Krentenbollen (Currant Buns)

Krentenbollen are the sweet counterweight to the Dutch bread basket: soft, enriched rolls packed with currants and raisins, baked to a glossy dome and eaten at breakfast or with afternoon coffee. Split one warm, spread it with cold butter that melts into the crumb, and you have one of the quiet pleasures of the Dutch morning table.

They belong to a long tradition of fruited breads across the Low Countries, made richer and more common through the nineteenth century as sugar and dried fruit grew cheaper and the household bakery flourished. Currants — krenten — were an everyday import through the Dutch trading ports, so much so that the word entered the language as a byword for thrift, the "krentenkakker" who counts every currant. In a krentenbol they are anything but stingy.

An enriched, patient dough

This is a bread enriched with milk, egg, butter, and sugar, which makes it soft and tender but also slower to rise and quicker to burn. Give it a proper knead so the gluten can carry the weight of the fruit, and two unhurried proves so the crumb turns pillowy. The butter goes in after the dough comes together, worked through until the dough is silky.

A good krentenbol is soft to the squeeze, glossy on top, and heavy with fruit right to the crust.

Handle the fruit with care

Soak the currants and raisins so they stay juicy, dry them so they don't wet the dough, and fold them in gently at the end so you don't tear the gluten you worked to build. Press any stray currants down into the surface before baking, or they will catch and turn bitter. Bake to a deep gold, cool just enough to handle, and eat with butter — plain, and perfect.