Croatians love bread. We eat it every day, and almost every meal contains some kind of bread. So when you don’t have the opportunity to buy fresh bread every day it’s time to get creative.

Baking Bread At Home

Living in a remote village without a car can be a bit tricky for groceries which you should buy fresh every day. The only store in the village offers fresh bread only an hour or two in the morning, so there are very big chances you could return home empty-handed. Also, the prices of bread in the past couple of years have gone through the roof, so 5 years ago we decided to bake our own bread.

I started by making a small loaf of bread made in a bread maker which I baked every 2 days, but after a couple of years, we decided we had enough of this kind of bread and decided to try something new. This is why this year I decided to start baking little buns.

Weekly Amount Of Buns

At first, I started making buns every day, but since we noticed that we eat much less bread since I’m baking buns, I decided to try and make enough for an entire week. The problem with weekly buns is that if you leave them outside for 7 days they turn into a rock, so I needed a way to bake them and store them for the entire week. This is when I decided to make smaller buns, which can freeze easily and melt and warm in the microwave in just a couple of seconds.

I’ve tested many different recipes and methods and found a recipe that works great for me. It’s easily made, doesn’t require precise ingredients and the buns stay fresh for days. They can be even kept in the refrigerator and as soon as you warm them they are as soft as they were in the beginning. I can even use any kind of flour and they always turn out great.

Recipe For My Weekly Buns

Ingredients:

• 650gr(22.9oz) of flour
• 250ml(1 cup) of water
• 100ml(0.4cup) of yogurt
• 100ml(0.4cup) of milk
• 80gr (0.4cup) of “fat” (oil, butter, margarine, lard)
• 2 teaspoons of dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar

Recipe:

• Mix together the dry ingredients(flour, yeast, salt, and sugar). You can use any kind of flour. I prefer to mix rye flour with all-purpose flour(50%/50%) or whole grain and all-purpose flour.
• After mixing the dry ingredients add milk, yogurt, and warm water together with fat and knead the dough. I usually use margarine since I always have it at home. Also, butter and oil are very expensive here so this is the cheapest option. Milk and yogurt are also optional. When I don’t have enough yogurt at home I use only milk. As long as there is 200ml of some kind of dairy liquid the buns will be soft.

• When the dough is done leave it to rise for an hour or two, depending on the room temperature. During winter the dough rises slower and needs two hours, but when summer approaches it can be done in just an hour.

• After rising get the dough out on the table and after a very short kneading make buns. This dough is very soft and doesn’t need much kneading. Just a couple of presses will be enough. If the dough is too sticky add more flour. It should be soft and easily manipulated, but not too firm, or the buns will be hard.

• Once the buns are made leave them to rest for 20 minutes. I leave them to rest until the oven preheats.
• Preheat the oven to 225°C(437°F) or 200°C(392°F) if you have a fan oven. My oven is a fan oven and 225°C is slightly too high, so I always bake them at 200°C
• The buns should be baked after 15-20 minutes or as soon as they turn brown and start sounding hollow. No matter the shape of the bun, they always bake for about 20 minutes. I even tried making the whole dough in one big piece of bread and it was baked after 20 minutes.
• Once baked take them out of the oven, move them on a big cloth(I use old sheets), and wrap the buns in the cloth.
• Leave them to cool down completely

Cool buns can be stored in the refrigerator, pantry, or frozen in the freezer. The shape of the bun will determine how long it will take to defrost. I usually make a lot of small buns, this way they defrost in a couple of seconds and we can heat the buns during the meal if we need more.

These buns are right now my favorite buns. I make different shapes every time I make them. They taste great both with sweet and salty meals. Another great thing is that we eat less bread, but enjoy them more than the normal loaf of bread.