Czech Sweet Rolls: Buchty, and Buchteln in German

These rolls originally came from the Czech lands of Bohemia, where they are called "buchty."* Very briefly and superficially, Bohemia and the Czechs had a long association with Germans through the Old German Empire (Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation) and the Habsburg family, one of the leading German noble families in Germandom for centuries. Bohemia later was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, led by the Habsburg emperor (Kaiser), who was simultaneously King of Hungary and King of Bohemia, as well as a number of other titles. When that empire dissolved, Bohemia became a part of the newly formed Czechoslovakia and it now is part of the Czech Republic, also known to some as "Czechia." The term "buchty" was borrowed by German as "Buchteln" (German nouns are capitalized), which is what I know them as, but they are also called "Wuchteln," although I have no idea why, unless it simply started out as a mispronunciation (?). There are also a couple of other regional names for these rolls in German. They are well known in Austria, parts of Bavaria (Bayern), Saxony (Sachsen) and the Swabia (Schwaben) region, part of which is in Bavaria, with the rest being a part of the state of Baden-Württemberg.

There are variations to Buchteln, which are often, but not always, filled with plum or apricot jam, while others add some grated lemon peel to the batter. Some dust the Buchteln with powdered sugar when they are taken from the oven. "Vanillesoße" (vanilla sauce)** is a common accompaniment to these little sweet rolls. I made the Buchteln straight up, with no filling or lemon peel, but I did have plum jam on the side for serving. I do NOT take responsibility for any desire you have to make these rolls over and over and over. They are delicious! Browned and a "little" firm on top, but just light and airy inside.

Ingredients:

Rolls:

2 1/4 cups flour (a little more, if needed, plus some for when kneading the dough)
1 packet dry yeast (1/4 ounce/7g, and I used quick rise yeast) 
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup lukewarm milk
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons melted butter for coating
(optional) 1 or 2 tablespoons grated lemon peel
butter for the baking dish
(optional) powdered sugar for dusting

In a bowl, mix the yeast with about 1/4 cup of lukewarm milk (it cannot be hot, just barely warm), 2 tablespoons of the sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Set this aside for about 10 to 15 minutes to let the yeast begin to act. Meanwhile, in a larger bowl, add the flour, the remainder of the sugar, the rest of the lukewarm milk, the egg yolks, the melted butter, the vanilla and the salt (the lemon peel too, if using). When the yeast mixture is frothy and puffy, add it to the other ingredients and mix everything very well. The dough will likely be somewhat sticky, but cover the bowl with a towel or paper towel and put it in a warm place for about 30 minutes or until the dough about doubles in size. Dust your counter or board with some flour and empty the dough out. I use some oil on my hands (not something like extra virgin olive oil, which has a flavor to it). Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, adding a little flour to the counter, as needed (of course if you have a mixer for bread, follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer). Roll the dough into a long "snake." Cut off pieces to roll into golf ball size rounds. Butter a baking dish. Dip each round into the melted butter to lightly coat them, then put the rounds into the buttered dish. The rounds should be "snuggled" into the dish together, not spread out from one another. Cover the dish with a towel again and let it sit in a warm place for about another 10 to 15 minutes to let the rolls rise a little. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 F for "about" 30 to 40 minutes, or until the rolls are browned. Note: If you want to fill the Buchteln, when you roll the golf ball size rounds out, punch an opening into each round with your thumb, put in a heaping teaspoon of plum or apricot jam, then pull the dough over the opening to close it off. Place this side down in the baking dish. Some people actually roll out the rounds, place the jam in the middle, then pull up the dough all around. Again, place where the opening was facing down in the baking dish.

Buchteln are usually served warm, and you can always pop them into your microwave for just a few seconds if they've cooled, but I like them cooled too. If you'd like vanilla sauce with the Buchteln, see note ** below.   

* Pronounced pretty much like "book-tea" (the "oo" being the pronunciation of "boot," not book), with the singular form being "buchta," with the (singular) meaning being "bread roll, bun." 

** The recipe for vanilla sauce is at this link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/11/vanilla-sauce-vanillesoe.html

2 Buchteln with plum jam and vanilla sauce...

Fresh from the oven...

Unbaked...

WORD HISTORY: 
Leave-English has two forms of this spelling, but this is the noun meaning, "permission, agreement to permit something," most commonly associated with "permission to be away from work or military duty, furlough." It is related to the second part of "belief," and more distantly related to "love," both from the Germanic roots of English. It goes back to Indo European "leub(h)," which had the notion of "care, desire, love, something that pleases." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "leubon/laubon," meaning, "permission" (obviously tied to "something that pleases"). This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "leafe" (not related to the foliage of trees and plants, "leaf"), also meaning "permission." This then became "leve," before the modern version. Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Urlaub" (military leave, leave from work, but Americans more typically say "vacation"), Erlaubnis (permission, a permit, authorization), Low German borrowed "Urlaub" from standard German, but prior to that, it had "orleve," Dutch has the now antiquated "oorlof" (permission, military or work leave), but Dutch also has "verlof," (vacation, military leave, furlough). Most of the Germanic languages now use words unrelated to the English noun "leave." 

Vanilla Sauce (Vanillesoße)

Apparently vanilla has been around for a long, long time, but it was the development of the New World that sent the flavoring to other parts of the world on an increasingly large scale. Vanilla is derived from the pods of a type of orchid plant... and here I thought they got it from vanilla ice cream. There are many variations to vanilla sauce recipes, but this is from Germans (Germans, broadly speaking, not just from Germany*), and it is called "Vanillesoße," or sometimes, "Vanillesauce," in German, and it is a fairly common accompaniment to desserts from German kitchens, although the English and French have the same or similar, so if Prince Harry and Meghan drop by, tell them it's "Crème Anglaise," but if Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte are your guests, says it's "Crème Française à la Vanille." Put simply, it is a vanilla custard.
.  
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups canned milk (12 ounce can)
1 cup heavy cream
4 egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar (for a little sweeter use "heaping" tablespoons)
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place a bowl (I use a stainless steel bowl) over a pan of simmering water. The bowl should not actually touch the water. Mix the eggs and the cornstarch together, set this aside for the moment. In the bowl over the hot water, mix the milk, cream and sugar. Let the liquid heat, but do not let it actually boil. Stir well to completely dissolve the sugar. Add a tablespoon of the heated liquid to the eggs and stir immediately to mix it; repeat a couple of more times. This will help the eggs to mix in with the hot milk and cream easier, as you don't want to end up with scrambled eggs in milk and cream ... Hey! I think I just invented a new dish... scrambled eggs in milk and cream.... Wait a second, I've "fixed" this dish before, unintentionally! Gradually drizzle in small amounts of the egg, whisking constantly, until the egg/cornstarch mixture is fully added. Add the vanilla and whisk further to incorporate it into the sauce. The milk and cream should thicken as you add the egg mixture. You can, of course, adjust the cornstarch amount for a thicker or looser sauce, but the best sauce has a thickness on the order of melted ice cream. The sauce will have a slight "yellowish" tint to it from the egg yolks. This is good served warm on various desserts, but if you let it sit, cover it with plastic wrap to prevent the sauce from developing a "skin" on top. By "cover," I mean the plastic wrap should literally be in contact with the sauce.   

* Not just from Germany, but from Austria, much of Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, much of Alsace, a part of Lorraine and part of northern Italy (South Tirol/South Tyrol, Italian: Alto Adige). 

I had some vanilla sauce on sweet bread pudding...

WORD HISTORY:
Starch -This word is closely related to "stark," a word from the Germanic roots of English. It goes back to the Indo European root word "ster," which meant "rigid, stiff." The Old Germanic offshoot was "starkaz," which had much the same meaning, but also with the added notion that if something was rigid, it was "strong." This gave Old English "stearc," which meant, "stiff, rigid, hard;" thus also,  "unyielding," and also, "stern." This provided the verb form, "stearcian," meaning, "to stiffen, to harden, to become hard." This then became "starchen/sterchen" (?), and this verb produced the noun  "starche" in 1400s, before it took on the modern form. Germanic relatives also meaning "starch": German has "Stärke," Icelandic has "sterkja" (?), Swedish "stärkelse." All of the Germanic languages have relatives to the base word "stark."