While I most often prefer to come up with my own recipes, when I saw a recipe for “Caraway Puffs” in THIS blog, I knew I had to make it.
The rolls looked so tasty, and the description the blog’s author, Brent Borchardt, gave, was very tempting. Who wouldn’t want to try rolls/muffins that are “light as a feather and puffy as a cloud.”?
I also loved the fact that the rolls did not require lengthy kneading or proofing, and that they can be baked in a couple of hours.
One thing I hesitated about was the caraway seeds, which I don’t use often, so didn’t have them at hand. Instead, I’ve decided to improvise with fresh dill, as I thought it could work well with the cottage cheese. This was a good decision, as the dill gave the bread wonderful flavor and aroma. To give the dough an additional kick, I also added to it a small amount of freshly ground four peppers mix.
While preparing the dough, I encountered a small problem: the dough, which, according to Brent, was supposed to be more of a batter, rather than a stiff dough, turned out to be stiffer than expected. To resolve this, I ended up adding 1 extra cup of water to it. This, maybe, is the reason why I’ve ended with extra dough, which I’ve decided to bake in a bread pan.
The rolls and bread’s texture turned out light as feather, as described, and had wonderful aroma, both from the fresh dill, and from the butter, that was brushed on top while they were still warm.
To enhance the dill flavor even further, I mixed some more soft butter with more fresh dill, salt and pepper, and served the rolls and bread with it.
As dill and salmon pair so well together, serving both rolls and bread with smoked salmon and capers, made for a very tasty brunch.
This is a recipe I will no doubt be using again and again, as is, or with different flavorings. Try it and enjoy.
Notes:
* Obviously, the original caraway seeds can be used instead of the dill.
* Click HERE for a recipe for salmon baked with dill butter and white wine.
Makes: 12 rolls, 1 bread loaf
Prep time: 15 minutes
Proofing time: 1 hour
Baking time: about 15 minutes for the rolls, 20 for the bread
Ingredients:
2 packets dry yeast (0.5 oz/14 grams/4 tsp)
½ to 1½ cups lukewarm water (original recipe calls for ½ cup only. See introduction.)
2 cups (16 oz /454 grams) cottage cheese, small curd (I used Daisy’s 4%)
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp salt
½ Tbs baking soda
2 Tbs milk
2 L eggs
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh dill
½ tsp freshly ground four peppers mix
4 cups (17 oz/480 grams) flour
2 Tbs very soft butter + 1 for brushing the pans
For the dill butter (optional):
1 stick (4 oz/115 grams) soft butter
2-3 Tbs finely chopped fresh dill
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground four peppers mix
For serving (optional):
Smoked salmon, capers
- In a small bowl, mix the yeast and ½ cup of the water. Cover and let foam in a warm place.
- In a small pot, mix the cottage cheese, sugar, salt, baking soda and milk. Cook over medium, mixing gently, just until lukewarm,
- Whisk the eggs and dill in a large bowl. Add the cottage cheese mix, and the foamed yeast, and whisk to combine.
- Add the flour, 1 cup at a time (and the remaining water, only if needed – see introduction), and mix to form a soft dough. Switch to a spatula towards the end. Cover the bowl and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Brush a muffin pan and a bread loaf pan with 1 Tbs soft butter.
- Gently, mix the dough (it’s very soft!) and divide between the muffin holes, up to ¾ of their height. Transfer the rest of the dough (if any) into the bread pan (or make more rolls). Let rise for 10-15 minutes
- Bake for about 15 minutes for the rolls, and about 20 for the bread, rotating the pans halfway through the baking, until puffed and golden-brown.
- Brush the tops with soft butter. Let sit in the pans for 5 minutes before carefully transferring to a rack, to cool to room temperature.
- Serve warm, as is, or with the dill butter, smoked salmon and capers, if choosing,
Good choice to use fresh dill rather than caraway seed – which always reminds me of Fall. Dill pairs much better with salmon. I haven’t cooked with cottage cheese but have it often served with fruit. The whole brunch sounds delicious 🙂 I have had recipes where more liquid was needed – makes you wonder how an author gets by on less!
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Thank you Judi, dill was indeed a good choice. I may give the caraway seeds option a try later on, but for me too, they feel more suitable for colder weather.
As for the extra water, it can happen, as different ingredients vary from one place to another. It could be that the type of cottage cheese the author used was more watery than the one I’ve used, or any other difference.
Bottom line is the bread/rolls were so tasty, and the brunch was a great success! 🙂
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How true but a cup is a lot of extra liquid 🙂
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It is!
But on the other hand, maybe that’s how I ended up with an extra bread loaf on top of the rolls! 🙂
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It’s all about adapting and if the end results are good who cares, right? 🙂
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Absolutely! 🙂
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Thank you for the mention! I think dill is a great choice. Coriander might be good as well.
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Thank you Brent, this was a very tasty experiment!
Coriander seeds is a great option. I also thought about mixing dill seeds with the fresh dill for next time. So many options to try! 🙂
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Sounds wonderful! My Aunt Jeanette made a lovely cottage cheese and dill bread that has long been a family favorite. I like the large amount of dill, in the cooking it can sometimes lose flavor.
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Thank you Dorothy, this was a very tasty experiment. I’ve never seen cottage cheese use this way, so I was very curious to try. Interesting that your aunt also used dill in this type of bread. I agree it can lose flavor, so indeed opted for a large amount. I was surprised it was hardly visibly noticeable in the bread after baking, but the flavor was there. I’m now thinking about adding dill seeds for next time, but on the other hand, maybe it’ll be too powerful. We’ll see! 🙂
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We just can ‘t stop fiddling can we?
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lol We’re hopeless! 😀
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Going to make the muffin version when the weather cools down. I think dill in just about anything is a great idea
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Thank you Graham, I’m glad you liked the recipe. I hope you’ll enjoy these tasty rolls. 🙂
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Very cheesy and interesting recipe.
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Thank you Dolly, the rolls and bread were so tasty, and with wonderful texture. 🙂
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I misplaced my cottage cheese and dill bread recipe in one of my previous moves so when I saw your variation of Brent Borchardt’s, I was thrilled to see my “old” recipe–at least, a very close one!
Thank you 🙂 and I’m going to make some as soon as the weather cools down . . .
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Thank you Sam, I’m glad you liked the post and found it helpful.
Dough with cottage cheese is new to me, so I had to give it a try, and I’m glad I did. Hope you’ll enjoy it too. 🙂
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How wonderful! Bonus Loaf! This sounds absolutely super with the salmon.
BUT my taste buds don’t taste Dill so I will have to use another herb. Even when I try the herb in the Plant Shop I can’t taste it. It’s crazy!
Can’t wait to make this. Thanks Ronit :))
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Thank you Mary, I’m glad you liked the recipe. This was a great find, and getting an extra loaf was a pleasant surprise!
As for the dill – any other herb you prefer can be used instead, or go back to the original recipe and use caraway seeds.
I hope you’ll enjoy these tasty rolls and bread. 🙂
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So interesting recipe, definitely will try
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Thank you Vi, I’m glad you liked the recipe. I hope you’ll enjoy these tasty rolls and bread. 🙂
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Hi Ronit, I often bake here with kvarg (quark) as our Keso cottage cheese is a bit different than US cottage. I’ll give this a try with kvarg and see how it works.
As for water additions in baking I find that our four usually take less water than US recipes call for so I always start on the conservative side.
Great brunch idea that will set very well on our Swedish table…
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Thank you Ron, this was a very successful experiment, and I was very happy to end with additional bread loaf.
American cottage cheese are not to my liking in general, but Daisy brand is a bit better than most. It will be interesting to see how quark cheese would work in this dough.
The combination of salmon and dill is indeed so Scandinavian, and so very tasty! 🙂
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Dill and Butter are a divine combination on freshly baked bread! 🍃🍞🧈
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So true Gail. This was such a tasty combination! I’m ready for another batch! 🙂
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No doubt! 🌿🍞
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These sound really wonderful, Ronit! I like your switch to dill, though I can see caraway would work. But dill bread sounds particularly good to me, as it was served at a favorite restaurant when I was young. I’m surprised that the dough needed that much more water — glad you made it right! I will look forward to trying this soon.
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Thank you David, this dough was a great find. The dill was perfect in it, and I’m glad it brought back tasty memories!
I plan to give the original caraway seeds a try next time, and also contemplating other flavors as well.
I was also surprised I needed to add more water, but was very happy I ended up with extra dough! 🙂
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these look fabulous! Especially with the lox! I’m not a huge fan of caraway, so I love what you did instead. Love that butter!
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Thank you Mimi, these turned out fabulou8s indeed, with such a light texture. It’s hard to stop at one! The dill and butter added wonderful fresh aroma.
It’s definitely a recipe I’ll be using often. It was a great find. 🙂
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This does sound interesting. I love both dill and caraway, so either way would be fine with me. It looks like the curds in the cheese get absorbed into the bread. I mean, it doesn’t look like the bread is studded with curds. Is that true?
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Thank you Jeff, this indeed was a too interesting recipe to pass over.
Regarding the cottage cheese curds – you’re right : except for a few on top, most of them were completely absorbed in the dough. A mystery! 🙂
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Delicious recipe did with dill and butter.
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Thank you Suni, this was a very tasty bread. )
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Looks delicious.
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Thank you! 🙂
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Hmm yummy
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Thank you! 🙂
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A use for all the dill in my garden!
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No doubt using this freshest dill would make the rolls/bread even tastier! 🙂
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