Skip to content
German Pastry Chef, home

Pastries and Cookies, Cakes, Sweet Pastries

Fluffy Buchteln from My Grandma's Recipe with Apple Filling

by Lisa

Trained pastry chef

Golden baked Buchteln, soft yeast buns with apple filling, in a baking dish

4.7 (20)out of 5, 20 ratings

Go to recipePrint
Prep
10 min
Bake
30 min
Total
40 min
Makes
10

This recipe comes from my grandma's old baking book and is really close to my heart. Buchteln (sweet baked yeast buns) were a classic in her oven, soft and fragrant, filled with homemade apple compote. I use a soft yeast dough made with flour, butter, milk and fresh yeast. Homemade apple compote with raisins and almonds is what sets them apart from the classic versions with plum butter (a thick, dark spread of slowly cooked plums; in the US use plum butter or prune lekvar; in the UK, powidła, Polish plum butter, or a thick plum jam) that you find online.

Read more

My tip as a pastry chef: I knead the yeast dough on the lowest speed so it has time to come together nice and calmly. That way it turns out smooth and doesn't stick to your fingers, and you don't need any extra flour when shaping it. When filling, my rule is: don't pack in too much, otherwise the Buchteln burst in the oven or the filling runs out. One teaspoon per bun is plenty. Here is my recipe for fluffy Buchteln from my grandma's recipe:

Ingredients

Makes 10

  • 3 ¼ cups400 gall-purpose flourIn German recipes plain flour means soft wheat flour Type 405 unless stated otherwise. In the US use all-purpose flour; in the UK, plain flour.
  • ¼ cup50 ggranulated sugar
  • ¾ oz20 gfresh yeastfresh. German recipes use either a 42 g cube of fresh yeast or a 7 g packet of dry yeast; one cube equals about two packets. In the US use active dry or instant yeast (one ¼ oz (7 g) envelope replaces half a cube of fresh yeast); in the UK, fast action dried yeast (7 g sachet per half cube), or fresh yeast from a supermarket bakery counter.
  • ½ cup120 mlmilklukewarm
  • 6 tbsp80 gunsalted buttersoftened. German butter is unsalted and has about 82 percent fat. In the US use unsalted butter (European-style unsalted butter is closest); in the UK, unsalted butter.
  • 1large egg
  • ½ tspsalt
  • ⅔ cup150 gfilling of your choiceI used preserved cooked apples, but apricots or plums are also very popular.

Method

  1. Make a well in the flour, crumble the yeast into it, sprinkle about half of the sugar on top and cover with the milk. Let it stand for 10 minutes.

  2. Add the remaining ingredients to this starter and let the stand mixer knead everything with the dough hook on the lowest speed.

  3. Once the dough comes together smoothly after 10 minutes, remove the dough hook, cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for at least an hour.

  4. When the dough has doubled in size, divide it into 8 to 9 pieces. I weighed the whole dough and then portioned the pieces one by one on the scale, so they are all the same size.

  5. Shape the pieces into tight balls and let them rest for 15 minutes, ideally covered with a kitchen towel.

  6. After resting, flatten each piece of dough in your hand and place a little of the filling in the center. Pinch the edges together in the middle, shape into a ball again and place it in a baking dish. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

  7. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

  8. Once the oven is hot, you can brush the buns with a little egg wash (egg beaten with milk or water) if you like. Bake the Buchteln for about 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown.

  9. They are best served still lukewarm with vanilla sauce.

Questions and answers

Can I make Buchteln a day ahead?
Yes, that works really well. I often make the dough the evening before and put it in the fridge overnight. The next day I let it come back to room temperature for a bit and bake the Buchteln fresh. You can also bake them completely and warm them up briefly in the oven at 300°F (150°C) the next day, and they turn nice and soft again.
How long do Buchteln need to rise?
I let the dough rise in a warm place for about an hour, until it has doubled in size. That is the important marker. If your kitchen is cooler, it can take an hour and a half. After filling, I let the Buchteln rise briefly again in the dish while the oven preheats. That is plenty.
What are Buchteln called in Germany?
Depending on the region, Buchteln are also called Rohrnudeln or Ofennudeln in Germany. In the south, in Bavaria and in Austria, Buchteln is the usual name. Further north you are more likely to hear Rohrnudeln. They always mean the same thing: sweet yeast dough buns baked in the oven, often with a filling.
What is the difference between Germknödel and Buchteln?
Germknödel are cooked in steam, so they are steamed dumplings. Buchteln go into the oven and are baked. Both are made from yeast dough and are usually filled with plum butter or jam (in German, any jam, not only citrus marmalade; in the US, jam or preserves; in the UK, jam). The texture is different: Germknödel are softer and moister, while Buchteln get a lightly golden crust on top from baking.
What temperature and how long do I bake Buchteln?
I preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) conventional (top and bottom heat) and then bake the Buchteln for about 25 to 30 minutes, until they are nicely golden brown. With convection (fan) I would go down to 325°F (160°C). It's important that they are really baked through, especially if you have a runnier filling such as applesauce inside.
Which filling works best in Buchteln?
The classic is plum butter, or Powidl as it is called in Austria. I use homemade apple compote, because I connect applesauce with my grandma. You can also use jam, poppy seeds (blue poppy seeds, ground first for fillings; in the US and UK, poppy seeds ground in a spice grinder), quark (a fresh, mild and slightly tangy cheese; in the US use full-fat Greek yogurt strained overnight, or farmer's cheese; in the UK, quark from the supermarket chiller, full-fat if you can find it) or hazelnut nougat (gianduja) cream (German nougat is a soft hazelnut chocolate, not the white chewy nougat; in the US and UK use gianduja, or chocolate hazelnut spread, which is softer). The only important thing is that the filling isn't too runny and that you don't pack in too much, otherwise the Buchteln burst open while baking.