Swiss Bürli or the Magical Sunday Rolls

Some times in life are a little louder and more uncomfortable than others.
Just now is such a time. Not quite comfortable and unplanned demanding.

A total contrast, in fact are these incredibly delicious, uncomplicated and just wonderful Swiss Bürli. A pure pleasure after sleepless nights, a fragrant-fine morning ritual on Sunday, or simply because flour is still in the pantry and yeast, and because they go so easily. A recipe that happens honestly between heating the espresso machine and jumping out of the shower and which ensures that a fantastic scent rolls through your house in the first half hour in the morning.

The secret is in the dough that is quickly kneaded together the night before and then rises in the fridge overnight. For real! One would think that does not work, but this one really is the ultimate, ‘I-can-bake-no-bread’ bun recipe.

Sunday rolls for Dummies, almost. And who even is as lucky to own a magic machine like a Thermomix, may justly claim the preparation of 3 minutes only. All others must increase that to 5 plus a little time to clean the stirrers and store away the scale.
The recipe is incredibly conjugable, but also very convincing because of its simplicity, a pound of flour is mixed with a half a packet of yeast, plus a distinct lot of good salt and lukewarm water. Knead that and done. The rest in the refrigerator overnight ensures slow growth of yeasts. The next morning the oven is preheated, the dough dusted with flour, the Bürli each parted-off (no kneading!) and they are either put into the oven just like that or rewarded with an extra rising time of 15 minutes on the baking tray. This approach yields to fragrant, bread rolls either way. And over with leaving the house for a trip to the bakery early morning.
The flour can be mixed, we prefer wholemeal rye flour with spelt flour, dry yeast works just as fine (well, hello you spontaneously-on-saturday-night-baker) and who has more desire for a small loaf of bread instead of rolls, places the dough just as a whole lovingly on baking paper. If there are a couple of walnuts hanging around in your kitchen, then you could throw them in of course, but – really: it does not need that.

I discovered my Bürli Love thanks to lovely Heike, my Bürli Sister, who not only presents fine recipes on her blog relleomein, but has evolved in the last year to become my personal Queen of tidiness, the German Martha Stewart of the Youtube scene. If you from time to time are looking for a brilliant idea for more order and decluttering your own home you are going to be truly inspired by Heike.

To go with our fragrant Swiss friends I recommend homemade Honey Butter, another recipe off the reel, that dissolves very flattering on the hot buns in all life situations.
My first encounter with Honey Butter is already back half a life, when I spent a whole year with a wonderful host family in the Midwestern United States. Since there has been much cooking goin on in the family I met all sorts of new dishes and also the man-sized fridge was full of products, that caught my curious eye. One of them was Honey Butter, a simple and surprising combination that often found its way onto delicate Buttermilk Biscuits as an accompaniment to a cooked dinner.
It is super quickly made, simply mix butter with a little honey (2:1 ratio) add a pinch of salt and put away in the fridge. If you like it less sweet, adjust the honey, in the winter I can imagine a little ground cinnamon with this, too.

Swiss Bürli (inspired by Heike)
Recipe for 8-10 rolls

_ 500g flour (eg 200g wholemeal rye flour, 200g spelt flour, 100g wholemeal spelt flour)
_ ½ packet of fresh yeast
_ 340ml lukewarm water
_ 2 level tsp good quality salt or 11g

and here’s how:
_ dissolve yeast in the warm water.
_ mix flour and salt in a bowl.
_ add yeasty water and knead briefly to a homogeneous dough, if necessary add a little more flour or liquid.
_ Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator overnight.
_ The next day, preheat the oven to 200-220 degrees Celcius.
_ take dough out of the fridge, sprinkle with flour, part-off with a spoon portions and put directly onto a lined baking tray. No kneading!
_ Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until browned and crisp.

Honey Butter
_ 2 tablespoons butter
_ 1 tablespoon honey
_ 1 pinch good quality salt

_ mix to taste, refrigerate until consumed, enjoy on the warm Swiss Bürli.

And just like that life feels a bit warmer and bit softer.