Dave Child's Workshop

Weggli

Whenever I've been on holiday to Switzerland or France, there have always been, alongside the croissants and pains au chocolate, these lovely little buns. They're a little sweet, and thoroughly delicious. And thanks to the Little Zurich Kitchen, I've finally been able to make my own. It turns out they're called "weggli", and this is the Little Zurich Kitchen recipe with a few little tweaks that I made for my own kitchen/oven/environment.

Eat these for breakfast with butter or jam. Or however you like. You're a grown-up, you can handle your own bread decisions.

Ingredients

  • 500g plain flour
  • 300ml milk (lukewarm)
  • 14g instant yeast (2 sachets, or 30g fresh yeast)
  • 55g unsalted butter, soft
  • 12g salt
  • 10g golden caster sugar
  • 1 egg (do not add the egg to the dough, it’s for later)

Method

  • Put all dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well so the yeast is not directly next to the salt.
  • Add the soft butter in small pieces. Add milk.
  • Mix everything into a soft dough. Knead the dough for 10 minutes in a kitchen machine or 15 minutes by hand. The dough is kneaded enough when it passes the ‘window test’: if you stretch the dough it doesn’t break until you can look through like a window (see photo).
  • Form a ball, but it back into the bowl and cover the bowl with a lid or tea towel. Let it rest until it’s doubled in size. This will take around 40-60 minutes or more if it’s cold in your kitchen, or less if it’s very warm.
  • Then take the dough out of the bowl, press the air out and cut it into 12 equal pieces. You can either weigh each piece (75g) or just shape the dough into a roll and cut it into 12 equally large pieces.
  • Shape every piece into a ball. Place the balls on a baking tray covered in greased baking parchment. Cover the tray with a tea towel or put it into a plastic bag if you happen to have such a big bag. Let the buns prove for another 30 minutes. Then press a small stick into each bun. You can press it down quite hard until the baking parchment shimmers through the dough.
  • Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C (430 degrees F), fan 200C / 390F.
  • Crack the egg, add a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar and whisk the mixture. Brush the buns with the egg wash.
  • Bake the buns for 12-15 minutes until they look golden brown. These buns are best eaten on the same day or next.

Gallery

4 October 2020   |   food, bread, recipe