Zola’s Viennese Brioche Striezel

If there's one thing I've truly missed ever since I was diagnosed with coeliac disease, it's brioche buns, or, as they call them in the east of Austria, Striezel. Not that the shape or the terminology matter - it's the dough. As a kid on my way to school, I stopped at the baker's to get a fresh bun or "Milchbrötle" every morning. It tasted best slathered in butter and honey accompanied by cold cocoa. Until recently, I've only found one coeliac-friendly alternative to this that actually had an acceptable flavour, and that's the gluten-free brioche croissants by Resch & Frisch. But now I've got one better: I asked my  lovely friend Zola, a trained pastry chef, if she wanted to take up the challenge of creating a gluten-free bun. She did. And she did! What an unbelievably delicious creation. Bow your heads, ladies and gents.

A classic bun's signature fluffy-but-crumbly consistency generally requires quite a bit of gluten. This posed quite a challenge for Zola. I have tried an failed many times myself and even the brilliant Zola went through 2 or 3 recipe formulas but then she had it - the perfect dough for a sublime bun.

A bun is made of yeast and contains butter, egg, milk and, in the traditional Swiss plaited variety, part spelt and part white flour. The spelt improves plait stability.

In Vienna, a plaited bun is called a "Viennese Brioche Striezel". Originally, brioche dough stems from France and is available to buy in a variety of types and sizes, with or without sugar crystals.

If you're in Vienna, you absolutely have to visit Zola's adorable new café on Karmelitergasse 1 and try her divine cakes, pastries and striezels alongside some of the finest coffee in all the land, prepared by Zola's boyfriend Michi. Opening hours are Tuesday to Friday, 8am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 2pm - ideal for the weekend, when you need a break from food shopping at the market.

I immediately fell in love with the café's ceiling lights - made of whisks! Zola's brother, an architect, designed that one. They can be custom made to order, by the way.

Zola and I were at university together and even then she already had a passion for baking, resulting in incredibly delicious cakes. Her Master's done, she trained as a pastry chef and master confectioner in 2012 and opened her own business that same year, „Zola Auböck Tortenmanufaktur“. Her specialty is custom cakes - for weddings, birthdays, christenings, corporate parties etc. Have a look at her amazing creations on her website or on Facebook. Watch out for a surprise blog entry about Zola next Friday.

And here is Zola's fantastic, or rather foodtastic recipe for her Vienna Brioche Striezel - gluten-free. And if you're too lazy to do this yourself, you can always order it at Zolas Shop. The beautiful onion-pattern porcelain? Bought it at Kahla.

Viennese Brioche Striezel

Ingredients:

around 250g gluten-free flour (Schär's Brotmix B)*

50g sugar

30g butter

100ml milk

1 egg (warmed up to room temperature)

1 egg yolk

8g yeast

a little lemon zest

salt

rum and vanilla

an egg for the coat

*use 200g to start and then add more if needed, depending on dough consistency.

Preparation:

1. Warm up the milk and butter until the latter has melted. Then mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl and knead to a smooth, springy dough (with dough hooks if using a hand mixer or food processor, your best bet). If the dough is sticky, add more flour.
2. Let the dough rise for around 30 minutes. Preheat oven to around 180°C (upper/lower heat). Re-knead the dough, divide it into strands and braid into a plait. Bake the striezel in the preheated oven for around 30 minutes, until golden.

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