Buchteln - Austrian yeast buns

Cooking

To make the sponge, mix the yeast together with some baking sugar, half of the milk (lukewarm) and some flour to make a thick, viscous dough. Sprinkle with flour and let the dough rise.

Knead the rest of the ingredients together with the sponge in the food processor until it has formed a smooth, semi-firm dough. Roll this out on to a surface sprinkled with flour into a thin, square-like form. Cut out 4 x 4 cm squares, spread the jam on, turn over the corners and carefully press together so that the jam doesn’t seep out.

Dip each bun in melted butter and place in a casserole dish. Leave the buns to rise in a warm place (until they have doubled in size), and then bake them in an oven preheated to 160 ^oC for 40 mins. Serve the sweet yeast buns with vanilla sauce and a generous sprinkling of caster sugar.