Vatrushka (Sweet Curd Cheese Buns)

Name: Vatrushka (Sweet Curd Cheese Buns)
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Russian
Ingredients: 500 g Strong white bread flour; 250 ml Milk, warm; 7 g Instant yeast; 70 g Sugar, for the dough; 80 g Butter, softened; 2 Eggs, for the dough; 1 tsp Salt; 500 g Tvorog (dry curd cheese), pressed dry; 1 Egg yolk, for the filling; 80 g Sugar, for the filling; 2 tbsp Semolina or cornflour, for the filling; 1 tsp Vanilla and lemon zest; 60 g Raisins (optional); 1 Egg, beaten, for glazing

A ring of sweet yeast dough with a well pressed into the middle, filled with sweetened tvorog and sometimes raisins, baked until the rim is brown and the cheese has set just short of cracking. Eight centimetres across, one to a person, and gone before the tea is poured.

Source

Recette de Russian home kitchens · 🏺 Traditionnel · Cabbage, potato, cucumber and dill, a pot of soup that is always on, and a spoon of smetana on top of most of it.

Russia · the bun with a well in it — An ownerless traditional pastry, so no cook is credited. The cited article confirms vatrushka as an Eastern European pastry (pirog) characterised by a ring-shape of dough with the traditional white cheese tvorog in the middle, sometimes with raisins or bits of fruit, most commonly 5–10 cm in diameter though larger versions exist, typically baked from a sweet yeast bread dough, with savoury varieties made from unsweetened dough with onion added to the filling. The semolina in the filling, the fill-level rule, timings and quantities are this book's own.

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⏱ 150 min🍽 12 portions🔥 280 kcal🇷🇺 Russie

VégétarienSans fruits à coque

Étapes

Mix the flour, milk, yeast, sugar, eggs, salt and softened butter into a soft dough. Knead 10 minutes, cover and prove 1 hour until doubled.
Filling: press the tvorog through a sieve, then beat in the yolk, sugar, semolina, vanilla, zest and raisins. It should be thick enough to hold a peak.
💡 The semolina is the insurance. It absorbs the whey the cheese gives up in the oven, which is what stops the filling weeping into the dough.
Knock the dough back and divide into 12. Roll each into a ball, flatten to 9 cm and set on lined trays. Prove 30 minutes.
Press a glass or the bottom of a jar into the centre of each to make a well 5 cm across, leaving a fat rim. Spoon the filling in level with the rim.
Glaze the rim with beaten egg and bake at 190 °C for 18–20 minutes until the dough is brown and the filling is set but still pale.

💡 Astuces

Fill level, never heaped. A mounded filling cracks and slides off the side as the dough rises under it.
The savoury kind uses unsweetened dough with onion in the filling, and is eaten with soup rather than tea.