Here is the recipe for žemlovka. The word žemla means bread roll so the closest I could come up with when translating the name of this delicacy was “bread pie”. This probably is not a bad name, given that it’s made with pieces of bread instead of dough. This is the closest food item we have in Slovakia to the American apple pie. However, žemlovka doesn’t need to be made with apples. It’s also delicious with nectarines, plums or pears. But apple is the most common filling and so that’s how we prepared it today. I made this dish with the help of my mom and my grandma, who yesterday prepared the very delicious apple pancakes.

We made the pie with rožky, little baguette-like bread rolls. These are not sold in America, but any Italian-style white bread should work fine. But if you feel adventurous, you can bake your own bread rolls. It’s better if the bread is a day old, so its easier to cut.

Start by cutting apples (jablká) into few pieces and removing the pits and the seeds. Shred the apples using a food processor or a hand grater. Then add 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar (práškový cukor) and about a teaspoon of cinnamon (škorica).

Also add about a handful of raisins (hrozienka) and mix together. All this is done to taste so don’t worry if you deviate from these amounts. Next prepare the cheese filling by mixing the farmer’s cheese (tvaroh) with another 2 tablespoons (again to taste) of powdered sugar.

Now cut up the bread rolls (rožky) into circles about quarter inch thick. These will be soaked in a sauce prepared from 4 yolks, 1 quart of milk and 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar. Save the whites, you will use them later.

Grease a deep baking pan well all around with butter. Then dust a thin layer of of finely ground bread crumbs (strúhanka) all around the pan. Then place about a handful of the sliced bread rolls in the egg sauce. Let them soak for few seconds, and then squeeze out much of the liquid. Place the rolls on the bottom of the baking pan to make the bottom layer. Do this with half of the bread rolls. Save the other half for later.

Then add a layer of the fruit mixture and then another of the cheese filling.

Finally, place the other half of rolls in the sauce. Let them soak up all the liquid. Then scoop them into the baking pan and make another bread layer. Then generously spread slices of butter (masľo) on this top layer. Bake in a preheat hot oven.

The baking time will vary depending on the size of your pie, but it will take about an hour. You want the top to be crunchy and golden brown. But if not sure, just take out a small spoonful and taste it. Once the pie is done, beat the egg whites (bielka) mixed with few spoons of powdered sugar into a stiff snow. Spread this evenly on the top.

Bake for another 10-or-so minutes. Let cool down before cutting.

One of the peculiarities of the Slovak kitchen is that we often eat sweet dishes for the main course (eg. plum dumplings or poppy seed noodles). Žemlovka is no exception. Although this dish resembles the apple pie, it is eaten as the main entrée, typically following some sour soup. From the picture above, you can see that this is exactly how we had this dish today. It followed a really delicious sour mushroom soup prepared by my aunt Soňa, who previously prepared the stuffed peppers.

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Tvarožník is a cake made using tvaroh or farmer’s cheese. It is basically cottage cheese from which all the juice (whey) has been squeezed out. My grandma made this cake from the same sweet leavened dough she used to make orechovník (nut roll) and makovník (poppy seed roll).

Start off with making the filling. You can do this while the dough is rising. Combine the farmer’s cheese (tvaroh), two tablespoons of sugar (cukor, to taste), about half a cup of milk (mlieko), and one packet of vanilla sugar (vanilkový cukor, about a tablespoon).

Also add one packet (about a tablespoon) of cinnamon (škorica). Mix and press well so that you get a mixture with the consistency of paste. Add more milk if needed.

Then take one of the sections of the dough, and run over it few times with the rolling pin. The grab it in your hands, and work it from the bottom side using your knuckles. In the end, the dough was about an inch thick.

Place it onto a greased baking pan, and press out the ends. Then grease the top with oil (olej).

My grandma then used this circular cutting tool to perforate the edges. This is done just for looks. Evenly spread the filling on top.

Lightly grease the top with oil and let sit for some 10 minutes.

Then bake on “high” until the edges turn golden brown. Enjoy!

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Prep time: 30 minutes to make dough, several hours to let dough rise, at least half an hour to make the buns, 1 hour for baking

I am not sure how to translate the word buchty. Buns comes probably the closest, although when I think of buns, I tend to think of hamburger buns. But I definitely know how to describe them: delicious! In Slovakia, we don’t bake cookies. Instead, we bake buchty. So when you visit your grandma, she will always treat you with a sheet of freshly baked buchty. They are filled with a variety of fillings, but cottage cheese (tvaroh) is the most uniquely Slovak.

Making the dough

Start by prepping yeast by combing little bit of warm milk (fridge milk microwaved for about 10 seconds) with one teaspoon of sugar and one packet of rapid rise yeast. You can see pictures of this step in the recipe for steamed dumpling (knedľa). Next find a big pot, and mix in all the ingredients to make the dough.

Combine flour, powdered sugar, one egg and 3 yolks. Also add little bit of grated lemon peel (lemon zest). The original recipe called for peel from half a lemon. I thought this would make the buns too lemony so I added not even a quarter. I don’t think my grandmother ads any lemon at all. Also melt one stick of butter (microwave works fine) and add it along with a dash of salt and some milk. I prefer to start with less milk and add more as needed.

Next add the yeast (it should be bubbled up) and work the dough for some 15 minutes until you get a nice smooth texture. Keep adding more milk as needed. The final dough should be only slightly sticky. You should be able to roll it into a ball without having it stick to the pot.

Cover, and let sit in a warm place for several hours. The dough should rise nicely.

Prepare the filling

Preparing the filling is easy! Simply combine approximately equal parts of powdered sugar and fine-curd cottage cheese. Mix well.

Filling the buns (buchty)

You will need a deep (casserole-type) baking pan. Grease it generously with melted butter using a pastry brush.

Now here comes the tricky part: making buchty. The recipe book said to cut out a square and form it into a bun shape. I wasn’t quite clear how to go about this so I called my grandma for more instructions. She told me to cut out squares or rectangles about the size of my palm and then pinch them together. With this info, I went ahead and improvised. I took me few practice rounds, but I think I finally got the method down.

Dust a wooden board and a pin roller with flour. Roll out a portion of the dough until it is about half a centimeter thick. Cut a piece about the size of your palm.

Next use your hands to stretch out the dough. It should be fairly elastic. Add about two teaspoons worth of filling. This next part is tricky. You want to fold the piece over to make a long rectangle. However, make sure the filling doesn’t get to the joint area, otherwise the dough will not stick together. It helps if you keep stretching the dough out as you fold it over.

UPDATE 2/15/10: There is a much easier way to fill buchty, by rolling them. Please see the updated recipe for buchty.

Next pinch the top seal together and also pinch the two ends closed. Then gently form the bun into a brick shape.

Closely stack the buns on the baking sheet, joint area on the bottom. Generously grease the contact areas with butter. Besides cottage cheese, you can also use fruit filling. I made three kinds of buchty: cottage cheese, apricot jam, and raspberry preserve. Plum jam is also very popular in Slovakia.

Baking

My grandma said she bakes buchty on “2″ for 20 minutes and then on “3″ until they turn pink. I had no idea what temperatures these corresponded to, so I baked them at 275F and 325F.

Heat up the oven only once you are done making the buns. This will let the dough rest for few minutes. I started by baking at 275F for 20 minutes. I then increased the temperature to 325F until the tops started turning light brown. I then lowered the temperature down to 275F until they were nicely brown on top. All together, baking took about an hour. Sprinkle buchty with powdered sugar once they cool off a bit. Separate them carefully with your hands.

And there you have it. I didn’t grease the buns sufficiently, and some of them stuck together. This resulted in some of the jam leaking out as I tried to pull them apart. In the end, my buchty tasted great, although they were bit more messy to eat than my grandma’s. Still I was very happy with the outcome since this was my first serious baking attempt. You can see in the picture on the right how buchty should look when they are made right. That picture was taken at my grandma’s house during my last visit. And if you are looking for another sweet Slovak delicacy, check out the recipe for plum dumplings (slivkové knedle).

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