Nutella Buchteln

Nutella buchteln are soft, pillowy yeast buns baked close together in one dish, so they rise into each other and pull apart in fluffy, buttery pieces. They come from Austrian and Bohemian baking, where they’re traditionally filled with plum butter (Powidl). This version hides a generous spoonful of Nutella in every bun, and it’s the one everyone asks for.

The dough is rich, soft and a little sticky, and it needs a good, long knead. That’s the only real work here. The rest is waiting while the dough rises.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED

Dough

• 500 g flour, Type 405 or 550 (4 cups all-purpose). Type 405 gives the softest, most cake-like crumb. Type 550 has a bit more protein and gives a slightly chewier, more bread-like bun. Both work well.
• 1 packet dry yeast (7 g / 2¼ tsp). You can also use 21 g fresh yeast (half a cube) instead. Crumble it into the warm milk.
• 70 g sugar (⅓ cup). This is enough to make the dough slightly sweet without fighting the Nutella.
• 1 packet vanilla sugar. You can swap it for 1 tsp vanilla extract or the seeds of half a vanilla pod.
• A pinch of salt. Don’t skip it. Without salt, sweet dough tastes flat.
• 250 ml lukewarm whole milk (1 cup). It should feel warm on your wrist, not hot, around 37°C. Hot milk kills yeast. Whole milk makes a richer, softer dough.
• 2 eggs, room temperature. Cold eggs chill the dough and slow the rise. Put them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes if you forgot to take them out.
• 130 g very soft butter (9 tbsp). It should be soft enough to press your finger straight through, but not melted. Soft butter blends into the dough. Melted butter makes it greasy.

Filling

• 200–250 g Nutella (⅔–¾ cup). That’s about 1 heaped tablespoon per bun.

Pan and brushing

• 40 g melted butter for the pan (3–3½ tbsp). This is more than you’d usually use to grease a dish, and that’s on purpose. The bottoms of the buns fry slightly in the butter and turn golden and a little crisp.
• 20 g melted butter for brushing (1½ tbsp).

Equipment: the dough hook matters

This is a soft, enriched dough with a lot of butter, and it needs a dough hook. It has to be kneaded for a long time to build enough gluten to hold the butter and rise into soft, fluffy buns.

• Stand mixer with a dough hook: excellent. This is the easiest way. The mixer does all the work, and you can let it knead for the full time without getting tired. Use low to medium speed.
• Hand mixer with dough hook attachments: works well too. Most hand mixers come with a pair of spiral dough hooks. Use them, not the regular beaters, because beaters can’t knead a dough this heavy. Work in bursts of a few minutes and give the motor a short break if it starts to feel warm. Hold the bowl steady with your other hand.
• By hand: possible, but hard work. The dough is very sticky at first, so expect 15–20 minutes of kneading. A bench scraper helps a lot.

You’ll also need a baking dish of about 20×30 cm, or a 24–26 cm round dish, so the buns sit close together and rise into each other.

How to make Nutella Buchteln

1. Activate the yeast. Mix the lukewarm milk, yeast and 1 tsp of the sugar in a small bowl or jug. Leave it for 5–10 minutes. It should turn foamy on top. If nothing happens at all, the yeast may be old or the milk was too hot, so start again with fresh yeast before you go further.

2. Mix the dry ingredients. In the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl), mix the flour, the remaining sugar, vanilla sugar and salt.

3. Add the eggs and the yeast mixture. Pour in the yeast mixture and add the eggs. Knead with the dough hook for about 5 minutes on low to medium speed, until everything comes together into a rough, sticky dough.

4. Add the butter slowly. Add the soft butter 1 tablespoon at a time, letting each piece mix in before adding the next. The dough will look like it’s falling apart at first, slippery and broken. That’s normal. Keep kneading and it will come back together.

5. Knead, and then knead some more. Once all the butter is in, knead for another 8–10 minutes. The dough is ready when it is very smooth, soft and elastic, and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It will feel sticky at first. Don’t add extra flour. More flour makes the buns dry and dense. The stickiness goes away as the gluten develops.

To check, pull off a small piece and stretch it gently between your fingers. If it stretches thin enough to let light through without tearing, it’s ready.

6. First rise. Shape the dough into a ball, put it back in the bowl, cover with a lid, cling film or a damp tea towel, and leave it somewhere warm for 60–90 minutes, until it has doubled in size. A switched-off oven with only the light on is a good warm spot.

7. Shape and fill. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide it into 12–14 equal pieces, about 75–85 g each (a kitchen scale makes this easy). Flatten each piece into a disc about the size of your palm. Put a generous tablespoon of Nutella (or a frozen Nutella dollop, see the tips) in the middle. Bring the edges up over the filling and pinch them together firmly so the bun is completely sealed. Any small gap will let the Nutella leak out during baking.

8. Into the pan. Pour the 40 g of melted butter into the baking dish and spread it over the bottom and sides. Place the buns seam-side down, close together.

9. Second rise. Cover and leave to rise for another 35–45 minutes, until the buns are very puffy and touching each other. Preheat the oven to 175–180°C (350°F), conventional (top and bottom heat), during the last 15 minutes.

10. Brush and bake. Brush the tops with the remaining melted butter. Bake for 25–30 minutes, until deep golden on top. If they brown too fast, cover loosely with foil for the last 10 minutes.

Leave them to cool in the dish for 10 minutes, then dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.

Tips & tricks

• Freeze the Nutella first. Spoon tablespoon-sized dollops of Nutella onto a plate lined with baking paper and freeze for 20–30 minutes. Frozen Nutella is much easier to wrap in the dough, and it won’t leak or smear while you’re shaping.
• Be patient with the knead. Most dense or dry Buchteln come from not kneading enough or from adding extra flour to fight the stickiness.
• Rise by look, not by the clock. Your kitchen temperature changes everything. In a cold kitchen the rise can take longer than the times above. Wait until the dough has doubled and the buns are puffy and touching.
• Check if they’re done. If you have a thermometer, the centre of the buns should read about 90°C. Without one, tap the top: they should feel springy and look deep golden, not pale.
• Extra shine. Brush the buns with a little more melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. It keeps the tops soft.
• Serve them the traditional way. Buchteln are classically served warm with vanilla sauce poured over the top. It’s very good with the Nutella version too.

Filling variations

Use the same amount as you would with Nutella, about 1 heaped tablespoon per bun. Freeze soft fillings in dollops for 20–30 minutes before shaping, just like the Nutella.

• Jam or marmalade. Apricot jam is a classic. Use a thick jam, because a thin one will run out during baking.
• Plum butter (Powidl). This is the traditional Austrian filling, thick and not too sweet.
• Pistachio cream. Rich and very good. Freeze it in dollops first, as it’s even softer than Nutella.
• Biscoff spread. Caramel and spice, and great in autumn and winter.
• Chocolate pieces. A few squares of dark or milk chocolate work instead of spread and don’t leak at all.
• Marzipan and jam. A small piece of marzipan with half a teaspoon of jam.
• Plain. No filling at all, served with plenty of vanilla sauce.

How to store Nutella Buchteln

• Room temperature: Buchteln are best on the day you bake them. Keep leftovers in an airtight container or wrapped well for up to 2 days.
• Reheating: Warm them in the oven at 150°C for 5–8 minutes, or microwave a single bun for 10–15 seconds. They become soft again and the filling gets melty.
• Freezing: Freeze the baked and cooled buns in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature, then warm them briefly in the oven.
• Make ahead (overnight): Shape the buns, put them in the buttered dish, cover well and refrigerate overnight instead of doing the second rise. In the morning, let them sit at room temperature for 45–60 minutes until puffy, then bake as usual.