Drożdżówki: fluffy Polish sweet cheese buns with crumble, bakery-style
Twelve buns from a soft, buttery dough, each with a well filled with sweet farmer's cheese and yolk, crumble all around. Two rises and 20 minutes in the oven. Best warm, but the next day, after 10 seconds in the microwave, they are like fresh.
Your own work in that: 27 min.
- Starter 15 min
- Kneading 12 min
- Rising 60 min
- Shaping and cheese 15 min
- Rising 25 min
- Baking 40 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneMake the starter
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm milk, add a tablespoon of the sugar and 2 tablespoons of the measured flour. Leave 15 minutes until foamy.
Foamy starterKnead the dough
To the bowl of flour, remaining sugar, vanilla sugar and salt add the egg, yolk and starter. Knead with dough hooks 6 minutes, pour in the butter and knead another 6 minutes, until smooth, elastic and pulling away from the bowl.
Ingredients: 250 ml milk · 25 g fresh yeast · 500 g plain flour · 70 g sugar · 1 pcs egg · 1 pcs egg yolk · 80 g butter · 1 tbsp vanilla sugar · 1 tsp salt
TipThe dough is soft and slightly sticky: that is right. Extra flour means hard buns.
Smooth, elastic, softFirst rise
Shape the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with a cloth or cling film and leave in a warm place (about 25–28°C) for 60 minutes, until doubled in size. A dent made with a finger should fill back in slowly.
Make the cheese filling
Mash the cheese with a fork or blend it, add the yolk, sugar, vanilla sugar, starch and raisins. It should be smooth and thick. The starch keeps the cheese in its well instead of running.
Ingredients: 400 g farmer's cheese (twaróg), semi-fat · 1 pcs egg yolk · 3 tbsp sugar · 1 tbsp vanilla sugar · 1 tbsp potato starch · 40 g raisins
Smooth, thick cheese with yolkShape and fill
Divide the dough into 12 balls of about 80–85 g. Set on two lined trays 5 cm apart and flatten slightly. Press a well into the centre of each with the base of a glass, leaving a 1.5 cm rim. Put a heaped tablespoon of cheese into each well.
A well with a glass, cheese in the middleSecond rise and crumble
Cover and leave 25 minutes. Heat the oven to 180 °C. Rub the crumble together from flour, sugar and cold butter. Brush the rims with beaten egg and sprinkle with crumble, avoiding the cheese.
Ingredients: 60 g plain flour · 40 g sugar · 40 g cold butter · 1 pcs egg
Egg on the rims, crumble around the cheeseBake
180 °C, conventional, middle shelf, 18–22 minutes, until the rims are golden and the cheese lightly set. Bake one tray at a time, not two at once — keep the second one somewhere cooler meanwhile so the buns don't over-prove. Both trays take about 40 minutes in total.
Golden rims, set cheeseCool briefly and eat
Cool 10 minutes on a rack. Warm is best. Keep in a cool place under a cloth for up to 2 days (in the fridge in hot weather); 10 seconds in the microwave brings the fluff back.
A warm bun with coffee
Before you start
With fruit
Instead of cheese: plum halves, apricots, blueberries tossed with a spoon of starch. Or cheese with fruit on top.
Making ahead
Shaped, filled buns can go into the fridge overnight before the second rise. In the morning, 45 minutes at room temperature, then bake.
The dough rises slowly
Too cold, or the yeast is old. Put it in the oven with only the light on and give it time. Don't shorten the rise.
