I am still on bilberry trip since we have them. What follows is again diary from the market and bilberry recipe..Sorry, I promise I will change the theme soon 😉

Thursday is market day as you know,so today I had a date.Kiddo’s school is out and he wanted to go with me. I thought this was a great idea because A) I had someone to hold my stuff while I took pictures. B) it is more fun to go there together with someone.And I do love his company.He is in that age already, when you can do fun stuff with him, and do not need to constantly check after him if he doing something stupid.

Kiddo wanted to have “Bauern Krapfen” as breakfast. Krapfen is bit like donut but it is not filled at all and it is eaten with powdered sugar. Luckily we have lady who makes them in market.

Then we headed towards vegetable stand and got what we needed. Bilberries, vegetables and fish for the weekend cooking.

Kiddo is like his granddad.Anything grilled goes! He loves grilled chicken.So we bought one whole chicken for us as lunch. No need for me to cook anything else, just make salad with the chicken. Perfect! Anyway today has been so hot that the chicken was really perfect choice for meal. I like to make Kiddo work little, while we are shopping together.I give him money and tell him to go and get what we need.It makes him feel himself important, and builds bit character.

Back at home I started to go through my cooking books. I always have wanted to try to make Buchteln but for some reason never got into it.

Eating Buchteln, was my first memory of  Austria. We were high up in the mountains, and this traditional dish was served in Gasthaus as main course. Buchteln’s are filled with apricot jam and served with vanilla sauce. They are usually huge and fluffy! And taste divine. So here you go. My Buchteln. Instead of the traditional apricot marmalade I used fresh bilberries.

Dough is basic sweet yeast dough.Reminds me little od Finnish “Pulla” dough.

Ingredients for the dough

• 150 ml warm milk
• 5 g active dry yeast
• 40 g sugar
• 1 large egg
• 80 g melted butter
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 325 g all-purpose flour

You will also need:

• About 10 tablespoons (0,5 dl) bilberries (or apricot jam)
• 3 tablespoons melted butter for the pan
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and set it aside for 10 minutes for the yeast to dissolve and activate.
2. Stir in sugar, egg, melted (lightly cooled) butter, vanilla and salt with a hand whisk.
3. Stir in about 200 g of the flour to get a thick batter and stir vigorously with the whisk until no lumps remain. Time to change your tools: Get rid of the whisk and use a sturdy (wooden) cooking spoon to gradually stir in the rest of the flour.
4. When all ingredients come together fold the edges into the center for a couple of minutes. Keep your dough in the mixing bowl for that. The dough will be sticky, but refrain from adding more flour. It helps if you oil your clean hands before you knead a sticky dough. Knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. (If you want you can use kitchen machine to do all the kneading work for you.I love the feeling of the dough in my hands and kneading relieves stress and anger)
5. Let the dough rise, covered at warm room temperature until doubled in volume (about 3/4 to 1 hour).

Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 10-12 equal parts. Keep pieces you don’t need right away covered.

Fold the edges of each piece into the middle a couple of times so you will get a nice ball with a smooth surface on the bottom side. Flatten each ball with your palm to a circle with a diameter of 15 cm, keeping the center slightly thicker than the edges. Usually this part works without using any additional flour. If the dough keeps sticking to your countertop, add some.

Put 1 tablespoon of bilberries (or apricot jam),not more, in the center of every circle. Wrap the dough around the filling, pinching and sealing it tightly. Round the buns again, creating a bit of surface tension. If you use too much filling, it’s difficult to seal them. Also avoid getting jam onto your edges, because this way it is almost impossible to seal them.

Put every Buchtel with the sealed side down onto a lightly floured surface until you have finished filling all of them.

Put about 2 ½ tablespoons melted butter (you might need a little more) in a small bowl. Brush a baking pan with melted butter, just until coated. Brush each bun when you’ve placed them in the pan.

Place the Buchteln, coated with butter, in your baking pan. You can do this tightly packed (traditional way) or give them a little, but not too much space. They will still rise during the second proofing and baking. If you feel there are too many of them, you can place the remaining in a lined muffin tin.

Let them proof a second time for about 20-30 minutes at warm room temperature until puffy. It is best to cover the whole pan with a lid or cling wrap in this step. If you have a rather shallow pan, don’t cover the Buchteln, since they will stick to the plastic wrap. If you couldn’t cover them and they seem kind of dry before baking, you can brush them another time with melted butter.

Bake them at 180 c° in the preheated oven (center) for about 25 minutes (minimum 20 minutes). When they are golden-brown in color, take them out of the oven.

Let the Buchteln cool for 5-10 minutes, dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve with vanilla sauce.Enjoy!