History

Buchteln came to Vienna from the Bohemian half of the empire, becoming a late-night Wiener Mehlspeise served from the Kaffeehaus oven. Cafe Hawelka on Dorotheergasse has run the canonical version since 1939 to a recipe by Josefine Hawelka, the family kitchen turning them out fresh in the late evening from 20:00 onwards.

Common allergens: Gluten, Egg, Dairy

Make it at home

Yield 16Hands-on 35 minTotal 3 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 500g plain flour
  • 10g instant dried yeast
  • 70g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 250ml whole milk, warm
  • 80g unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 300g apricot jam (or thick plum jam, Powidl)
  • 100g unsalted butter, melted, for brushing
  • 500ml whole milk (for vanilla sauce)
  • 1 vanilla pod, split
  • 5 egg yolks (for vanilla sauce)
  • 70g caster sugar (for vanilla sauce)
  • 1 tbsp cornflour
  • Icing sugar, to dust

Method

  1. Combine flour, yeast, sugar, salt and lemon zest in a stand mixer.
  2. Add the warm milk, egg yolks and softened butter. Knead on medium for 8 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
  3. Cover and prove until doubled, about 90 minutes.
  4. Knock back and divide into 16 pieces (about 55g each). Flatten each piece into a 9cm circle on a lightly floured surface.
  5. Place a teaspoon of cold jam in the centre. Pinch the edges firmly together to seal into a ball.
  6. Brush a 22cm cake tin with half the melted butter. Place the buchteln seam-down in the tin, almost touching. Brush the tops with the remaining butter.
  7. Cover and prove 30 to 40 minutes until puffy. Heat the oven to 180C.
  8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until deep gold and a skewer in the centre comes out clean of dough.
  9. Meanwhile, make the vanilla sauce. Warm the milk with the vanilla. Whisk yolks, sugar and cornflour, pour the warm milk over, then return to the pan and cook over low heat, whisking, until just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not boil.
  10. Dust the warm buchteln with icing sugar, pull them apart at the seams, and serve in deep bowls with the hot vanilla sauce poured over.

Tip from the editors. Buchteln are eaten warm from the oven; the dough goes dry by the next day. The apricot jam must be thick (jam, not coulis) or it leaks through the proving.

Where to eat buchteln

Buchteln in Vienna

Cafe Hawelka ★ 4.8

Cafe€€innere-stadtUntil 00:00 Mon-Thu, 01:00 Fri-Sat

Cafe Hawelka on Dorotheergasse runs every night until midnight on weekdays and 01:00 on weekends, the famous 22:00 warm-Buchteln service the late fixture.

Try: Buchteln with vanilla sauce

Tip: Be in the parlour by 22:00 for the Buchteln service; the room fills with the city's old guard.

Dorotheergasse 6, 1010 Wien

Cafe Landtmann ★ 4.4

Café€innere-stadtWork-friendlyWifi

Cafe Landtmann on Universitaetsring in Vienna has poured at the Burgtheater corner since 1873, Sigmund Freud's preferred coffeehouse with a long carte.

Signature drink: Grosser Brauner

Tip: Open daily 07:30 to midnight; the front-room bench seats face the Burgtheater across the Ring.

Universitaetsring 4, 1010 Wien

Cafe Sperl ★ 4.5

Café€mariahilfWork-friendlyWifi

Cafe Sperl on Gumpendorfer Strasse in Vienna's Mariahilf has poured since 1880, the bentwood Thonet chairs, parquet. At Gumpendorfer Strasse 11.

Signature drink: Melange

Tip: The carambole tables at the back are still in play; ask the kitchen for a Sperl Torte with your Melange.

Gumpendorfer Strasse 11, 1060 Wien

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