Milk rolls

It is always a joy to receive the latest issues of the food magazines I subscribe to: I usually bookmark a lot of recipes but it takes me some time to actually make them, especially if the magazines arrive on those days when a trip to the grocery store is more than necessary.

When I received my Donna Hay magazine a couple of weeks ago, for instance, both my fridge and my cupboard were a bit on the empty side, but when I saw the recipe for these rolls I knew I would make them the following morning: the small list of ingredients consisted of basics I still had a bit of around, it wouldn’t be a problem. I did bake them and they looked beautiful when I took them out of the oven – they smelled fantastic, too.

I posted the photo on Instagram and it was welcomed by many people, therefore I felt like sharing the recipe here on the blog – the thing is: I gathered my family around the table, made some coffee and the rolls disappeared on that very same day. :)

Everyone loved the rolls, so I made them once again and thought they looked even better, more golden – now that I’ve managed to take a decent photo of them I bring you the recipe and I am sure many of you will like it for it is really easy to make and the rolls are divine.

Milk rolls
slightly adapted from the always wonderful Donna Hay magazine

330ml whole milk
65g unsalted butter, room temperature and chopped
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons dried yeast
2 eggs
650g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt

For brushing the rolls:
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon whole milk

Place half the milk in a small saucepan over high heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat, add the butter and sugar and stir until butter is melted. Add the remaining milk. Set aside until lukewarm, then pour into the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside until foamy, 5 minutes or so.

Add the egg, flour and salt and mix with the dough hook until you get a smooth dough, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a large lightly buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until doubled in size, about 40 minutes. Butter a 20x30cm (8x12in) metal baking pan and set aside.

Punch the air from the dough, divide into 15 equal pieces (mine were 75g each) and roll each into a smooth ball, using your hand as a cage to roll the dough around. Place the dough balls side by side onto the prepared pan, about 1cm apart. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside for 40 minutes or until risen – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.

Beat the egg yolk and milk together with a fork. Brush the rolls with the mixture and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and the rolls sound hollow when tapped with your fingers. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully unmold onto the rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature – the rolls can be kept in the freezer for up to 1 month, just let cool completely and wrap in Ziploc bags.

Makes 15

Cinnamon and chocolate rolls for a mind unable to forget

For days in a row I had cinnamon rolls in mind and I wasn’t really sure why – maybe because I’d seen some at Starbucks when I stopped by with a friend? That makes sense. But then again I’d seen blueberry muffins there, too, and they did not cross my mind at all. My mind works in mysterious ways, I guess. :)

Because it was Easter I felt like baking with chocolate, so why not add a handful of the ingredient to some already delicious cinnamon rolls? I did, inspired by Eric Lanlard, and to make the buns more interesting I switched a bit of the all purpose flour for whole wheat flour – not only was the flavor great paired with the chocolate and the cinnamon but it also added a beautiful golden hue to the rolls (and it lightened a bit the guilty factor). :D

I chose not to glaze the rolls for two reasons: I thought it would be overkill and without the glaze they can be reheated in the oven for a couple of minutes before serving – the melted chocolate combined with the cinnamon permeating the soft roll is something I can’t recommend highly enough.

Cinnamon and chocolate rolls
adapted from two wonderful sources: Chocolat and The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Dessert Cookbook: 100 Delicious Heritage Recipes from the Farm and Garden

Dough:
2 ½ teaspoons dry yeast
¼ cup (50g) + 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
¼ cup (60ml) warm water
6 tablespoons (85g/¾ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 large egg yolks
¾ cup (180ml) buttermilk*
½ teaspoon table salt
80g whole wheat flour
3 to 4 cups (420g to 560g) all-purpose flour

Filling:
100g light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
pinch of table salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft
100g dark chocolate, grated – I used one with 53% cocoa solids and blitzed it in the food processor

icing sugar, for dusting

Dough: in a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and 1 teaspoon granulated sugar in the warm water. Let stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy.
Meanwhile, in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter and ¼ cup granulated sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg yolks, buttermilk, and salt until well combined (mixture might look curdled). Beat in the yeast mixture. Add the whole wheat flour and 3 cups of the all purpose flour and mix until combined. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, adding more flour if necessary – I switched the paddle attachment for the dough hook and kneaded the dough using mixer; in total, I used 470g all purpose flour.
Transfer the dough to a lightly buttered large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Filling: in a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and roll to a 30x45cm (12x18in) rectangle. Spread the butter over the dough, then sprinkle with the cinnamon mixture followed by the chocolate. Starting at the longest end, roll tightly into a cylinder. Cut crosswise into 16 equal pieces.
Line a large baking sheet with foil and brush it lightly with butter. Place the slices side by side, 2.5cm (1in) apart. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until light and puffed, about 45 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the buns are golden brown and well risen. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature, dusted with icing sugar.

* homemade buttermilk: to make 1 cup buttermilk place 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a 240ml-capacity measuring cup and complete with whole milk (room temperature). Wait 10 minutes for it to thicken slightly, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

Makes 16

Coconut buns + a TV show disappointment

I waited months for the fifth season of “Mad Men” to arrive on Netflix but after watching all the episodes I did not like it much. :/

* spoilers *

I hated the fate given to two of my favorite characters, Joan and Lane, and Don Draper doesn’t seem to be the interesting character he once was – at least Pete and Peggy had great finales. Seasons 1 through 4 are such favorites of mine, I hope season 6 gets back on track again. Have you watched season 5? Did you like it?

* end of spoilers *

If “Mad Men” was a disappointment to me I can’t say the same about these buns: they are super tender and delicious both on their own and with some raspberry jam; the recipes from "Baking by Flavor" never let me down.

Coconut buns
slightly adapted from the always delicious and wonderful Baking by Flavor

2 ¼ teaspoons dried yeast
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons warm water
1 large egg
½ tablespoon vanilla extract
¼ cup sour cream*
¼ cup coconut milk
2 cups + 2 tablespoons (300g) all purpose flour, divided use
¼ teaspoon table salt
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 sweetened (33g) shredded coconut
½ cup (1 stick/113g) unsalted butter, softened and cut into chunks

For assembling the buns:
1 egg, beaten with a fork, for brushing the rolls
about ¼ cup sweetened shredded coconut, for sprinkling over the rolls

In the large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the hook attachment mix the yeast, ½ teaspoon of the sugar and warm water. Let stand for about 5 minutes or until foamy. Add the egg, vanilla, remaining sugar, sour cream and coconut milk and stir to combine. Add 2 cups of the flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and coconut and mix at medium-low speed until a dough forms. Gradually add the butter, mixing until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes – if the dough is too sticky, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour, but be aware that this is a soft dough. Transfer to a lightly buttered large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour. Refrigerate for 4-5 hours or overnight.
Butter a 20x30cm (12x8in) baking pan. Set aside.
Remove the dough from the fridge and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Knead 3-4 four times, then divide into 9 equal portions. Roll each into a ball by cupping your hand and pushing dough against work surface as you roll in a circular motion. Arrange rolls 2.5cm (1in) apart onto prepared pan and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let proof until doubled in size, about 2 hours. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F.
Brush the rolls with the egg wash and sprinkle with the coconut. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until rolls are golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Makes 9

Cinnamon bubble buns

One of my favorite things about cooking and baking is being surround by fantastic smells: freshly brewed coffee, onions and olive oil being cooked together, citrus fruits while being zested or squeezed... Delicious. And to that list I'll add cinnamon - one of my favorite smells and one impossible to hide in the kitchen: it's really evident when there's something in the oven made with cinnamon, like these wonderful buns - I've replaced the sour cream called for in the original recipe for yogurt, therefore you can indulge in these and call them healthy. ;)

Cinnamon bubble buns
slightly adapted from of the best cookbooks I own

Yogurt yeast dough:
2¼ teaspoons dried yeast
¼ cup (60 ml) warm water
3 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
320g all-purpose flour + a little for kneading, if necessary
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda

Cinnamon-sugar coating:
65g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Dough: sprinkle the yeast over the water in the bowl of a stand mixer; set aside for 5 to 10 minutes until bubbly. Add the butter, yogurt, sugar, egg, and vanilla to the yeast mixture and stir to combine with a rubber spatula.
Attach the bowl to the mixer, and fit the mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat in 250g of the flour, the salt, and baking soda on medium-low speed until incorporated, 30 to 45 seconds. Add the remaining 70g flour and beat until a smooth, moderately soft dough forms.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and satiny, about 3 minutes. At first the dough will be sticky. Add no more than 1 to 2 tablespoons additional flour during the kneading to combat the stickiness. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. The dough is ready when a finger gently pressed into it leaves an indentation. Meanwhile, prepare the pan and make the cinnamon-sugar coating.

Generously butter a 12-cup standard muffin pan (1/3 cup capacity each cavity), then flour the cups, tapping out the excess flour.
Cinnamon-sugar coating: in a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon; set nearby. Place the melted butter in a small, shallow dish.
Gently punch the dough down to deflate it. Form it into a long cylinder, and divide it into 12 equal portions (each portion is about 1¾ ounces/50 grams). Divide each portion into 6 equal pieces, and then shape each piece into a ball. One at a time, roll the balls first in the butter and then in the cinnamon sugar. Arrange 5 balls next to one another in a circle in each prepared muffin cup, and then, using a fingertip, poke the sixth ball down slightly in the center.

Repeat with the remaining 11 dough portions. Loosely cover the buns with plastic wrap and set them aside in a warm place until puffy and doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. The dough is ready to bake when a finger gently pressed into it leaves an indentation – in the meantime, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
Bake the buns until golden, 20-22 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 to 8 minutes. Then tilt the pan and gently tap it on a counter to release the buns. If necessary, slip a knife blade between the pan and the bun to release. Transfer the buns to a wire rack.

Makes 12

Lemon and almond buns + Dragonette

I have many favorite TV shows and one of them is “Chuck’s Day Off” – not only because the food looks delicious but also because to me it has the best soundtrack among the cooking shows. After watching several episodes, I noticed that one album cover kept appearing at the end of the show, and after listening to some of the tracks I completely fell in love with Dragonette’s “Fixin To Thrill”. My favorite tracks are “Don’t Be Funny”, “Pick Up the Phone” and “Easy” – impossible not to love a song that starts with that beat and the words “you love me like a bull in a china shop”. :)

I sometimes have the feeling that I get addicted to certain things much too easily, like I did to Dragonette’s album and to Paul Hollywood’s marzipan – I have used it yet again, this time as a filling to Dan Lepard’s insanely tender and delicious lemon buns.

Lemon and almond buns
slightly adapted from Dan Lepard’s column at The Guardian

400g strong white flour – I used all purpose flour
½ teaspoon table salt
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
2 teaspoons dried yeast
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
100g unsalted butter
1 cup (240ml) whole milk
1 large egg
250g marzipan – I used homemade
melted butter, toasted slivered almonds and icing sugar, to finish

Start the night before: in a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, lemon zest, yeast and sugar. Melt the butter and beat with the milk and egg. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix everything together until a soft, sticky dough forms – I used the Kitchen Aid with the dough hook for that. Mix thoroughly, scrape any remaining dough from your fingers, cover the bowl tightly and leave in the refrigerator until morning.
Remove dough from the refrigerator and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes. Line a 25cm (10in) square baking pan with foil, leaving two overhangs on opposite sides, and butter the foil – I used a 20x30cm (8x12in) baking pan.
Lightly flour a work surface, knead the dough until smooth (again, the Kitchen Aid), then roll to a long rectangle about 70x10cm (28x4in). Roll the marzipan into a 70cm (28in) cylinder, place along the centre of the dough, then roll the dough around it to seal*. Leave the dough to relax for 10 minutes, then cut into nine slices and place in three rows, without turning them on end, into the prepared pan. Leave to rise for 1 ½ hours or until doubled in volume.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Bake the buns for about 35 minutes or until golden. Cool in the pan then brush with melted butter, sprinkle with the almonds and dust with the icing sugar.

* the buns turned out great, but if I were to make them again I would finely chop the marzipan and spread them all over the dough rectangle (as if making cinnamon rolls) then roll it – that way the marzipan flavor would be more dispersed in the dough

Makes 9

Santa Lucia sour cherry and saffron buns

Usually it takes me some time to consider a cookbook a top favorite – I love beautiful books and they certainly get my instant attention, but I like to try some of the recipes first to be sure they actually work. However, Signe Johansen’s Scandilicious Baking is so pretty and everything in it sounds so delicious I came to the conclusion that it was the best cookbook I purchased in the last 11 months. Absolutely gorgeous.
Picking the first recipe to try was hard – I actually feel like making all the recipes in this book! – so I settled for one that reminded me of my mom: when I was little, she had a small statue of St. Lucy at home, and I was very intrigued and even a bit scared by the image of a woman holding a tray with two eyes in it. Later on in life, when I was 8 or so, I found out that my dad had had an accident in the late 70s and lost one of his eyes in it – that is why mom had St. Lucy around the house.
I don’t believe in God or in saints but could not resist making these buns just because of my mom.

Santa Lucia sour cherry and saffron buns
from the absolutely beautiful Scandilicious Baking

375ml whole milk
pinch of saffron threads
2¼ teaspoons (7g) dried yeast
¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter, melted and warm
350g all purpose flour
150g whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
24 dried cherries (double the amount if they’re too small)
1 egg, extra, lightly beaten with a fork, for brushing the buns

In a small saucepan, heat the milk with the saffron strands until it starts to come to a boil. Remove from the heat and set aside until lukewarm. Sprinkle the yeast in a large bowl, pour over the milk and mix with a fork. Stir through the melted butter. Add the flours, cardamom, sugar, salt, egg and vanilla to the milk mixture and mix with a spoon until a sticky dough forms. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until the dough starts to feel smooth and elastic – the dough is quite wet so you may want to use a dough scraper during the early stages of kneading (I used the Kitchen Aid with the dough hook and added 1 tablespoon of all purpose flour to the dough because it was too liquid). Transfer the dough to a lightly buttered large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to rise. Leave it for about 1-1½ hours until it has doubled in size.
Line a large baking sheet with foil. Punch the dough to remove the excess air then transfer it to a lightly floured surface. Knead it in to a log and then slice into 12 pieces of roughly equal size. Shape these into balls and then splay your hands to roll the bun into a sausage shape, then fold the ends into an S shape and carefully place them onto the prepared sheet. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place to prove and double in size again. This should take 20-30 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
Once the buns have risen, stuff each crevice of the S shaped bun with a dried cherry (two each if they’re too small). Poke them into the dough so they don’t pop up during proving or baking. Lightly glaze each bun with a little beaten egg and bake for 20-30 minutes or until they’re golden and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Makes 12

Apple and cinnamon hot cross buns for Easter + "Soul Kitchen"

Someone told me once – and I hate it that I cannot remember who it was – that I would love “Soul Kitchen” because it is a movie about a restaurant and there was food involved; since watching the excellent "The Wave" I’d become more interested in German movies, so I rented “Soul Kitchen” and yes, it is a movie about a restaurant and there is food involved, but it’s so much more than that: to me, it’s about relationships and how they affect people’s lives.

* spoilers*

“Soul Kitchen” is full of funny elements – Zinos’ ringtone being one of my favorites – and yet it brings up more dramatic subjects, many of them some of us can relate to: Zinos’ struggle to maintain the restaurant, his need to decide between being with his girlfriend and staying where he feels he belongs to, the brother who causes nothing but trouble (and is a gambling addict, no less)... All of that mixed with images of whipped cream, lamb chops, white chocolate and vanilla beans – I loved it and have added other movies by Fatih Akin to my “to watch” list.

***
Hot cross buns have some interesting story behind them – while researching I found this adorable video with Heston Blumenthal; it was my first time making these buns – I used a recipe from the always beautiful Gourmet Traveller and the buns turned out tender, moist and delicious – the apple compote while cooking had such an amazing smell that I wish there could be a way for it to be trapped in scented candle form. :)

Apple and cinnamon hot cross buns
slightly adapted from the always gorgeous Australian Gourmet Traveller

Apple and lemon compote:
1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar
1 ½ cups + 1 tablespoon (375ml) water
1 lemon
2 Granny Smith apples, unpeeled, cored, diced
1 cinnamon quill

Dough:
5 cups (700g) all purpose flour + 1/3 cup (46g) extra for the piping mixture
1 cup (155g) golden raisins
80g dried apple, diced
14g (2 sachets/4 ½ teaspoons) dried yeast
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground allspice
finely grated zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
5 ½ tablespoons (65g) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups + 1 tablespoon (375ml) whole milk
100g unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
1 egg

Start with the compote: combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan, then squeeze in juice of half the lemon and stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Meanwhile, cut remaining lemon half into 3mm-thick slices, add to saucepan with Granny Smith apples and cinnamon quill. Bring to the simmer, reduce heat to medium and cook until lemon and apple are translucent (20-25 minutes). Strain, reserving fruit and syrup separately. When cool enough to handle, dice lemon, combine with apple. Remove the cinnamon quills, add them to the syrup and set aside.
Combine flour, raisins, dried apple, yeast, ground cinnamon, allspice, zests, sugar, apple compote and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Combine milk and butter in a small saucepan, warm over low heat until butter melts and mixture is lukewarm. Whisk in egg, then add milk mixture to flour, stirring to form a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes) – I used my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook to knead the dough; gradually added 1/3 cup flour because the mixture was too wet.
Place in a lightly buttered bowl, cover and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (30-40 minutes). Meanwhile, line a large baking sheet with foil.
Knock back dough, divide into 20 even pieces, then knead each piece into a smooth ball. Arrange dough in a large rectangle, placing balls side by side onto prepared sheet, leaving 1cm between each for dough to expand. Cover with a tea towel and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (30-40 minutes).
Preheat oven to 220°C/428°F. Combine the 1/3 cup extra flour and ¼ cup (60ml) cold water in a bowl and stir to a smooth paste. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle and pipe a cross shape onto each bun. Bake for 10 minutes, reduce oven to 200°C/400°F and bake until golden and buns sound hollow when tapped (10-12 minutes).
Meanwhile, combine reserved syrup and cinnamon quill in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until syrupy. Brush thickly over hot buns, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 20

Cinnamon and cardamom buns

I usually feel the urge to bake yeasted breads when there is no time at all for that – go figure. And this time, to make things even more difficult I felt like baking a very specific type of bread: I wanted it to look good (I’m a complicated human being, my friends, I’ll admit to that). There was an amazing recipe using bananas in one of my current favorite cookbooks, but I would not have the time to defrost the bananas in my freezer. That was when I remembered Tessa Kiros’ gorgeous buns, and to make things even better they were filled with a butter, cinnamon and sugar combo, a.k.a. “the irresistible combo”.

Don’t the buns look beautiful? And I can guarantee you that they might look difficult to shape, but they’re not.

Cinnamon and cardamom buns
slightly adapted from the glorious Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes

Dough:
1 cup (240ml) lukewarm whole milk
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
10g dried yeast
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (127g) unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ teaspoons ground cardamom
½ teaspoon salt
5 cups (700g) all-purpose flour, more if necessary

Cinnamon butter:
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar + 1 tablespoon for sprinkling
5 ½ tablespoons (77g) unsalted butter, very soft
1 egg, lightly beaten, for brushing

Put the milk, sugar and yeast in the large bowl of a stand mixer and whisk with a fork. Let stand for 5-7 minutes, or until the yeast begins to activate. Add the egg, butter, cardamom, and salt and mix in low speed with the hook attachment. Gradually add the flour, then mix until smooth and elastic, 5-7 minutes – you can knead by hand if you wish. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel and leave in a warm place for about 2 hours, or until it has doubled in size.
Cinnamon butter: in a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Divide the butter into four portions and set aside.

Put the dough on a floured work surface and divide it into four portions. Begin with one portion, covering the others with the kitchen towel so they don’t dry out. Using a rolling pin, roll out a rectangle, roughly about 30x25cm (12x10in) and 3mm (1/8in) thick. Evenly spread one portion of butter over the surface of the dough with a spatula or blunt knife. Sprinkle with ¼ of the cinnamon mixture. Roll up to make a long dough sausage. Set aside while you finish rolling out and buttering the rest of the dough, so that you can cut them all together.

Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Line up the dough sausages in front of you and cut them slightly on the diagonal, alternating up and down, so that the slices are fat V shapes, with the point of the V about 2cm (¾in) and the base about 5cm (2in). Turn them so they are all the right way up, sitting on their fatter bases. Press down on the center of each one with two fingers, until you think you will almost go through to your work surface. Along the sides you will see the cinnamon stripes oozing outward. Put the buns on the baking sheet, 5cm (2in) apart. Brush lightly with beaten egg and sprinkle a little sugar over the top. Let the buns rise for 30 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 180/C/350°F.
Bake them for 20-25 minutes, or until they are golden. Check that they are lightly golden underneath as well before you take them out of the oven. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature and, when they are cool, keep them in an airtight container so they don’t harden.

Makes about 35 buns – I halved the recipe and got 15

Sticky caramel buns

A couple of weeks ago the lovely Ana Elisa and I had coffee together and it was so good! We talked a lot, discovered several things in common... I already liked her in the virtual world and confirmed that she is a dear in the real world, too. :)

Then I saw that she’d drawn me on her Moleskine and that made my day. :)

Breads remind me of Ana – she’s an expert in making them – and that is why I’m posting these buns, which I adapted from here.

Sticky caramel buns
adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller

Dough:
5g dried yeast
2/3 cup (160ml) lukewarm whole milk
2 ½ cups (350g) all purpose flour
7 cloves
½ cup (100g) caster sugar
finely grated zest of 1 orange
½ cup + 2 tablespoons (140g) unsalted butter, softened
extra butter and brown sugar, for the pans

Caramel spice mix:
1/3 cup + ½ tablespoon (82g) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup (58g) brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground allspice

Caramel glaze:
1 cup + 1 ½ tablespoons (218g) caster sugar
1 ½ tablespoons (21g) unsalted butter, coarsely chopped

Combine yeast with half the milk (1/3 cup) in a bowl, stir until yeast dissolves, then stir in 2 ½ tablespoons (25g) of the flour until smooth. Cover and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (30 minutes).
Meanwhile, combine cloves and 3 tablespoons boiling water in a heatproof bowl, cover and stand to infuse (15-20 minutes), strain and reserve liquid.
Combine sugar, orange zest, butter, remaining flour, remaining milk and yeast mixture in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix until a rough dough forms (2-3 minutes), then add a little reserved clove liquid at a time, kneading until a smooth sticky dough forms (4-5 minutes; you may not need all the liquid). Transfer to a large buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (45 minutes-1 hour).

Meanwhile, for caramel spice mix, combine ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Knock back dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface into an 18cm x 50cm (7x20in) rectangle – the dough was very tender, so I rolled it on a large piece of lightly floured baking paper, which was very useful to roll the dough into a cylinder. Spread evenly with caramel spice mix and, with longest side facing you, roll into a cylinder. Cut into 12 even pieces and place each piece, cut-side up, in a canelé mould well buttered and heavily dusted with brown sugar*. Place molds on an oven tray and stand for 10 minutes, then bake until risen and golden (25-30 minutes; cover with foil if buns get too dark). Turn out of moulds immediately (be careful of hot caramel) and cool on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, for caramel glaze, combine sugar and 1/3 cup (80ml) water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Cook until dark caramel (4-5 minutes). Remove from heat, add butter and ¼ cup (60ml) water (be careful; hot caramel may spit) and stir to combine. Serve buns warm or at room temperature, topped with caramel glaze.
Sticky caramel buns are best eaten on day of making.

* I used twelve 1/3 cup (80ml) capacity muffin pans

Makes 12