Russian-German Twoiback or Double Buns

I just realized that I don’t have that many recipes here on the blog that remind me of my childhood. This probably has to do with the fact that we moved so much. I was born in Uruguay, then we spent three years in the U.S, came back to Uruguay before we finally settled in Germany. Needless to say that my four grandparents all have a German passport, however, all of them were born in the former Soviet Union. Thus, our food and dishes were influenced by a lot of different cultures. Dear to my heart is the Uruguayan cutlet called milanesa, I also love the Russian Napoleon cake or Polish pirogi. I also wouldn’t say no to Ukranian Easter bread named paska. Just recently I tried one of the many peppermint cookies from my grandma she has many recipes for. In this mix of cultures and dishes I am going to throw in a new one, Russian-German twoiback or double buns. You can think of brioche, it is a very soft dough with butter and you will see two balls that are attached to each other. My sister described them as an unfinished snowman. I couldn’t have said it any better.

Twoiback are served for every meal any any occasion. You will see them for Sunday dinner, weddings, or for breakfast. They may be eaten as a snack and can be filled with sweet and savory fillings. Twoiback are the backbone of Russian-German cuisine. I personally enjoyed twoiback immensely for breakfast. I found it so convenient, you don’t need to cut them in half, you can just take off the top ball and then smear whatever you felt like on top. German buns (Brötchen) are not as fluffy and soft as this dream come true so I enjoyed twoiback even more.

Both of my grandmothers knew the twoiback recipe by heart and both of them produced super fluffy and delicious twoiback. However, as one grandma passed away relatively early, I do remember the ones from my other grandma even more. She once even showed me how to make them. I recall that there were no measurements of any kind, she would just know by heart how the dough would have to feel, if it needed more flour or water. She also taught me that they would taste better if you used two types of fat. Twoiback are essentially similar to brioche, light and fluffy, soft and best on the day they were made. The one difference though is the shape. Mennonite or Russian-German twoiback always consist of two buns “glued” together. They can be conviently eaten just like that and can be easily frozen.

So, let’s get going, let’s make some Mennonite or Russian-German twoiback, yay!

Credit: Youtube-Video EckArtRezept (in Russian)

Russian-German Twoiback

Serves: About 10-12 twoiback, depending on size
Prep Time: 20min Cooking Time: 15-20min Total Time: 3hr 30min

Russian-German twoiback are similar to brioche and are light and fluffy, iconic are the two balls glued to each other.

Ingredients

  • (This is a small recipe for about 10-12 twoiback, you can easily double the recipe)
  • 50 grams of butter
  • 250 grams of milk
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • 25 grams of water
  • 12 grams of fresh yeast
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons of oil
  • 3/4 teaspoon of salt
  • 400-450 grams of all-purpose flour

Instructions

1

Melt the butter in a pot and then add the cold milk. Check if you need to warm a bit more, you want lukewarm, so you should be able to stick your finger inside. Dissolve the sugar with the water and yeast in a glass, set aside. In a large kneading bowl put the yeast mixture, butter and milk mixture inside and add the oil, salt and about 400 grams of flour. You will get a very sticky dough, I have my KitchenAid kneading the dough for 5 minutes, then I increase to speed 2 for another three minutes. The dough will be very soft and sticky. If you don't own a machine, you can also have the dough stand overnight in order to develop gluten. Chill in the fridge and then continue. Wipe a bowl with oil and place the dough inside, cover and let rise for 1-2 hours or until double in size.

2

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Oil your hands. Take a part of the dough and create balls with your hand. How I do this, you can see in this video. The balls should be the size of a very big walnut. The second one can be slightly smaller. Place the bigger ball on the prepared baking sheet, in order for the seocnd to stick to the first, fully free to punch down with your index fingers. You can see this in the video. Prepare all twoiback like this until no dough is left and cover with a kitchen towel and let rise a second time, about 45min. Preheat oven to 210 degrees Celsius, spray twoiback with water before baking and bake on the middle rack for about 15-20min or until golden. Enjoy with sweet or savory toppings. Twoiback can be frozen easily and will taste great reheated in the microwave.

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6 Comments

  • Reply
    Das Mädel vom Land
    Sunday January 29th, 2023 at 12:54 PM

    Liebe Jenny,
    deine Geschichte zum Rezept habe ich sehr gerne gelesen. Ich frage mich, wie es ist, inmitten so vieler Kulturen aufwachsen zu dürfen. Du hast so vielfältige Wurzeln, das ist richtig faszinierend.
    Und deine Twoiback! Zuerst dachte ich ja an so etwas wie Zwieback, der ja bei uns hart und krachend ist, weil er zwei Mal gebacken wird. Das “Zwei” in deinem Gebäck kommt aber tatsächlich von der Form, oder?
    Jedenfalls freue ich mich sehr, dass du mitgemacht hast bei meinem Blogevent – und danke dir von Herzen für deine lieben Worte – das schmeichelt mir sehr 🙂
    Alles Liebe!
    Maria

    • Reply
      Jenny
      Sunday January 29th, 2023 at 01:14 PM

      Liebe Maria, ja genau, es kommt von der Form, dass zwei Kugeln aufeinandergesetzt werden. Es war mir eine Freude mitzumachen!

  • Reply
    zorra vom kochtopf
    Monday March 6th, 2023 at 10:00 AM

    Wow, du hast ja schon eine turbulente Vergangenheit hinter dir! Was die Brötchen betrifft, die werden ganz bald nachgebacken. Sie sind nämlich genau nach meinem Geschmack!

  • Reply
    Elena
    Tuesday April 11th, 2023 at 03:35 PM

    Hallo Jenny,

    danke für das Rezept! Bin zufällig nachts drauf gestoßen, als Zwieback backen einplanen wollte und zu faul war, um aufzustehen und in meinen Rezepten nachzusehen. Und ich bin dann bei deinem Rezept geblieben.
    Es wird heute getestet, allerdings mit Dinkelvollkornmehl, Kürbispüree für etwas Farbe und Zucchiniraspel als Butterersatz.
    Bin gespannt auf das Ergebnis.
    Ich bin auch Russlanddeutsche und erinnere mich, dass meine Mutter die Zwieback auch schon Mal zweimal gebacken hat, um sie haltbar zu machen. Was sie mit den knusprigen Zwieback anschließend gemacht hat, weiß ich leider nicht mehr, aber bei mir kommen evtl. Reste frühzeitig in den TK.
    Danke nochmal und alles Gute dir!
    FG
    Elena

    • Reply
      Jenny
      Tuesday April 11th, 2023 at 06:56 PM

      Liebe Elena, ich bin gespannt auf das Ergebnis! Grüße, Jenny

      • Reply
        Elena
        Tuesday April 11th, 2023 at 07:26 PM

        Hmm, sie behielten leider nicht ihre Form. Der Teig war wohl dank des Kürbispürees zu flüssig. Ich habe zwar 50 g Mehl hinzugefügt, aber das war wohl nicht genug.
        Schmecken tun sie gut. Besser als Pizzabrötchen, aber für mich zu langweilig. Das nächste Mal werde ich sie mit Bärlauch, Röstzwiebeln und Schinkenwürfel oder etwas anderem probieren.
        Die Zucchiniraspel und das Dinkelvollkornmehl taten ihnen aus meiner Sicht jedenfalls keinen Abbruch.
        Da ich nicht so eine Süße bin, würde ich auch mehr Salz nehmen, aber das kann natürlich jeder machen, wie er möchte. ?

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