Chapter Five: Let’s Eat!

Jagodzianki (Blueberry Buns):

Even a hurried breakfast at the Temple of the Seldarine would surely be memorable. An Elven-made morning feast would naturally be delicious, filling, visually striking, and conveniently portable for a Paladin with a packed schedule. Imagining how all this would translate to our world, I settled on Jagodzianki for this chapter’s recipe.

These are much-loved and traditional blueberry-filled buns from Poland. The dough is a sweet, buttery, yeast-based mixture; very brioche-like. And the sugared fruits that fills these rolls to bursting (literally and fairly frequently, depending on how greedily you stuff them) are flavor-dense wild blueberries. These are tinier than the fruit available here (American-style blueberries are known in Poland, very helpfully, as “Canadian berries”). The Polish blueberries are more intensely purple and fragrant. They grow on just-taller-than-ankle-height bushes that form a soft silvery-green undergrowth layer in many forests. In the summer, heading to the woods to pick blueberries is a favorite pastime for many families. Right up there with foraging for mushrooms. 

The berries are eaten fresh and are also used in many sweet dishes: from creamy fruit soups to jellies to cakes. The fruit is also preserved and these rolls can be made with either fresh berries, frozen blueberries, or even blueberry preserves.

I am using the recipe from Menu Dorotki (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78xi6dpNJN4), lit. Dorothy’s Menu. Watching her YouTube channel is like peacefully meditating while also receiving a meticulously detailed lesson in cooking. She has a very serene presence, is very detail-oriented and organized, and demonstrates all twists and turns of all recipes with a thoroughness and calm that is quite awe-inspiring. For a mellow and unflappable teacher of Polish cooking (in Polish), I cannot recommend her highly enough.

The changes that I made were to increase the amount of butter used, both in the main dough and in the crumble. It may be because American butter has a lower fat content, or because my flour is different, but I found that, the crumble especially, is too dry and powdery with the recommended fat content. I will include both amounts – you can determine which you prefer.

Makes 6-10, depending on whether you are going for cheerful gluttony or dainty elegance.

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

300g/2 1/3 cups AP flour

5g/1 tsp kosher salt

60g/1/2 cup icing sugar

10g/2tsp active dry yeast (or 20g/4tsp fresh yeast or 7g/1.5tsp instant yeast)

1 large egg, room temperature

30g/2tblsp butter, softened to room temperature (I used 45g/3tblsp)

125ml/1/2 cup whole milk

For the Crumble:

45g/1/3 cup AP flour

30g/2tblsp sugar

30g/2 tblsp butter (I used 60g/4tblsp)

1.25g/1/4tsp kosher salt

For the filling:

300g/1 1/4 cup fresh blueberries

10g/2tsp vanilla pudding powder

10g/2tsp icing sugar

To finish the rolls:

1 large egg, whisked until homogenous.

Method:

1. Begin by making the starter for the dough (use the ingredients listed for making the dough for this part). In a microwave-safe container, or on a small pot on the stove top, warm the whole milk until it reaches 30-33C/86-90F. Add in 30g/1tblsp of the flour, 10g/2tsp of the icing sugar, and the yeast. Mix all this together, cover, and leave in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make the crumble topping by combining the flour, butter, sugar, and salt in the food processor. Pulse until a lumpy, uneven, pale yellow mixture forms. Place in a bowl and set aside in a cold place (fridge, or, even better, freezer) until ready to use.
3. Good news! No need to wash the food processor bowl! Just add all the remaining flour for the dough into the processor and pulse a few times to aerate. Add in the remaining icing sugar, the salt, and the butter. Mix until combined. Finally, add in the egg and, once again, mix until combined. Tip this powdery mixture into a large bowl and let is sit until your starter is ready.
4. Meanwhile, wash your blueberries and dry well with a towel. Combine the pudding powder and icing sugar in a bowl and toss thoroughly with the berries. Set aside until ready to fill the rolls.
5. When the starter has risen to bubbly heights, pour it all into the waiting flour/salt/sugar/butter/egg mixture in your large bowl. Working this together will result in a ragged and sticky mass of dough. Knead (either in the bowl, or on the counter, as you prefer) for 5-10 minutes. Pictured below is my dough after 7 minutes. By then it had come together beautifully into a glossy and springy mass. Not sticky at all beyond a friendly tackiness: it did not adhere to the surface of the counter but was easy to seal closed when the time came to fill the rolls. Leave your kneaded dough to rise, covered, in a warm place for at least 1 hour or until roughly doubled in size.
6. Preheat the oven to 165C/350F and position a shelf in the middle rack. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and keep close by in readiness to receive your rolls.
7. When the dough has risen, gently give it a few more folds, and then divide into as many pieces as you prefer. For very large rolls, divide into six. For medium-large, into eight. For more elegant, Elven-style buns, go with ten. Roll into balls
8. Stretch and pull each dough ball into a flat pancake, approximately 10cm/4inches in diameter. Place a few generous spoonfuls of berries into the dough round and carefully bring the edges around the filling, pinching them shut. Squeeze and crimp as needed to make sure that the dough is sticking well to itself and that no berries are peeking through. Handle the roll gently but do not panic if the dough tears. It is soft and easy to patch right up again. Pat and roll the filled bun as you wish: either into a round roll or into a more oval shape. Once sealed and shaped, place the roll seam-side down on your parchment paper-lined sheet. Repeat with remaining dough balls and berries.
9. Cover the baking sheet with a towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes
10. Just before baking, brush the risen rolls with the whisked egg. Take your crumble out from the fridge or freezer and distribute generously over the tops of the rolls. This recipe makes a great deal of crumble but, for many of us, it is the best part of this bake (I always sneak some of the raw stuff: it is the same treat for me that illicit bits of uncooked chocolate chip cookies dough are for my American family).
11. Bake the rolls for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pan half-way through. The crumble will remain pale but the rolls are done when they are golden brown. And, more often than not, when there is at least one purple Vesuvius of berry juices erupting from that one bun that did not withstand the (over) stuffing process!
12. Allow to cool and devour before your rich, full day of saving the world…

Notes: These are best eaten fresh, on the day that they are baked and, ideally, still warm from the oven. They can be refreshed in the toaster or frozen and then reheated in a 165C/350F over for 10 minutes.