Part three of my food portraits is dedicated to a sweet example of South Tyrol’s farmhouse cooking: Buchteln. These yeast pastries always taste delicious, served either as a dessert or as a main course. Here I tell you how to make them!

A classic example of South Tyrolean farmhouse cooking

The wide variety of delicious pastries that you find in South Tyrol is clearly due to the influence of Austria, which is precisely why there are so many different names for the same delicacy: Buchteln – also known as Wuchteln, Rohrnudeln or Ofennudeln – are sweet yeast pastries, which in South Tyrol are traditionally filled with apricot jam and served with vanilla sauce. Buchteln can be found on classic South Tyrolean farmhouse menus at any time of year – and are especially popular in the Eisack Valley, where they are served up at numerous farms and mountain huts.

Or make them for yourself!

Ingredients for four people:

500 g wheat flour
140 ml warm milk
30 g yeast
50 g sugar
75 g butter
2 eggs
a pinch of salt
1 sachet vanilla sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1–2 tsp rum
approx. 70–100 g apricot jam
approx. 70 g melted butter

Preparation:
Warm the milk and sugar gently, crumble the yeast and add to the mixture. Stir until the yeast dissolves. Put the flour in a bowl, make a hollow in the middle and pour in the yeast and milk. Sprinkle with a little flour and let rise, covered, in a warm place for about 20 minutes.
In the meantime, melt the butter and mix together with the eggs, vanilla sugar, lemon zest, rum and salt, then add to the flour. Mix everything well, cover and leave to rise for another 30 minutes. The dough should roughly double in size during this time.
Grease an ovenproof dish well with butter. Now roll out the dough so it is about two centimetres thick, then cut into palm-sized squares. Next you need a little finesse! Put a blob of apricot jam on each piece of dough and wrap it to make a small parcel. Carefully place in the baking dish with the join facing down. Cover and leave to rise one final time for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 degrees (top and bottom). Brush the Buchteln generously with melted butter and bake on the middle shelf for around 40 to 45 minutes (depending on the oven) until golden brown.
Let the Buchteln cool slightly, sprinkle with icing sugar, then eat warm served with vanilla sauce.

 

You are sure to be able to persuade your hosts from the Eisack Valley to reveal a few tips or tricks for preparing Buchteln – or even to let you look over their shoulder while they’re making them!

Enjoy!

Yours from the heart, Sabine