These German bakery favorites are best enjoyed fresh or the next day, but I found that with the addition of a sourdough starter it stayed good up to 4 days afterward. They are super yummy toasted as well.
Streuselteilchen are sweet buns topped with streusel.
I love to eat these for breakfast with slices of cheese to offset the sweetness. Like how we Filipinos enjoy our ensaymada or cheese rolls.
These are quite common in Germany, but I have yet to spot one here in Biel, Switzerland.
So, when my husband requested I make him some streusel buns, I jumped at the chance.
I looked at quite a lot of streusel buns recipes online. I adapted a few to come up with this recipe using sourdough starter as the main rising agent, helped with a bit of instant yeast.
Sourdough starter?
What is a sourdough starter? It is a mixture of flour, water and naturally occurring yeast.
A sourdough starter is ALIVE! It is like a pet that you have to feed frequently.
There is so many information online, but here are my favorite sources:
I also follow a ton of people on Instagram, and let me tell you, bakers are some of the most generous and helpful people.
Why?
Because baking bread is a craft, and it is something personal that you need to learn with your own two hands.
You can watch all the Youtube videos available on making sourdough bread, but unless you get your hands dirty, you will never learn to see when your dough is ready.
Let’s get back to the Streuselteilchen, won’t we?
I have been making sourdough bread for a couple of years now, yet I have not posted any recipes on the blog. There are hundreds of bakers out there way better than me, so I was hesitant.
But I enjoyed these streusel buns so much that I could not NOT share the recipe with you.
I have added instant yeast to hasten the process and limit the sourness.
Be warned, you will get a lot of buns from this recipe, but you may freeze them to enjoy at a later date, or simply divide the recipe into 2.
If you have no sourdough starter, simply omit the starter, use 7 grams of instant yeast, increase the flour to 600 grams and start with 275 grams whole milk, up to 325 grams.
You may check out the links I shared above if you are interested in making a sourdough starter.
Some notes before we get to the recipe:
*FERMENTOLYSE Fermentolyse is the process of mixing the usually the flour, water and starter and letting it rest for 30 to 60 minutes. This helps hydrate the flour and hasten gluten development. In the recipe you will notice that you will rest all the ingredients, except for the butter. This is because this is an enriched dough and I have found that resting the dough for at least 20 minutes helps form the gluten faster.
You may find more information on this process here.
*WINDOWPANE TEST To check if the gluten is fully formed, we do a windowpane test. This is done by pulling a bit of dough in between your fingers, and if it doesn’t tear and stretches into a translucent membrane, then your dough is ready for the first stage of proofing. If not, you should knead the dough some more.
You may see pictures of how it is done here.
*SHAPING: This is how you shape these lovely Streuselteilchen!
Once your dough has doubled, punch all the air out and divide the dough into 55 g or 110 g pieces, depending on how big you want them. Or just eyeball, if you are not OC like me.
Roll into balls, using the curve of your hand, and press down on top to flatten a bit.
Refer to the recipe for the rest of the steps!
Now, don’t you want a bite out of that?
Pin the German Streusel Buns Recipe for reference.
German Streusel Buns
Equipment
- oven
- stand mixer
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 100 g active liquid or sweet starter
- 550 g bread flour
- 1/2 tsp instant yeast
- 250 g whole milk might need 25 grams more
- 60 g sugar
- 2 pcs eggs medium, 53 grams
- 11 g fine sea salt
- 30 g potato flakes
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 60 g butter cut into 1 cm pats or 2 cm cubes
For the Streusel
- 140 g all purpose flour
- 100 g sugar
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 125 g unsalted butter
Instructions
For the Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix all of the dough ingredients, except for the butter, using the paddle attachment. Cover and leave for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, attach the dough hook and add the butter one pat at a time while kneading at a low speed. After all the butter has been added, knead until you reach the windowpane stage. This will take around 10 to 15 minutes.
Bulk Fermentation
- Set the dough in a warm place and leave until it doubles, 2 to 4 hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen. Alternatively, you may stick it in the oven with the light on.
Prepare the streusel
- In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar and cinnamon. Add in the butter cubes and rub into the flour with your fingers until you have pea size pieces. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
Shape the streusel buns and final proof
- When the dough has doubled, punch all the air out. Divide into 10 to 20 balls (roughly 55 g to 110g each). Then, flatten the balls until they are roughly 1.5 cm tall. Place on a lined baking sheet spaced around 4 cm apart. Cover with a damp tea towel and proof until doubled.
- Once doubled, spray or brush the buns with water and divide the streusel topping evenly.
BAKE
- Preheat the oven to 375°F/180°C.
- Bake the buns for 18 – 20 minutes (depending on the size) until any exposed dough is golden brown. If you have a thermometer, you may check the internal temperature. It should be 90°C.
- Cool and enjoy. Any leftovers can be frozen.
Notes
