt
• Filling:
• jam or
• marmalade or
• Nutella
• Topping:
• left-over melted butter
• granulated sugar 

Procedure: 

• For the yeast, warm up the 1 dcl of milk a little bit, add 1 packet of yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar and put aside in a warm place for it to rise and start bubbling.

• In the meantime, melt the butter and let cool a little.
• For the dough, warm up the rest of the milk, add the egg, and mix well.

• In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, lemon peel, vanilla sugar, yeast mix, milk and egg mix, and the melted butter. 

• Using dough hooks, mix the ingredients until the dough is not sticky and you are able to pull it away from the bowl and form into a ball.  Add more flour if the dough remains sticky and knead some more.

• Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for about 1-2 hours until it doubles in size. 

• After the dough doubles in size, knead a little with your hands, and then form into 15 small balls of equal size.  Flatten them a little so that it is easier to work with them. 

• Fill each one with a teaspoon of your favorite filling, like seen in the photos below.  I used apricot jam, wild raspberry jam and Nutella.

• Close each one by covering the jam with dough, then twisting and sealing the dough, like it is shown in the photo below.  The twisted and sealed dough should be facing down in the pan. 

• Place all the Buhtle into the baking pan lined with wax paper like it is shown in the photo below.  They should be touching.  Let them rise for a few more minutes.
• Top with remaining melted butter and apply evenly.  
• Sprinkle with granulated sugar if you wish. (I did not add much since I did not want mine to be too sweet.)

• Place Buhtle into the cold oven and then set the oven to 160 C or 325 F. 

• Bake for about 30 minutes until the top is golden. 
• When they are done, they should look like this! :)

Prijatno! Enjoy! :)

Sources:

• http://www.coolinarika.com/recept/mekane-buhtle/?meta_refresh=1
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchteln

Homemade Pizza

This time our cousin Sinisa invited us over for dinner and he showed us how to make this delicious homemade pizza from scratch.  He is a great cook and has a lot of experience making pizza and many other dishes.  When Sinisa cooks, he does not follow a recipe and adds ingredients as needed.  It was great to watch him make the dough, knead it, and know exactly the perfect amount of flour, water, yeast, and other ingredients to make this awesome crust.  We took many photos that I have included in this blog to go along with the recipe.  

Ingredients (for 1 pizza): (Servings: 2)

      

      Dough:

• 1/2 ounce (15 g) fresh yeast or 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• about 1 cup (250 ml) warm water
• 2 cups (300 g) flour + extra (to dust hands and work surface)
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• sugar to taste
• salt to taste

      Topping:

• 1 can of tomato sauce 
• extra-virgin olive oil
• tomato paste
• crushed red hot pepper
• oregano 
• other toppings of your choice (we used: mushrooms, olives, red pepper, banana peppers, tomato, artichokes, feta cheese, goat cheese, ham, etc.)
• shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese

Procedure:

• Place warm water in a medium bowl, add yeast and sugar and let stand for about 10 minutes until bubbly 

• Add flour and salt and mix well until you get a fairly sticky dough (add more warm water if needed)

• Knead the dough for about 8-10 minutes. 

• When the dough becomes firm and it no longer sticks to your hands and the work surface, lift up and punch it a few times to develop the gluten and place in the bowl.

•  Dust the clean work surface with extra flour, take the dough out of the bowl onto the work surface.  Shape into a firm, round ball.  (When ready, the dough will be smooth and firm and will show air bubbles under the surface.)
• Place in a large oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and with a cloth.

• Set aside and let rise for 1 hour.
• In the meantime prepare the tomato sauce.
• Add 1 can of tomato sauce to a medium sized bowl, add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a few tablespoons of tomato paste (or to taste), some crushed red hot pepper, and some salt to taste

• Cut up all of the ingredients you are going to be using and set aside 

• When the dough rises twice its original size, take out of the bowl, flour the clean working surface and knead some more. 

• We made 3 times as much dough for 3 pizzas, so we had to divide it into three equal parts 

• Start flattening out the ball of dough to form pizza dough like shown in the photo below 

• And once you get enough practice and become a pro like our cousin Sinisa, you can try stretching the dough by throwing it in the air like he did in the photo. :)

• In the meantime, place your pizza stone or pan in the oven and preheat the stove as high as possible.
• If you have a pizza peel, place a piece of aluminum foil on it and place the dough on top.   

• Now you can start adding your pizza toppings.  First add tomato sauce. 

• Place other toppings of your choice next.
• On this pizza we put red peppers, banana peppers, mushrooms, artichokes, and olives 

• The next pizza that we made was half feta and goat cheese, half regular mozzarella cheese

• The last pizza was with ham and mushrooms

• Top with shredded mozzarella cheese 

• Carry the pizza on the pizza peel to the oven, open and quickly slide the pizza together with the aluminum foil onto the pizza stone.
• Bake for about 5-10 minutes (depending on the oven heat) until golden on top 

• When done, take out of the oven and slice 

• Let the pizza cool before serving 

• Finally, it is ready to be served!  Enjoy with your favorite wine or beer!