Yes, you need that many raisins, so stick to the recipe!
I have been making raisin buns for quite a while now, and I think I have tweaked and tried the recipe to my satisfaction. Raisin buns are called ‘krentenbollen’ in Dutch, although they are usually made with a combination of raisins and currants (‘krenten’ means currants (for a lecture on the difference between currants and raisins, see end of this post). I usually make double the amount of this recipe. The buns keep wonderfully well in the freezer and you can give them a quick ‘pick me up’ in the microwave, have some fresh butter at hand (also good without though) and away you go. But nothing can beat eating them slightly warm, fresh from the oven of course. The following recipe is a slightly ‘tuned down’ version of the one I use myself, because I work with prefermented dough and different types of flour. But if you want to try raisin buns for the first time, this recipe is a great point to start.
Before you start!
You need to prepare a so called ‘sweetener’ which gives the raisin bun dough its distinctive and pleasant taste. For this you mix 40 grams of sugar with the zest of 1 unwaxed lemon and one unwaxed orange. You can store this mixture in your fridge, it will keep for a long time. You also have to wash and soak your raisins. First wash them and then leave them for 10 minutes in warm water. Rinse with cold water and leave to dry on a plate for two days (cover them against dust). If you do not want to wait two days, or you forgot, just drain them well and roll them lightly in flour before using. The amount of raisins used is usually the same as the amount of flour used. It seems like a lot, but you need this amount to get a good raisin bun so you do not ‘have to bicycle from one raisin to the next’ as we say. As you make them more often, you will come to your own preferred amount.
Note: if you use American bread flour you probably need 3 to 5 % more milk than we use with our European flour.
Ingredients for the Raisin Buns
makes 12 raisin buns
400 g bread flour / all purpose flour / French type 55 flour
40 g fresh yeast or 14 grams instant yeast
8 g salt
50 g fresh dairy butter
1 egg yolk
220 g milk
10 g sweetener (sugar and lemon/orange zest mix, see ‘before you start’))
400 g raisins, washed and soaked (you can also use a mixture of raisins and currants)
Making the Raisin Buns
Make the dough with all the ingredients (except the raisins) and with 170 g of the milk. Then gradually add the rest of the milk and knead the dough until well developed. If you are using fresh yeast, first dissolve it in some of the milk, before adding it to the other ingredients. With a KitchenAid type mixer, mix for about 8 to 10 minutes, by hand it will take about 15 minutes of good kneading. Make sure the dough is not too sticky or too dry. Aim for a bit tacky, which means that when you poke the dough with your dry finger it should stick for a second but then peel of as you remove your finger. Leave to rest for 5 minutes.
Then add the raisins and ‘pinch’ them through the dough very carefully by hand, so they are evenly distributed. If you are lucky enough to own a spiral mixer, you can use that instead and it will only take one minute to add the raisins. If not, just do the work by hand.
Shape the dough into a ball, transfer to a greased bowl, cover and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
Now press the dough down with both hands into a flat disc, roll it up tightly, cover it and again leave to rest for 15 minutes.
Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and make rolls. Leave to rest for about 10 minutes. Now press the rolls with your hand until slightly flat and round the dough again into a smooth ball.
Place the rolls on a baking tray covered with a baking sheet (we use our reusable thin fiber baking mats).
Now the rolls are ready for their final proofing. Loosely cover them with plastic wrap. Depending on your room temperature and the temperature of the dough this should take at least 1 hour, but more likely 1.5 hours or even more. Just be patient and check regularly. When you think it has risen enough, use your finger to carefully make a very small dent in the dough. If the dent remains, the bread is ready to bake, if the indentation disappears, the dough needs a little bit more time (10 to 15 minutes).
During the proofing process preheat your oven to 200 ºC /390 ºF conventional setting. At what point you do this depends on the oven you use. Most ovens need between 10 and 30 minutes.
When ready place the buns in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on your oven. They should have a nice golden brown shine.
If, during the baking process, you think the top color is dark enough, you can temper the oven to 160 ºC /320 ºF. The buns will still bake, but will (almost) not brown anymore. z
You can brush the tops with some melted butter while the buns are still warm, this way they also stay softer and get extra taste. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Eat with fresh butter!
Note: The difference between raisins and currants
Dark raisins: These are the most common variety found in most markets, usually made from Thompson seedless grapes. Although they start as green grapes, the fruit naturally darkens as it dries.
• White or golden raisins: These are also called muscats and are generally made of white muscat grapes which are seeded, specially oven-dried (rather than by sun), and treated to retain their light color. Some golden raisins are dried Thompson seedless raisins which have been kept light by the use of sulfur dioxide.
• Sultanas: More popular in Europe, these raisins come from a seedless yellow grape and are usually softer and sweeter than other varieties. The American variety of sultana grape is the Thompson seedless.
• Currants: Although there is a gooseberry relative known as the currant, the dried currant raisin is actually made from Black Corinth grape called Zante. They are tiny, seedless, and very sweet but do bear a resemblance to the currant berry. The name confusion comes not only from the currant raisin’s similar appearance to the currant berry, but also due to the similarity of the sounds of the fruit names, ie., currant sounds like Corinth, the variety of grape. Tiny dried currants are extremely sweet and aromatic. (source Wikipedia)
Katrina Tan says
They were brilliant. I added citrus peel (more next time) and yuzu essence (more next time, too), and let it proof in my 30C kitchen for 1.5h. They were brilliant. My husband scarffed 1 after dinner. Said it was the best part of Father’s Day 😊
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you for sharing Katrina,
And also for letting us know about the yuzu essence. Very much worth a try!
Enjoy the baking, eating and sharing 🙂
Dolly says
Hi, I have a question about the next quote:
“Place the rolls on a baking tray covered with a baking sheet (we use our reusable thin fiber baking mats).
Preheat your oven to 200ºC /390ºF. Now the rolls are ready for their final proofing. Loosely cover them with plastic wrap. Depending on your room temperature and the temperature of the dough this should take at least 1 hour, but more likely 1.5 hours or even more. Just be patient and check regularly. When you think it has risen enough”.
My question is why should I preheat the oven while the rolls stil need 1 or 1,5 hours to rise properly ? I made them and they turned out beautiful and delicious. But I preheated the oven only 10 minutes before I popped them in.
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Dolly,
Thank you for your comment and question. Of course you are right. We have changed the text so it is more clear we hope. Of course you just preheat your oven according to the workings of your oven and how much time it needs to preheat to the required temperature. With most ovens this will be somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes. If you check the buns regularly and at the point when you think they need just a bit more proofing, you can turn on the oven.
Great to hear the result was to your satisfaction.
Wishing you many happy bun baking moments from Holland,
Marieke
valerie Addy says
I am going to try these but the first “proving” when making bread is usually at least 1 hour. For your lovely currant buns you only prove for about 30 minutes and once shaped into rolls a further 1.5 hours. I guess this works for you ?
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Valerie,
You can see the 30 minutes are also divided in two steps of 15 minutes with the shaping into a ball and then disc. This is done to better incorporate the raisins into the dough. Then the best part of the proofing is done after the shaping of the buns, this is a preferred method when making these types of buns with lots of filling.
Tere Van Diest says
Hello friends….
Several weeks have gone by and my freezer is depleted of raisin buns.
Today I shall make more.
I’ve recently purchased a metric/U.S. scale with tare feature so I can now follow the European recipes more closely and measure more precisely. And no more fiddling around trying to convert your recipes to U.S. measurements. I would recommend others purchase a metric scale. So worth it. A time saver and better bakes.
Again, thank you so much for inspiring me to get back into the routine of making these delicious Raisin Buns!!
I looking forward to making more baked goods from your recipes.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend.
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you very much, we can not agree with you more about the advantages of buying a (metric) scale. Happy baking!
Ellen van Schaik says
Mooi recept. Wat voor effect heeft een eidooier voor het eindprodukt en welk percentage van het meelgewicht wordt hiervoor gebruikt?
Weekend Bakers says
Hallo Ellen,
Het ligt helemaal aan het recept. In het algemeen wordt eigeel toegevoegd voor kleur, vocht, als emulgator en stabilisator, het helpt ook met rijzen en malsheid van kruim en heeft daarnaast ook voedingswaarde. In termen van percentages vervangt het ei voor een (groot) deel water dat je toevoegt. Veel recepten voor ‘verrijkte’ zoete degen (denk brioche en challah bv) zitten op percentages ei (vaak een combinatie van ei en eigeel) van 30 tot 40%.
Ellen van Schaik says
Dank je wel voor de reactie. Worden de rozijnen/krentenbolletjes dan luchtiger met een eidooier?
Weekend Bakers says
Hallo Ellen,
Je vraag is zo eenvoudig maar het antwoord heel complex. In cake is het heel duidelijk dat ei belangrijk is om de structuur en luchtigheid te bouwen en te behouden. Zonder ei zouden cakes ‘instorten’. Eieren kunnen ook wel bijdragen aan de structuur bij brood, maar je streeft hier een andere structuur na dan bij cake (cake kort en kruimelig, brood meer elastisch en veerkrachtig) en je hebt te maken met gist als component.
Als je alleen eigeel gebruikt dan wordt dit meer gedaan om ingrediënten met elkaar te binden (water en vet en ook lucht) en om smaak en kleur en minder om het verkrijgen van luchtigheid. In brood heeft gist natuurlijk vooral de functie om brood te laten rijzen en luchtigheid te geven. Daarbij wordt een glutenstructuur opgebouwd en dit proces kan door ei en eigeel ook worden ‘gehinderd’.
Om kort te gaan: Je moet niet te veel verwachten van de extra luchtigheid van het toevoegen van eidooier, maar voor kleur en smaak en ook houdbaarheid zal het zeker wat toevoegen. Daarnaast zal de ‘bite’ van het kruim met het toevoegen van meer eigeel over het algemeen steeds ‘korter en cake-achtiger’ worden.
Als je het eigeel uit bovenstaand recept wilt weglaten, dan kun je 10 gram extra vocht toevoegen in de vorm van water of melk.
Zoals gezegd.. ei is veelzijdig maar daarmee ook heel complex bij bakken!
Tere Van Diest says
I made these a couple of weeks ago, using black currants. Today my 4 year old grandson and I made these with and changed it up just a bit. We used craisins, raisins, and dried apricots as our fruits. Fruits I had on hand from the holidays. I soaked the dried fruits in hot tea with a little organic maple syrup added. I did this because the apricots were very tart and needed a little sweetener. Soaked fruit for 10 minutes, drained and rinsed with cool water. Proceeded with your recipe from there. These are so delicious. I’m able to make them and share them with my adult children and grands. Plain, with butter, with a thin slice of deli ham, with a slice of soft yellow cheese. (American cheese).
I made these years ago but just got out of the habit of making them. Back on track now. Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe. P.S. I used my Kitchenaid mixer to do kneading. I kneaded for 8 minutes with dough hook on speed 2; and that was perfect. However, I did mix in the fruit by hand.
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Tere,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and your version of the recipe. It is inspiring to us and other bakers. Such a great idea the soaking of the fruit in tea and maple syrup.
Wishing you many happy hours of baking and sharing with your family this year!
Greetings from Holland,
Ed & Marieke
Weekend Bakery
Tere Van Diest says
Thank you for the compliments. You’ve inspired me to go the extra mile in my baking. Not just relying on simple or quick recipes but taking the time and enjoying the journey of more complex recipes that the home baker can make.
Baking….it’s one of the best journey’s to be taken.
Even my little grandson is interested in it. He now bakes with me one day a week. He’s learning about mathematics through the measuring, and understands why a bench scraper can be better than a knife, and can already operate a Kitchenaid mixer. Of course…it has a motor and moving parts so he’s always ready to take charge of it.
My intention in teaching him to bake is to inspire and instill in him the need and want of good food, without chemicals whenever possible. He will grow on the best food we can give him. And as he ages, the best ingredients he can use in his own food preparation. I hope this for all children the world over. Bless them all.
Weekend Bakers says
Hello again Tere,
We are really touched by the way you describe your relation to baking and your grandson. You are teaching him skills for life that will be appreciated by him more and more as he gets older we are sure, creating unforgettable memories in the process. He probably does not yet understand what a lucky little fellow he is to have a baking grandma who knows the importance of real bread and good food!
Thank you very much for sharing.
Ed & Marieke
Tere Van Diest says
Hello friends, baking the raisin buns today. I’ve been on a journey of baking and cooking authentic Scandinavian (and Dutch) recipes. My ancestors were pretty much Swedish so that’s my leaning. It’s a fun and interesting journey. I purchased a pan for making Ebelskivers, I made Swedish Meatballs last week. I’ve made those for years. I purchased a iron to make Stroopwafels. Oh yum. Love those. I’ve not yet made them. Trying to decide if I can correctly split them after bake. Any suggestions on that??
I know it takes a sharp knife but…still could use some hints from you. I’m planning my holiday baking all around Dutch and Scandinavian baked goods. My husband was Dutch and I like to keep some of the traditional recipes alive for my grown sons and my little grandchildren. To make the Dutch recipes it helps if you’re Dutch …but even Swedes can master them….with practice. : ).
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Tere,
Great to read your comment. The Ebelskiver are like our Dutch poffertjes only bigger I think. They are delicious!
Stroopwafels is something we have eaten and bought a lot but actually never made ourselves. So we cannot give you optimal advice on this. We do know you need to split them while they are still hot and lying on the iron and they need indeed to be cut with a very sharp knife. When they are too cool they get too brittle for splitting. How is your own Dutch, because then we know a few sites that can help you?!
It would be still on our list to make them too, but first it would main buying yet another appliance and yet another thing to try on a long ‘to bake’ list. Ohh I just remembered something..
Stroop wafels where made on an episode of the Great British Bake Off. They seemed quite authentic. Maybe this link can help you, though the instructions are a bit ‘frugal’.
thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/prues…oopwafels/
Enjoy your baking and Groetjes uit Nederland, Hilsen fra
Marieke & Ed
Sri Muljani says
HI,
can I use raisin yeast water and my SD starter for this?
how much do you think I should use?
Will the result be the same soft and fluffy? I want the result to be the same soft and fluffy as the posted recipe, using raisin yeast water and SD starter.
Please advise.
Thank you,
Regards,
Sri
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Sri,
Perhaps it is a good idea to read up a bit on the difference between making a yeast bread with straight dough and making sourdough bread. If you understand the workings of both you will see that conversion is not that straightforward. For this reason we cannot just give you a simple advice like use this amount of sourdough instead of yeast and you will have the same result.
You could start by using the sourdough rolls recipe and convert this to a raisin bun recipe, using only bread flour and not whole wheat. www.weekendbakery.com/posts…ugh-rolls/
You must take into account that the result will always be different from this yeast based recipe.
Sri Muljani says
Thank you for the information. I tried to use poolish method and some raisin yeast water added. The bread turned out really soft and nice; but the bulk fermentation was longer and so was the baking time.
Maybe I will try to use the roux method next time.
Just have to table the sourdough method. I wasn’t successfull with using sourdough last time I made soft rolls, with a lot of butter and eggs. They were dense and underdeveloped. Not sure whether the sourdough was not mature, or that the butter and eggs were too much for just the sourdough to work the gluten.
Thank you,
Regards,
Sri
Perihan says
How can I convert the recipes by cups
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Perihan,
You can find our baking conversion page here: www.weekendbakery.com/cooki…nversions/
NB: Our honest opinion on cups and scales
We very much recommend weighing all your ingredients, including water. Professional bakers use scales (also in the US) and in Europe home bakers do too. A scale will give you the exact same weight every time. Which is absolutely needed if you consistently want to make good bread and good pastry. You can get a scale for the same price as a few sacks of good flour and less than a lot of baking tools you already own, so if possible, go and get one! It will change your baking life.
Chris says
Please post your tweaked version of krentenbollen!
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Chris,
If you want to give it a try make a preferment with 100 grams of the flour and 100 grams of the water and 1 gram fresh yeast or 0.3 gram instant yeast, stir well and leave this to ferment for 4 hours before adding it to the final dough. Of course you have to subtract the 100 grams of flour and water from the ingredients in the final dough because you add the preferment to it. So in the final dough you have the preferment, 300 g flour and 120 g milk (so it all adds up to the right amounts). As for the flour we get great results with a mixture of organic strong bread flour (Manitoba for instance) and type 55 flour. And we often use currants and raisins in our buns.
Hope you will give it a try.
Happy bun baking,
Marieke
chris says
Thanks! I made the krentenbollen with the poolish and it tasted delicious! I added a couple of teaspoons of potato flour and reduced the raisins/currants to 350g because that is all I had. Super lekker krentenbollen! Thank you for the idea. This weekend I will try again with sourdough liquid levain and see how that turns out.
Weekend Bakers says
Excellent Chris, always interested to know how different versions turn out!
Rebecca says
Hi Marieke,
Thanks for this lovely-looking recipe, and the additional tweak. Will try them this weekend!
Another quick question about the preferment: in addition to reducing the liquid and flour in the final dough, do you also reduce the amount of yeast? Or would you still use 13.7 g of instant yeast in the final dough?
Weekend Bakers says
Hi, you can use the same amount of yeast in the final dough. The amount of yeast in the preferment does not make a big difference, so you still need the full amount.
Marya Barefoot says
We just returned from the Netherlands and already miss my krentenbollen met kassa! Can’t wait to make these!
Weekend Bakers says
Excellent! Let us know how it goes and enjoy!
Michelle says
Hi,
I have been baking with success some of your breads which used sourdough and I have been following your website since. Some of your recipes called for fresh yeast and in your conversion webpage, there is nothing indicated in how to convert fresh/instant/dried yeast to sourdough. Are you able to give an indication in how to do this conversion? I wanted to try this recipe but would also like to try other non sourdough recipes in your website.
Thanks
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Michelle,
You do not see a conversion because a straight conversion from yeast to sourdough is not possible without adapting recipes. In a yeast based recipe, especially the straight dough / one day recipes, you cannot just substitute yeast for sourdough. The methods and times differ, so for example to turn this raisin bun recipe into a sourdough raisin bun recipe , you basically need to build up a whole new recipe. You could experiment, making a combination between the above recipe and this one: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…ugh-rolls/ for example.
Happy sourdough baking!
Laurel Shimer says
OK, I just put another batch of my California Immigrant Raisin Rolls version, of you wonderful rolls into my oven. So many posters asked about American measurements, so the link I put below has my conversions embedded in it. Of course I had to change the recipe to suit me! Isn’t that always the way it goes?
Also, my recipe uses a *bread machine*. Chrissy who posted previously will be happy.
Thank you again. I have made a lot of good bread before, but now my husband only wants me to make these.
postcardfromcalifornia.blogspot.com/2016/…-buns.html
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Laurel,
That is high praise indeed. Great how you adapted the recipe and made it your own.
Hope your husband will enjoy many buns to come.
Laurel Shimer says
I have been making them each weekend since! When I make my regular (very tasty) bread, my husband never minds my giving the second loaf away. But he asked that I not give these away, and we freeze the leftovers, so he can microwave them after a day or so. BTW, he likes the bigger sized ones. We still get quite a lot more because (I think) I use more yeast, and perhaps also because of the buttermilk.
I also think golden raisins are ideal in these.
Laurel Shimer says
My main changes were – buttermilk, a lot more fluid (buttermilk + water), and a fair amount more yeast. I make them in a bread machine and included American measurements in the recipe above. I have also noticed that American flours behave differently, as you mentioned.
Weekend Bakers says
We love the golden raisins too, but (over here) they are very big and would indeed work well in a bigger ‘krentenbol’.
Chrissie says
Hello
Have you ever made the dough in a bread maker on the dough cycle? Or does that mix/ rise too much before the raisins and currents are added?
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Chrissie,
We do not have any experience with a bread maker. We do know you need to make sure the raisins are in at the last stage of kneading, before any proofing, because it is important for the dough to develop with the raisins in it, be well distributed and enveloped by the dough. We do not know how that would work using a bread maker.
Laurel Shimer says
Hey Chrissy, I make mine in a bread machine. Also converted the recipe. I did make changes to it, that I hope you like. Or you can use the original and see what happens! I’d be curious to know.
Here is my bread machine version with American measurements. Post if you have questions.
postcardfromcalifornia.blogspot.com/2016/…-buns.html
Donna says
I just discovered your wonderful website. I wish you had a Facebook page so I could like your page and all my friends could see it. These raisin buns are like the ones my grandmother used to make. My boyfriend was born in the Netherlands and remembers eating these as a child. I’m going to try and make the buns soon. Thank you for your beautiful website and recipes.
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you Donna! I think there is not a single person in Holland without memories of krentenbollen in their childhood. We still love them of course. The most important tip for this recipe is to really make sure you proof them enough (take your time and make sure the dough has the right temperature) and they will hopefully live up to expectations.
Happy bun baking!
Marieke
Stu Flavell says
Making krentenbollen has become a regular feature in the rhythm of our kitchen. We have settled on using all-purpose flour for our rolls, as it gives a softer finish. Overall, the recipe has been quite reliable and has given me a lot of confidence in baking.
Tonight we tried a slight variation. We had a supply of rum- and brandy-soaked fruit left over from making holiday stollen: cherries, raisins, cranberries and chopped apricots. We wrung them out, leaving them just about as damp as our raisins usually are. We then mixed the fruit into the dough in lieu of raisins. The result was a festive variation the usual treat. I was happy to find such a tasty use for the leftover fruit.
Thanks for sharing your explorations.
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Stu, we also mix and match a lot with our fruit, dried sour cherries are very nice in the krentenbollen!
Henny DeRegt says
Could you give me this recipe in cup measurements please? Thank you.
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Henny,
For the best results we strongly recommend using a kitchen scale, because it will make your baking very consistent.
We do have a handy conversion page for you, you can find it here: www.weekendbakery.com/cooki…nversions/
Freda says
Do you know what the nutritional values are? Total fat, cholesterol, calories etc. for each bun?
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Freda,
Sorry, we cannot exactly help you with that except that there is between 3 to 4 grams of fat in each bun. The average raisin bun has about 260 kilo-calories per 100 g. We are not exactly the calorie counting types I’m afraid.
Julia de Ruig says
Good evening Marieke, today l beaked your krentenbollen and they were absolutely delicious! In the beginning l did not believe how on earth will l incorporate THIS amount of raisins into THAT amount of dough 🙂 but l managed. Everything worked perfectly. Big thank you for your lovely recipe. Julia
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Julia,
So glad you liked it. Yes, when making the krentenbollen for the first time, you will think this cannot be right, but like you discovered, when you stick with it, you get a very good ratio of dough to raisin, just like they are meant to be.
Happy bollen baking!
Marieke
Marijn (Gigi) Tiemes says
Hi Marieke,
Do you have any tips on how to keep the raisins in the dough? I tried to ‘pinch’ them in but could only get about half of it in without them all falling out again. (first time try though).
Cheers, Gigi.
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Marijn,
With certain standing mixers it is possible to use them to get the raisins in by mixing on a low setting for about 1 minute (like we say in the recipe). This makes life very easy compared to doing it by hand. We know it seems like they will not fit in the dough, but they do and next time you have to ‘keep at it’ a little bit longer, maybe cover the dough, let it relax for 5 minutes and give it another go. Try to put the leftover raisins in the middle and close the dough around and then pinch them in again. With the rolling up and shaping and proofing of the dough that will follow it will hopefully all fall into place and you will find it is not such a crazy amount 😉
If you think this is not working for me, just make a version with less raisins and it will also be delicious we are sure!
Good luck with it.
Boots Weckerle says
I am making Krenten Bollen for the first time. Should the milk be warm (105 degrees) when I add the east?
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Boots,
Yeast should never be too warm or it will not get active or even die. The aim is to get a final dough that is around 77 degrees (25 Celsius) for optimum proofing of the krentenbollen. So a room temperature milk or slightly warmer would be OK. Also see our tips on dough temperature for more background information: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…mperature/.
Albertine Lubbe says
I just love this recipe and I have printed this and keep this in my recipe folder. I am going to make this coming week-end and will gell you how the ‘Krentenbollen’ turned out. I hope good.
A friend of mine bakes Krentenbrood and I love her bread, but there is one thing that this bread is difficult to spread. The bread falls apart and the ‘krenten’ just do not stick to the bread, they just fall out. What would be the reason? Pleas let me know why?
You will get my reaction after I make the ‘Krentenbollen’.
WIth tanks, Albertine.
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Albertine,
Thanks for your comment. Hope the krentenbollen will be a success. It is hard to say what your friend is doing, not seeying her at work. Maybe she uses a bread baking machine and judging by the bread falling apart bit it sounds like there is not enough gluten development and the bread is therefor more like cake. This could be due to not enough kneading, maybe in combination with a very low gluten flour.
Let us know how your krentenbollen turned out!
Happy baking!
Marieke
Stu Flavell says
I am thoroughly enjoying working from this website. As someone who lived in Amsterdam for a few years and ate my share of krentenbollen (with peanut butter–a lot), I am really happy to have this recipe. Could I try prefermenting this by using 100g each of the water and flour in the recipe with a smaller portion of yeast, akin to that in the white roll recipe elsewhere on this site?
Thanks!
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Stu,
Great to hear. Yes, you could very well do that and add prefermented dough to the final dough. We do this ourselves sometimes too and it works for this recipe too. The difference it produces is (for us) a little less detectable than for the white buns, because there’s so much going on already in a krentenbol.
Happy baking!
Marieke
Stu Flavell says
Marieke–
I now bake krentenbollen! I have successfully executed this recipe a few times and the results have been irresistible. As someone who has been baking breads that take 18-36 hours from start to finish, mastering a yeast bread project that takes about three hours, start to finish, is very satisfying.
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Stu, thank you for your kind words. We like, we love krentenbollen. You eat them often as breakfast with a slice of cheese, or simply with butter. With a good recipe, good ingredients, even a straight dough bread can be great!
Lisa says
Ik heb deze krentenbollen al vaker gebakken, erg lekker. Wat ik zelf erg lekker vind, is een beetje kaneel door het deeg. Ik deel het deeg in 2 helften en doe door één helft kaneel zodat ik krentenbollen met en zonder kaneel heb.
Weekend Bakers says
Hallo Lisa,
Dank voor deze heerlijke aanvulling, een heel goed idee!
Happy baking,
Marieke
Joyce says
Mine are just out of the oven and they look and taste amazing, just like the real thing! The dough seemed a bit sticky to me at first but it all turned out well :)One question though, they seem to develop a bit of a crust, even after I’ve brushed them with butter… Any tips on how to improve this the next time I bake these? Thanks for the recipe!
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Joyce,
Thank you for trying our recipe. It depends a bit on the humidity of your surroundings too but the surest way of getting a soft exterior is to but the buns in a (plastic) bag while they are still a bit warm. The warm air will soften them.
Happy bun baking!
Marieke
Karryn Persson says
Hi we have just returned back home to Sweden after spending a week in Holland for the Tulip Festival, we ate these buns everyday, so I have decided to try and bake them, will let you know how they turn out. In Holland we found that you could buy these buns in different sizes, we liked the very large ones. So I’m hoping that your recipe for 12 is the same as the large buns we bought back with us. best regards Karryn.
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Karryn,
Hope you had a great time in our little country and the tulips were doing their best to enchant you. I do not know what size the buns you bought would have been exactly, but I am guessing you would come close if you make 8 bigger ones of about 150 grams each. I find the recipe works best using fresh yeast and the type of flour you use also makes a difference of course.
If you use bread flour they will be denser, using a lighter (type 55 flour) works great, types like Italian 00 and Manitoba (if available) will also give very good results.
Happy krentenbol baking!
Marieke
Jessica says
Thanks for yet another great recipe!
The krentenbollen are in their final proof right now, and I can’t wait to taste them.
I do have one question: in the ingredient list you talk about 270 GRAMS of milk, but later in the instructions you talk about ML. Is that right? Or should I be using ML the whole time??
Thanks!
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Jessica,
You are right, thank you for noticing. The 270 g is correct so it is best to stick to that. I already corrected it in the text. But as there is not that big a difference between 270 g and 270 ml of milk you can use both. Depending on what milk you use 100g milk will equal around 97 ml (because of milk solids) when you use water it makes practically no difference 100 ml is 100 g.
Hope your raisin buns will be great!
Marieke
Henry Poole says
Krentenbollen are my wife’s favorite treat. We just returned to the U.S. from a visit ‘home’ (for her) to The Netherlands. She packed as many packages of Kerentenbollen in the carry-on luggage as would fit and by the time we landed there was only one package left! I bake as a hobby and will try out your recipe for her in the near future…she has a very discerning taste so success on my part will not be easy.
Henry & Joke
Warner Robins, GA
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Henry & Joke,
Hope you had a great visit over here and you will give the krentenbollen recipe a try. Maybe the recipe needs some tweaking because of the flour you use (most of the time American flour asks for a bit more water than our European) but Home baked and fresh can never be a bad thing!
Groetjes uit Holland,
Ed & Marieke
Jan Rendek says
Loved them when I studied in NL.
Now I prepared them using your recipe for my colleagues in the office in Bratislava, Slovakia. And they loved them too 🙂
Thank you!
Jan Rendek
Slovakia/Austria
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Jan,
How wonderful that ‘our’ krentenbollen are liked all the way in Bratislava! Thank you so much for sharing. Makes us 🙂
Greetings from Holland,
Marieke & Ed
Jim Wheeler says
Hi, I made the Krentenbollen today. I had some issuesa and maybe you can help me. I followed the recipe as closely as I could.I used King Arthur unbleacked flour, Red Stat Platinum yeast, and equal grams of raisins to flour. They seems to be doing ok until after 14 minutes in a 390 degree oven they were notbrowned like your picture and a lot of raisins sticking out every where. I switched to the convection mode in my oven at the same temperture and they browned a little in 5 more minutes but the center never achived a nice egg yellowish fluffy crumb. What do you think I did wrong? I remember these as a kid and they were much lighter fewer raisins and look like your picture on the web site. they did taste mighty good though!!
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Jim,
First of all ovens are tricky things to compare. Maybe yours works a little different and you need to set it a bit higher next time. These are the things you always have to figure out and ‘tweak’ to make the recipe work for you.
Incorporating the raisins so they do not stick out has to do with shaping technique. First of all you have to make sure the raisins are equally divided throughout the dough, at this point of course some will stick out here and there, but when it comes to the part of making the rolls, this is where you must make sure (almost) all of them are covered by the dough. When you master the technique of tightly rolling the balls, first with rather a lot of pressure with your cupped hands and gradually releasing the pressure, you will see that the raisins that are on the outside also get covered with a film of the dough. The yellowness of the crumb also has to do with how yellow to orange in color your yolk is and also a bit with the orange lemon zest sugar. It is no problem making these with less raisins if you prefer of course. And last but not least, for fluffiness it is also essential you make absolutely sure they are very well risen to their full extend. So when your dough and/or surroundings are colder this could take quite a while longer than the times given in the recipe.
Hope this is helpful and you will give it another try.
Marieke
Nor says
Sounds really good, but when it comes to recipes, I understand cups, tblspoons and tspoons, etc, grams are not my bag. So it would really help to have this in my language.
Thanks
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Nor,
We understand. For us, to get the same results and consistency in baking it is vital to measure our ingredients.
But we do have a conversion page to help you out: www.weekendbakery.com/cooki…nversions/
Carla says
Hello Marieke,
Your website is a source of inspiration for a novice baker like myself (and many others I’m sure). Next weekend I will give this krentenbollen recipe a try; also in memory / honour of my granddad. Your story about the amount of raisins brought back happy memories of my grandparents.
My granddads reply to my granny’s request if her “oliebollen” (dutch new years treat) were filled enough with currants and raisins would be: Yes dear, I don’t need my bike! And my granny knew then that they were alright. Lovely to read that you use a similar expression!
Marieke says
Hello Donna,
So nice to hear from you. Thank you for your kind words on our site.
The krentenbollen are a real favorite with our family. I hope they work out for you too with this recipe. Of course you have different ingredients, especially the flour and how much moisture it needs to get a good dough. But I would love to hear how they turn out! I call my krentenbollen raisin buns because I do not actually use ‘krenten’ in them but the more juicy raisins.
Fun to hear that you eat the pindakaas and the chocolade pasta! No hagelslag (another ‘Dutch’ treat)? I would be curious to hear what you think of Holland now. Things change so quickly and it’s rather busy everywhere. People I know who moved years ago and visit cannot get used to it anymore. In the US you usually have a lot more space.
But we still have enough room for baking and for our little stone oven. Although it is our dream to one day have a wood fired one, maybe in a large garden, to make bread and pizza!
Have fun with the baking!
Marieke
Jan & Donna Kohler says
Hello Marieke,
What a great website you have! I found your website from The Fresh Loaf and your postings. When I saw the spelling of your name I thought you were Dutch. What fun to find someone from Holland. My husband was born and raised in Baarn and immigrated to the U.S. in 1981. We met in California and lived in Holland for 3 years, 1990 to 1993, in Soest then Amersfoort. As an American it was a great experience for me. I loved the Dutch breads and visited the bread museum in Hattem.
We started making no-knead bread a couple of years ago, much better than the grocery store breads and much cheaper than the artisan bakeries. After starting Jan took over and makes our bread every week and slices and freezes. He makes a very nice no-knead bread with cranraisins, nuts and cinnamon, just had a piece for breakfast with peanut butter and Dutch chocolate paste that we buy from a baker that comes every 6 weeks.
We just printed out the Krentenbollen recipe and Jan is started to make them. I remember the raisins in Holland were different, had some sand and were tougher. The raisins we get are pre-washed so we will skip that but are soaking just to make them softer, they are already pretty soft but Krentenbollen needs soft raising.
Thank you for such a great site!
Donna Kohler