Sweet Cheese Buns (Poale-n brau)
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These beautiful Sweet Cheese Buns are loaded with golden raisins and a creamy ricotta cheese filling, encompassed by an irresistibly delicious bun.
Sweet Cheese Buns Recipe
I love cheese pies, cheese pastries, so much in fact, that I have many variations of these recipes on the blog, most of them being on the savory side, but I wanted to add a sweeter adaption to my repertoire! This is another one of those Romanian recipes that I love.
These little cheese buns are called “Poale-n Brau” in Romanian, which I couldn’t even translate if I wanted too! Something to do with waist, or hem or lap, I don’t think there’s a way to properly translate this. No matter what they’re called, they’re delicious.
I struggled with what to call them in English but sweet cheese buns is what I settled on. A combination of golden raisins and creamy, dreamy ricotta spiked with a fresh zest of lemon fill these flaky delights!
Although they are a bit of work to make, there will be an abundance of baked goods to go around, making it all worth it. You can share with your loved ones or keep them all to yourself.
- Cheese – We are using ricotta cheese for that extra creamy and decadent filling.
- Flour – Regular all-purpose flour is your best friend when making these buns.
- Eggs – The eggs are going to help make our buns airy and fluffy.
- Sugar – We need a little bit of sweetness to balance the flavor of these cheese buns, granulated is fine.
- Water – Make sure it’s lukewarm! The best temperature of the water should be anywhere from 95 degrees to 105 degrees for this.
- Vegetable Oil – Substitute canola, sunflower, or safflower oil.
- Lemon – We want the zest from one fresh lemon to add a nice bright hint of citrus flavor to these pastries!
- Yeast – I chose to use fresh yeast for this recipe, but feel free to substitute with 1 package of active dry yeast!
- Raisins – I used golden raisins, you can use your preference!
- Optional: You don’t have to do this, but you can soak the raisins in some rum for about 1 hour, just for some extra flavor!
How to Make Sweet Cheese Buns
Prep the Dough:
- Dissolve Yeast: In a big bowl, add the flour and form a well in the middle. Crumble up the fresh yeast and add it in the well. Pour the water over the yeast and stir it up until the yeast dissolves. If using active yeast, activate in a bowl with the lukewarm water and a tsp of the sugar.
- Mix Dough: Add the oil, 1/2 cup of the sugar, 2 eggs and half the lemon zest to the well. Using your hands mix everything together and continue kneading the dough for about 10 minutes. Alternatively you can do this in your stand mixer and mix on medium low until the dough is smooth and comes clean from the sides of the bowl.
- Let Rise: Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover it up with a clean towel, or plastic wrap and let it double in size, in a warm place.
- Make Cheese Mixture: While the dough is rising, we can make the cheese mixture. In a medium bowl, add the ricotta cheese, raisins, remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 egg, remaining lemon zest and mix it all together. Place the cheese mixture in the fridge while the dough is rising.
Shaping and Baking:
- Preheat Oven: Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
- Roll and Cut Dough: After the dough has doubled in size, roll it out in a long rectangular so that it’s about 1/4 inch in thickness. Using a pastry cutter cut it into squares that are 3″ x 3″.
- Roll it Out: Take each square and roll it up until it’s 6″ x 6″, it will be quite thin, but don’t worry as it will rise quite a bit more.
- Assemble: Place 2 tsp of the cheese mixture in the center of each square. Fold over each corner of the square over to the middle and pinch in the middle to make the dough stick. Now fold each newly formed corner over to the middle again and pinch it in the middle. Make sure you pinch it well, otherwise the dough will open up. Repeat with remaining dough and cheese mixture.
- Egg Wash: Brush the cheese buns with egg wash and let them sit out for another 10 minutes so they rise a bit more.
- Bake: Bake in the oven for about 30 or 35 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Finish and Serve: Cool on wire racks and sprinkle with powdered sugar if preferred.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I Have To Use Fresh Yeast?
For these buns I used fresh yeast, however it’s not a must! You can alternatively use regular active dry yeast, you’ll need a package of active dry yeast or 2 1/4 tsp or 1/4 oz.
Where Can I Buy Fresh Yeast?
If you really want to use fresh yeast, you can usually get it from a bakery or if your grocery store has a bakery you can get it there from the baker, they usually sell it in blocks and it’s quite cheap.
What’s The Best Mixing Method?
When mixing this dough, you can use a wooden spoon, your hands or a mixer to mix everything together. Alternatively, you can save yourself all the work and mix it all in your mixer.
How to Serve
These sweet cheese buns great for breakfast with a cup of coffee, and not to mention they’re super portable, so you can take them with you on the go! I like to dust mine with a little extra powdered sugar for that little added sweetness.
Tips
- Before starting, ensure that your yeast is active!
- Make sure to brush the dough with egg wash before baking. This adds shine and will enhance the golden color of the buns.
- If you’d like, you can add your preference of mix-ins to the filling before baking. You can also top it with slivered almonds or a dusting of powdered sugar!
Storing Sweet Cheese Buns
These sweet cheese buns will stay fresh for up to 3 days, covered and stored at room temperature, but will keep for an additional week in the refrigerator, covered with foil, plastic wrap or in a plastic bag or airtight container.
Freezing
Wrap these sweet cheese buns tightly with aluminum foil or plastic freezer wrap, or place in heavy-duty freezer bag/airtight container. This will allow them to stay fresh for up to 1 month.
Let defrost at room temperature for about 2 to 3 hours when ready to serve or simply pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
More Delicious Recipes To Try
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Sweet Cheese Buns
Ingredients
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ounce fresh yeast (or 1 package of active dry yeast)
- 1 cup water (lukewarm)
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup sugar (granulated, divided)
- 4 large eggs (at room temperature, divided)
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- ¾ cup golden raisins
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Dissolve Yeast: In a big bowl, add the flour and form a well in the middle. Crumble up the fresh yeast and add it in the well. Pour the water over the yeast and stir it up until the yeast dissolves. If using active yeast, activate in a bowl with the lukewarm water and a tsp of the sugar.x
- Mix Dough: Add the oil, ½ cup of the sugar, 2 eggs and half the lemon zest to the well. Using your hands mix everything together and continue kneading the dough for about 10 minutes. Alternatively you can do this in your stand mixer and mix on medium low until the dough is smooth and comes clean from the sides of the bowl.
- Let Rise: Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover it up with a clean towel, or plastic wrap and let it double in size, in a warm place.
- Make Cheese Mixture: While the dough is rising, we can make the cheese mixture. In a medium bowl, add the ricotta cheese, raisins, remaining ½ cup of sugar, 1 egg, remaining lemon zest and mix it all together. Place the cheese mixture in the fridge while the dough is rising.
- Preheat oven: Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Roll and Cut Dough: After the dough has doubled in size, roll it out in a long rectangular so that it's about ¼ inch in thickness. Using a pastry cutter cut it into squares that are 3" x 3". Repeat with remaining dough.
- Roll it Out: Take each square and roll it up until it's 6" x 6", it will be quite thin, but don't worry as it will rise quite a bit more.
- Assemble: Place 2 tsp of the cheese mixture in the center of each square. Fold over each corner of the square over to the middle and pinch in the middle to make the dough stick. Now fold each newly formed corner over to the middle again and pinch it in the middle. Make sure you pinch it well, otherwise the dough will open up. Repeat with remaining dough and cheese mixture.
- Egg Wash: Beat the remaining egg and brush the cheese buns with it. Let them sit out for another 10 minutes so they rise a bit more.
- Bake: Bake in the oven for about 30 or 35 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Finish and Serve: Cool on wire racks and sprinkle with powdered sugar if preferred.
Equipment
Notes
- Before starting, ensure that your yeast is active!
- Make sure to brush the dough with egg wash before baking. This adds shine and will enhance the golden color of the buns.
- If you’d like, you can add your preference of mix-ins to the filling before baking. You can also top it with slivered almonds or a dusting of powdered sugar!
- These sweet cheese buns will stay fresh for up to 3 days, covered and stored at room temperature, but will keep for an additional week in the refrigerator, covered with foil, plastic wrap or in a plastic bag or airtight container.
- Wrap these sweet cheese buns tightly with aluminum foil or plastic freezer wrap, or place in heavy-duty freezer bag/airtight container. This will allow them to stay fresh for up to 1 month.
- Let defrost at room temperature for about 2 to 3 hours when ready to serve or simply pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Your recipe doesn’t mention anything about draining ricotta but yet it is mentioned in the comments. Do you? Also can you make this as a braided long pastry or will it effect the dough negatively?
Hi Michelle! I guess it depends on your ricotta, mine wasn’t watery at all. I don’t see why you couldn’t make this into a braid, the pastry dough should hold just fine.
I will let you know how it turns out
Even though I drained my ricotta first, my filling mixture looks very thin. Will this still bake ok or should I try to adjust the filling?
I guess it depends on how thin it is, you can probably still drain it some more. I would put it in a clean kitchen towel and try and twist out as much liquid as possible from it.
Can this be halved?
Absolutely!
Hi Jo,
I love ur blog … I Check it often for new recipes … have couple of questions regarding this recipe:
1. Can I freeze the dough to make the buns later?,
2. Can I freeze the excess cheese mixture?
Thank you!
Thank you! You can freeze the dough, just flash freeze it first for one hour, once frozen, wrap it tightly with plastic wrap freeze it in an airtight container until ready to use. When you’re ready to use it, thaw it in the fridge overnight, then place it in a warm place until doubled in size.
You can also freeze the cheese mixture in an airtight container.
How could I modify this recipe using storebought pastry to make turnovers. Love this filling. thank you❤️
I would just follow as instructed (of course leaving out the dough) The only thing I would say is to watch the bake time. Depending on the thickness of the pastry, they might take less or more time to bake.
Love all your recipes! How long will it take for dough to double in size? TY
Thank you! It will ultimately depend on a couple factors. In a toasty kitchen, your dough may proof in as little as an hour (maybe less!). When the temperatures dip, it can take much longer—upwards of two or even three hours. But on average it will take about an hour to an hour and a half.
Hello, just wondering if this will work with store bought phyllo ? If so, will the baking time be the same as welll? Thank you in advance
I don’t think Phyllo would work so great here, I think puff pastry might be a bit better. I would follow the instructions on the puff pastry package for baking time and temperature.
I am doing a report on Romania for my 6th grade Europe report and needed a recipe from Romania… When I saw the pictures I knew this was for me!!! Thank you so much it is sooooooooooooooo yummy!!!
You’re welcome, so glad you liked it. 🙂
My 8 year-old non-Romanian child picked out this recipe while we were browsing the site. She said that it is the one she wants me to make, and of course it is a Romanian recipe. She didn’t even pick out a recipe from the cakes or cookies lists. This mommy is so proud. I can’t wait to make yet another one of your amazing recipes. God bless.
Lol, that’s a great story! You have a child with wonderful taste. 🙂
Thanx to Andreea and her mama Maria for their help / ideas, and introducing me to this website.
You two are the best……!!
Sincer , sper sa nu te superi ca iti scriu …dar retetele tale ma fac sa ma simt ca sunt acasa…iti scriu cu lacrimi in ochi….sunt retete pe care mama le facea cand eram in tara…acum soarta si destinu m-au indepartat de scumpa viata de altadata..si la care inca tanjesc…insa retetele tale sunt asa de asemanatoare cu cele pe care le stiu eu….iti multumesc mult….
Alina, multumesc foarte mult. Ma bucura foarte tare cand primesc comentarii cum a fost cel scris de tine. Si mie imi plac foarte mult prajiturile si cozonacii care se fac in Romania, si de aia le fac si eu cat de des pot, imi place sa invat cum se fac, si bineinteles imi place sa le si mananc. 🙂 Poale-n brau chiar nu am mai incercat niciodata pana nu mi-a spus sotul meu de ele. Oricum, ma bucur foarte mult ca-ti place. 🙂
Is it possible to be in love with pastry? I think I might be with these :), they are so lovely. I am bookmarking this and plan to make them soon.
*kisses* HH
And trust me when I say they are very delicious. Hope you enjoy them.
I am 89 years old and the pictures of your cheese pastries took me back to early, early days at home. My mother was a baker par excellence and cheese delkelh were one of the pastries I couldn’t get enough of – and your pastries certainly resemble those Hungarian delicacies of my childhood. I found your blog only recently by good fortune and am enjoying everything I read. Thanks.
Elle, that is the nicest thing anyone could ever say to me. Thank you very much.