SweetloreEncyclopedia of World Sweets (534）
Vatrushka
Vatrushka
Making a hollow before baking
Fermented Pastries ／ Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere
White cheese is filled into a hollow in the center of a round bun. Vatrushka is an Eastern European baked sweet in which the filling is baked on top of a soft, puffy dough and left exposed. In one bite, the toasty aroma of the baked rim and the tang of the soft cheese come through together.
Making a hollow before baking
Yeast-leavened dough is shaped into small balls, rested briefly, and then pressed in the center to make a hollow. A filling of tvorog mixed with sugar and eggs is placed in the hollow, the rim is brushed with egg, and the buns are baked. During baking, the surrounding dough puffs up and browns, while the filling in the center stays visible. The ring of dough holds the soft filling in place.
Tvorog is a fresh cheese with the liquid drained off. Some recipes press it through a sieve to even out the curds and add a little smetana. It is also important to press the center of the dough down firmly. If the hollow is shallow, the dough can rise during baking and push the filling out. Besides sweet versions with raisins or fruit, savory versions served with onions are also made.
Vatrushkas are sometimes baked small and served in a size that can be picked up one at a time.
As recorded in cookbooks
The 1901 edition of Elena Molokhovets’s cookbook includes a recette (a set of ingredient proportions and method) that uses a filling of cheese mixed with eggs and small amounts of sugar and smetana. The filling is placed on dough rolled into a thin round, and the edge is pinched up, leaving the center open, before baking. Besides yeast dough, a crisp dough made with smetana is also listed. Today’s small yeast buns are not the only form: baked sweets with similar names that leave the filling exposed come in many variations of both dough and filling. Some are topped with fruit jam, and some are served alongside meals.
Theories on the origin of the name include one that links it to “fire” or “hearth” and another that derives it from a word for cheese; no single explanation has been settled on. The form that shows the dairy filling rather than wrapping it in dough is shared by both the sweet versions and the versions served with meals.
Glossary
- Tvorog
- A soft fresh cheese made by curdling milk and separating out the liquid.
- Smetana
- A tangy cultured cream popular in Eastern Europe.
- Elena Molokhovets
- A Russian cookbook author. She recorded a recette for vatrushka in the 1901 edition of her cookbook.
- Recette
- A set of ingredient proportions and method.
.jpg){kind=link}