Silvianne’s Dove-Shaped Buns for Pentecost (“Tübeli”)
These buns are made with a white yeast dough that is used to make „Zopf“, the typical Swiss Sunday bread which looks a little bit like a challah. As a child, Zopf was a treat whenever we had it – but especially when it was freshly baked and slathered with lots of butter and honey!
I learned to make Zopf myself when I was in my late teens. Anne-Katherine, a mother of four and an experienced cook, taught me – and she would not let me off when I complained that my arms could take no more kneading after five minutes!
The recipe below uses Zopf dough to make little buns shaped in the form of doves: a symbol not only for peace, but also for the Holy Spirit, whose coming Christians celebrate on Pentecost Sunday. In my Swiss dialect, we call them “Tübeli”, little doves. Admittedly, I like to make them not only on Pentecost, and I have eaten some of the best of these on Christmas Eve (I am sure there is a profound theological point to this, but I will let you figure that out for yourselves).
Ingredients
500g strong white bread flour
1/2 tablespoon fine grain salt
60g unsalted butter
300ml full-fat milk
2 teaspoons dried active yeast (1 packet)
1 tablespoon sugar
a dozen raisins or sultanas
1 egg yolk
Method
1. In a bigger bowl, mix the flour and the salt. Then add the butter in small cubes and use your fingers to rub everything together until you no longer see any lumps of butter and the mixture looks crumble-like.
2. In a small bowl, mix the milk (which should be at room temperature or slightly above, very briefly microwave it it’s straight out of the fridge!), the yeast and the sugar and set aside for a few minutes, until the yeast is dissolved and bubbles a bit (ca. 5 mins).
3. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir very well.
4. Tip the dough onto a clean surface and knead vigorously, for at least 10 to 15 minutes. This helps the gluten break down and will make the dough smooth and soft. It also adds little air-bubbles to the dough which will make the buns light. (You know that you have kneaded enough when, upon cutting into the dough with a sharp knife, you see lots of little air bubbles).
5. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with a clean, slightly damp cloth and
set in a warm place to rise, until the size of the dough has doubled (ca. 1h).
6. Carefully take the dough out of the bowl, and without kneading any further, divide it into 6 equal parts.
7. Form the little doves: Roll each piece of dough into a ‘sausage’ of about 1 inch in diameter. Then make a simple knot into the dough-sausage (which will take up almost all the sausage’s length, both ends will look out only slightly on either end). Place the knot such that it ‘sits’ on one end, which will become the tail of your dove. Slightly flatten it and use a knife to cut the tail-‘feathers’ into three parts. The other end will be your dove’s head: gently form a beak at the top end, and add two sultanas on each side to indicate the eyes.
8. Put on a tray, brush with the beaten egg yolk and let it rest while you pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
9. Bake in the lower half of the oven, for 20-30 minutes, until golden. (If you are unsure whether the buns are cooked through, take one out and tap on its bottom: if it sounds hollow, it is ready).
About the baker
Dr Silvianne Aspray is a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow working on Nicholas of Cusa, Pico della Mirandola and their theology of artefacts.