Soft buns with filling

It's amazing how many people return to baking their own bread. Hardly surprising though! Nothing compares to the smell of freshly baked bread coming out of your oven! Kneading has been one of my favorite activities in the kitchen and I'm always up for it. So, whenever someone from my family or friends gives a hint that they'd like to have some home-baked bread, I'm up for it. Like today.

Usually I use only feta cheese for the filling, but today I decided to add a bit of extra flavor to it. Some of the buns were with feta cheese, spearmint and basil filling, others with feta cheese and double concentrated tomato pure, and the third ones with feta cheese and garlic.

Ingredients

250 ml milk

25 g. fresh yeast

2 eggs

30 g. soft butter

1 tb. sp. sugar

1 t. sp. salt

flour (as much as it takes to form soft dough - approx. 500 g.)

125 g. feta cheese

double concentrated tomato pure

basil

spearmint

minced garlic

Method

1. Heat the milk until its lukewarm. Then add the yeast, 1 tb. sp. flour and the sugar in 150 ml. milk and stir until everything integrates. Set aside for about 10 min. until the yeast doubles its volume.

2. Sift the flour in a large bowl. Add the salt, the eggs, the remaining milk and the yeast. Start kneading.

3. Little by little add the butter. Continue kneading for about 10 minutes or until the dough feels soft, but not sticky. Hit the dough 100 times on the counter (It's an old trick shared by elderly women and bread bakers in Bulgaria. It helps the flour integrate better.)

4. Let the dough rest for about 40 min. in a greased bowl and covered with a towel.

5. Separate the dough in 8 parts. Roll them out to form rectangulars. Put from the filling I've suggested or whichever you prefer. Fold the rectangulars and extend them until they become like ropes. Be careful that the filling doesn't come out of the dough. Then either form knots or "snails".

6. Add 1 tb. sp. milk to 1 egg yolk and whisk them together. Spread the mixture on top of the buns and sprinkle with sunflower seeds, sesame or poppy seeds.

6. Bake in a 200 C oven until ready.

I also made two buns (picture below), which had no special form and the filling was just in the middle. I'm not sure whether I liked them most because of their feta cheese, basil and spearmint filling or because the bread tastes better without much feeling, but they have officially become #1 bun. Decorating them was also very entertaining and I recommend it was an activity to moms with children. Your little helpers could have a whole independent role in the process of baking buns. Enjoy! :)