My father, who is full czech, remembers his grandmother making a pastry called "boksta" (please forgive the spelling). He described it as being fruit centered and square with thet he tips brought to the the center of the pastry. If anyone has this recipe, I would really like to have it. Thanks, Debra
I think you speak about a traditional Czech pastry "buchty" (in plural, singular is "buchta", pronounced as bookhta). It is made of yeast dough (fine wheat flour, whole eggs, milk, a pinch of salt, raised yeast). Spoonfuls of thoroughly proceeded and raised dough (after one hour, approx.) are flattened and filled with fruit (fresh, frozen or preserved) - plums, apple cubes or apricot halves (stoned), or with fresh cottage cheese mixed with sugar, vanilla and egg yolk, or with plum jelly, or with ground poppy seeds boiled in milk with sugar, cinnamon and a spoonful of rum, mixed with white bread crumbs. Filled pieces of dough are shaped into balls (using hands to make the dough compact), put on a butter-greased pan not too close to each other and spread with melted butter all around (top and sides - to prevent the pieces from sticking together). Let them raise on the pan for twenty minutes (till they touch one another and fill the pan) and then bake in a pre-heated oven (medium temperature - cca 340 F) till they are light golden (approx. 30 min). Baked pastry looks like small cubes. They are served warm or cooled, sprinkled with powdered sugar while hot - to form a crust on the top, the best served with milk, coffee with milk or hot chocolate. In the past, visitors or guests to the Czech country familes were usually offered buchty as a symbol of friendly welcome. Delicious buchty are a pride of each Czech housewife. I hope it will help you a bit, however please feel free to ask about anything unclear or about any other Czech recipe. Best wishes, Jana [This message has been edited by Jana (edited January 11, 2000).]
