CZECH BREAKFAST BUNS

Pillowy poppy seed brioche rolls with curd cheese and jam — an early Easter bake from Irina Georgescu's newest book, Danube.

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Hello, and happy almost spring!

I took last week off from writing after launching a creative project that took months (years!) of research. While I was away tending house/children/self, the snow thawed, and the birds returned with their song. Did you know that birdsong can reduce anxiety and even help you sleep better¹? This week, I felt it every time I stepped outside.

Our year is already going fast—our Sunday ski trips melting into shopping dates, soccer tournaments, and mental prep for Easter. My “baby” turns ten in just seven days. Every moment/holiday feels like a potential last—the last time he will crawl in my lap, the last time he may tuck his elves in bed at Christmas, the last time he hunts for his eggs like a hungry wolf (soon, like his sister, he’ll pass the eggs balanced in the wood stacks in plain sight for someone smaller to find).

I want to make this Easter extra special. I want to bake and fill our house with traditional treats from Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, and every part of the world where Easter is still celebrated as a sacred ritual, with days of preparation and long, food-filled festivities.

Soon, I’ll share some traditional Hungarian Easter traditions, but today, I have a pre-Easter offering from a friend and fellow cookbook author Irina Georgescu. I had the pleasure of interviewing Irina, who is Romanian-born but living in Wales, or the launch of her beloved baking book, Tava: Eastern European Baking and Desserts from Romania and Beyond. Her latest book, Danube: Recipes and Stories from Eastern Europe, just hit shelves, and it is another gem, full of story, history, and recipes that will make you want to slow down.

When I first heard the title of Irina’s new book, I assumed it would be chock full of Hungarian recipes—after all, the Danube runs right through the center of Budapest. But like all Irina’s books, the focus is primarily Romanian, with long legs into the many other cultures that have touched Romanian soil. In her words:

“My ancestral home, Romania, has a complex history and an eclectic fabric that reflects the tumultuous past of these Eastern river lands. Here, the Danube forms most of its lower basin, turning into a beautiful delta before it joins the Black Sea.

In her previous books, Carpathia and Tava, Irina writes about the 18 major ethnic groups in Romania—from Armenians to the Székelys and Magyars (both Hungarian) in Transylvania, to Germans, Jews, Greeks, and Turks—making writing about the food of this land anything but black in white. In Danube, she also explores traditional Serbian, Bulgarian, and Czech foods. The regions around the Danube are some of Eastern Europe’s most ethnically diverse.

There are oodles of savory recipes in Danube that caught my eye, but her recipe for Bucte cu trei haine, or Brioche Buns with “Three Jackets” (pictured top, recipe below), called to me because they reminded me so much of the pastry and rolls we eat in Hungary: often soft, pillowy doughs, with lots of curd cheeses, fresh house-made jellies and, of course, poppy seeds.

Many of the shaped breads from this part of the world have meaning and purpose—a ritual behind them. For example, of the Svinta Festive Bread in Danube (the braided bread pictured below), found in one of the Romanian Serbian villages in the Iron Gates region, she writes:

After the blessing at church, every member of the family holds a little corner of the loaf, tearing it apart together, reasserting and renewing their bond for another year.

This is a probable distant relative to challah or German braided bread—also enriched, braided loaves originally associated with religious or festive occasions.

Photo by Nomadic Julien on Unsplash

The aforementioned Brioche Buns with “Three Jackets”, which I’m calling Czek Breakfast Buns for our purposes today (a title I hope Irina would bless!) are from Gernik, one of the Czech villages in Romania, where they are made and served for breakfast or with afternoon coffee. They hit like a cross between a brioche roll and a Danish; the farmer’s cheese and jelly work together for a delectable treat. They have all the flavors we love from our visits to Central and Eastern Europe and are easier to prepare than many of our favorite similar treats from Hungary.

While these buns aren’t expressly for Easter—in fact, Irina makes no mention of the holiday in the text about these rolls, I felt like they would be a fine hot-cross-bun substitute, perhaps something my family will adopt and adapt in the coming weeks.

Photo by Czapp Botond on Unsplash

Likewise, the savory bits in the book—oodles of them—read like comfort and discovery to me: noodles, beans, braised bitter greens, chicken, dumplings, and so much more that feel both familiar and new at once.

This isn’t surprising. There’s plenty of overlap between Romanian and Hungarian cuisine; the two countries share some history—both built of a constellation of cultures (as Irina so beautifully writes). The borders of both countries—like those of Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia, and Italy—are fairly modern, having been laid after the Treaty of Trianon in 1920.

It’s a joy to continue to untangle the threads from these regions, how they overlap and create a webbing that holds the people of these lands together—something that makes expats from these lands (like my husband) as well as regular visitors to them (like me) feel right at home.

Irina’s recipe is below, along with my hearty recommendation to find a home for Danube, Carpathia, or Tava on your shelves. They are love letters to Central and Eastern Europe, a region many Americans are only beginning to truly understand. As Irina says:

“Every community has a present and a future, which also depend on you reading about them. Their story needs to be known.”

Thank you, Irina! And thank you, readers, for showing up for these stories.

xx

Sarah

Czech Breakfast Buns with Poppy Seeds, Curd Cheese, and Jam

Adapted with permission from Danube, by Irina Georgescu Copyright © (Hardie Grant 2025)

Gerník is one of the Czech villages in Romania where the locals bake these ‘buns with three jackets,’ referring to the three fillings that go in the middle. The buns are served for breakfast or as an easy pick-me-up in the afternoon with a cup of coffee.

For the Dough

• scant 1⁄2 cup (110 ml) full-fat milk, warmed to 100 degrees F

• 3 tablespoons (40g) superfine sugar

• 1 sachet (7 g) fast-action dried yeast*

• 2 1/4 cups (10 oz/275 g) all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

• a pinch of salt

• 1 medium egg

• scant 2 tablespoons melted butter

For the Filling

• 1/2 cup (4 oz /120 g) cottage cheese or farmer’s cheese

• 1 medium egg yolk

• 4 teaspoons ( 3⁄4 oz/20 g) superfine sugar

• zest of 1 small lemon

• 1 tablespoon (1⁄2 oz / 10 g) poppy seeds, plus extra

• 1/2 cup (4 oz/120 g) jam

To Glaze

• 1 medium egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon water

Method:

1. First, make the dough. Sprinkle the sugar and yeast over the warm yeast and set aside to let the yeast bloom (or start to thicken and puff) for about 10 minutes. Next, whisk together the flour and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough attachment (or use a metal bowl and have a dough whisk handy). Add the egg and melted butter to the milk/yeast mixture and wish together. Stir into the flour and beat with a dough hook until it forms a cohesive dough. Knead with a dough hook for about 2 minutes or with your hands on a lightly floured board until smooth and supple. Return to a buttered or oiled boil, cover the bowl, and leave to proof in a warm place until risen and supple, about 50 minutes.

2. To make the filling, mix the cottage cheese with the egg yolk, sugar, lemon zest, and poppy seeds. Set aside.

3. When the dough has been proofed, divide it into 12 equal balls, working on a lightly floured work surface as needed. Separate the dough balls on a parchment-lined large baking sheet, leaving space between them. Cover and leave for 15 minutes in a warm place.

4. Preheat the oven to 325°F/170°C fan (gas 3).

5. Dip a teaspoon in flour and make a well in the middle of each ball, pressing down and then around to form a disc with raised edges. You can then use the base of a small glass to make the initial well larger (this is where the filling will go!). Dip the glass in flour so it doesn’t stick, then stamp it into each dough ball, creating a wide well for the fillings. Brush with the egg wash all over, especially around the edges.

6. Place 1 teaspoon of the cheese mixture in the middle of each bun, followed by 1 teaspoon of jam. Sprinkle some extra poppy seeds on top.

7. Bake on a lower shelf of the oven until the dough is puffed and the edges are beautifully golden about 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack, and serve warm.

Makes 12 medium size buns

*COOK’S NOTE: Be sure to check the date on your yeast packaging that it is fresh! If fresh, the warm water should activate and bring it to life; you will see the dough proof easily and expand rapidly in size during the first 45 minute rise.

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Recipe Photos Copyright ©Issy Crocker (Hardie Grant 2025)

1. Facts about birdsong: A 2022 study published in Scientific Reports found that listening to birdsong significantly lowered stress and anxiety levels in participants, even in urban settings. A 2023 study from King’s College London found that hearing birds improved mental well-being, particularly in those with depression, with positive effects lasting for hours. It has also been indicated to have links to improved cognitive function, enhancing attention, memory, and mental clarity, along with reduced cortisol levels and better sleep. Thank God for birds!