Parené buchty: Slovak steamed yeast buns with plum butter

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

1. Make the starter

   10 min

   Crumble the yeast into 100 ml of lukewarm milk, add a teaspoon of sugar and a tablespoon of flour, and let it rise for 10 minutes.

2. Knead the dough

   Sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt, the remaining sugar, lemon zest, egg yolks, the starter, the remaining milk and the lukewarm melted butter. Knead for about 10 minutes, until you have a smooth, soft dough that no longer sticks.

3. Let the dough rise

   1 hr

   Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour, until it has doubled in volume.

4. Fill the buchty

   Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Flatten each piece into a round, put a tablespoon of plum butter in the center, pinch the edges together well, and shape it into a ball, seam side down. Let the buchty rest on a floured board for 15 minutes to rise a little more.

5. Steam the buchty

   30 min

   Bring water to a boil in a wide pot, stretch a kitchen towel over the pot and tie it with kitchen twine, or use a steamer insert. Place 4 buchty on it, well apart from each other, cover, and steam for 15 minutes without lifting the lid. Prick the steamed buchty with a toothpick right away so they do not deflate, and steam the rest the same way.

6. Serve

   Mix the ground poppy seeds with the powdered sugar. Sprinkle the warm buchty with the poppy seed and sugar mixture and drizzle them with the melted butter.

Tip: While steaming, do not cover the buchty with a low lid that would touch them, because they grow in volume by about half. If you open the pot too early, the buchty will collapse.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Parené buchty s lekvárom, makom a maslom