Simple Homemade Yeast Buns

This is a great choice! Homemade yeast buns are one of the most popular Czech classics – fragrant, fluffy and full of flavor.

Here is a simple, proven recipe for soft yeast buns with cottage cheese or jam that will always be a success!

👵 Grandma’s Yeast Buns
This recipe makes about $15-20 \text{ medium buns}$.

I. Ingredients (Dough)
Ingredient Quantity Note
Smooth flour $500 \text{ g}$
Milk $250 \text{ ml}$ Warm!


Fresh yeast $30 \text{ g}$ (or $10 \text{ g}$ dried)
Semolina sugar $80-100 \text{ g}$
Butter $80 \text{ g}$ Melted and lukewarm.
Egg yolks $2 \text{ pcs}$ Large, room temperature.
Salt $\frac{1}{2} \text{ teaspoons}$
Lemon zest to taste (from $\frac{1}{2}$ lemon, grated)
II. Cottage Cheese Filling (example)
$250 \text{ g}$ full-fat cottage cheese (cubed, not tub-sized)
$1 \text{ pc}$ egg yolk


$40 \text{ g}$ powdered sugar
$1 \text{ packet}$ vanilla sugar
Raisins soaked in rum (optional)
🧑‍🍳 Procedure

1. Dough and Yeast Preparation
   Yeast: Put $100 \text{ ml}$ lukewarm milk, a teaspoon of sugar and crumbled yeast in a small bowl. Mix and leave in a warm place to rise (until a foam cap forms, about $10-15 \text{ minutes}$).
   Yeast Preparation: Sift the flour with salt, lemon zest and the rest of the sugar into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle.
   Kneading: Pour the risen yeast, egg yolks, the rest of the lukewarm milk and melted butter into the well. Knead by hand or with a food processor for about $10-15 \text{ minutes}$ until you get a soft, non-sticky and elastic dough.
   
   
2. Rising
   Sprinkle the dough with flour, cover with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for $1$ to $1.5 \text{ hours}$ until it doubles in volume.
3. Shaping and Filling
   Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured rolling pin and roll it out into a rectangular sheet about $1 \text{ cm}$ thick.
   Cutting: Cut the dough into squares (size $7 \text{ x } 7 \text{ cm}$ is ideal).
   Filling: Put a teaspoon of cottage cheese filling (or jam, poppy seeds) in the middle of each square.
   Closing: Firmly bring opposite corners together to prevent the filling from leaking out. Shape into a neat bun.
   
   
4. Baking (The key to keeping them from sticking together)
   Baking pan: Grease the baking pan generously with melted butter (or oil).
   Brushing: Dip or brush each bun thoroughly with melted butter immediately after shaping.
   Stacking: Stack the buns side by side in the baking pan, seam side down. Don’t pack them too tightly, leave a little space between them.
   Rising 2: Let the buns rise in the baking pan for another $20 \text{ minutes}$.
   Baking: Bake in a preheated oven at $180^\circ\text{C}$ for about $25-30 \text{ minutes}$, until they are nicely golden.
   You can brush the buns with melted butter and rum while they are still hot and sprinkle with sugar after they have cooled. Enjoy!

Do you also want the recipe for the poppy seed filling?