Povidlové buchty

The story

Povidlové buchty are soft yeast buns wrapped around a spoonful of povidla, the thick Czech plum butter, and baked side by side in a buttered pan so they pull apart in one golden sheet. Unlike koláče, where the filling sits on top, buchty hide it completely inside the dough. They are sold in Czech bakeries and baked at home on weekends, and because the Czech lands spent centuries in the Habsburg monarchy, Austrians and Germans know the same bake as Buchteln. In the folk tale of Honza, the village boy who leaves his warm stove to go out into the world, his mother sends him off with a bundle of buchty. The filling is a stored taste of late summer. In the 18th century, under Empress Maria Theresa, fruit trees were planted along roads, and villagers cooked plums in cauldrons over open fires, without added sugar, until the purée was thick enough to keep for months. In Slovakia and Hungary the same preserve is called lekvár, the name it carries on jars in American stores. Shape the buns in the morning and bake them for an afternoon coffee; they stay soft, covered, for two days.