Some countries are simply not great at baking, however Czechia managed to create one of my favorite sweets, despite not making attractive any others – the Czech buchty.
It all starts with them being filled with plum jam. There are many variations, with curd and raising, poppy seeds, but none of them are as tasty as the ones with plum jam. Since I can’t find plum jam in the country in which I am living, I am making my own.
Here’s how to prepare this Bohemian pastry!
Buchta
Servings: 12
Preparation time: 15 min
Waiting time: 1 hour
Baking time: 25 min
Difficulty: medium
Ingredients
- 325 g of all-purpose flour
- 150 g of warm milk
- 5 g of active dry yeast
- 40 g sugar
- 1 large egg
- 77 g of melted butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- plum jam for filling
Directions
- In the lukewarm milk dissolve the sugar and the yeast and let it get puffy, ~10 min.
- Pour in a big bowl 200 g of the flour and mix it with the salt, egg, vanilla, melted butter and the yeast mixture.
- Mix well until well combined.
- Add the rest of the flour and knead for 5 min until it becomes smooth. You can use a bit of sunflower oil if it gets sticky.
- Let the dough rest until it rises to almost double the size, ~1 hour.
- Spread the dough on the table, using flour underneath.
- Cut it into 12 parts.
- Add jam in the middle and bring it together, making sure the dough is very well closed so that the jam won’t come out.
- Place it in a deep tray (since I don’t have one, I created it from aluminum folio) that has butter on the bottom. They can and should touch, since this is how the original recipes are.
- Let them rise for 10 more min.
- Bake them at 190 C for 20-25 min, until they get golden.
- Sprinkle powder sugar and enjoy them hot or cold. And here is the final look of the buchty:
