February is the peak time of Masopust, Shrovetide or Carnival season featuring pig-slaughters, festivities with mask parades and plates full of donuts and buchteln, traditional Czech yeast buns. This three-week period takes place between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday, a day marking the beginning of a 40-day Lent Season before Easter.
The period culminates during the last three days, time of great feasting. People have to enjoy plentiful supply of good food before the upcoming Lent period. The festivity starts on Shrove Sunday with a generous lunch, traditionally including meat dishes, such as jitrnice (liverwurst), sausages and bacon, pastries like fried donuts or “boží milosti” (God’s grace) and, last but not least, plum brandy to make you feel warm. Dancing balls used to be organized on Shrove Monday, followed by mask processions on Tuesday. At midnight the revelry time was over and Lent period began, with meat dishes replaced by lentils, bread, eggs and potatoes.
The tradition of merry mask parades, or Shrovetide processions, has continued in some regions until these days. Since 2010, mask parades held annually in the villages of Hlinecko region became part of UNESCO World Heritage, the aim being to preserve the intangible cultural heritage of local people. In other parts these traditions have nearly disappeared, though during this time most people still enjoy easting traditional jitrnice (liverwurst) and buchteln (yeast buns), considering them integral part of this period of carnival festivities.
Procedure
Mix the yeast with a bit of sugar and lukewarm milk and put the mixture on a warm place to let the yeast ferment. Melt the butter in the rest of the lukewarm milk.
Put the flour with a pinch of salt into a bowl, add the remaining sugar, egg yolks, some vanilla grains or a bit of vanilla sugar and some grated lemon zest. Pour in the warm milk with melted butter and the fermented yeast mixture. Knead until having smooth dough, sprinkle with some flour and let rise until doubled in bulk.
In the meantime, prepare the filling. To make quark filling, beat the quark with sugar and egg yolks until smooth. Soak raisins in rum, sieve and blend in the mixture. To make plum-jam filling, mix the jam with a bit of rum. Making poppy seed filling is the trickiest. Mix ground poppy seed with milk and sugar, cinnamon and vanilla, cook the mixture over low heat and finally add raisins, bit of rum and cocoa for better taste. Let it cool.
When the dough is ready, put it on floured pastry board. You can either roll the dough to a thicker layer and divide it to get equal square pieces, or, using a tablespoon, pinch off balls directly from the dough to make flat square pieces. Place a tablespoon of filling onto the centre of each square piece, bend the edges over the filling, press together using your fingers and make a roll. Grease the bun with melted butter and place it into a baking pan, one next to another. Finally, brush some more melted butter over the top of all of them. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 25-30 minutes, until they take golden-brown colour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.
Extra tip:
Next time when you bake the buns, try brushing them with a mixture of melted butter and rum in the end, to give them better taste and smell and long-lasting smoothness.