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Category Archives: Buns and Scrolls

Cinnamon Poppy Seed Babkas

Posted on May 26, 2023 by The quirk and the cool

These pastries are delicious and are filled with cinnamon butter and poppy seeds, raisins and lemon zest. The dough is a simple enriched dough, made surprisingly with plain flour rather than strong flour. This gives the babkas a soft texture and they’re very easy to eat! These babkas are based on a recipe I learnt at a wonderful workshop run by Burnt Honey Bakery, in Copacabana on the central coast of NSW, here made with my own variations.

Instant yeast is used, and in this instance, if you can get hold of Le Saffre Instant Dried Yeast, all the better. It’s perfect for rising enriched doughs. If you can’t get hold of the brand, use standard instant yeast and increase the amount by 50%.

Ingredients

275g milk (room temperature)
1 free-range egg (room temperature)
9g instant yeast (use Le Saffre if possible)
510g plain flour
90g caster sugar
9g salt
80g unsalted butter in small pieces (softened)

Cinnamon filling

65g brown sugar
25g ground cinnamon
110g unsalted butter at room temperature

Poppy seed filling

50g raisins, chopped
20g poppy seeds
15g milk
50g caster sugar
Zest of half a lemon

Glaze

50g caster sugar
25g water
10g poppy seeds

Method

For the dough, mix the milk and egg together and whisk in the yeast. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Scatter the butter pieces through the dough. Add the milk, egg and yeast mixture. Turn the mixer onto low and mix to combine the ingredients. Continue to mix on low until everything is incorporated and the mixture looks like a dough. Increase the speed to medium and mix for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes check to see if the dough windowpanes. The dough should be lovely and stretchy, and pass the windowpane test if you pull and stretch a small section – it should be translucent.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or my favourite, a plastic shower cap, and leave to prove for 1-2 hours until doubled in size. Press the dough down, and then place the bowl in the fridge for 2 hours. The dough will develop some more plus firm up to help with the next stage of shaping.

Meanwhile make the fillings and glaze. For the cinnamon filling, beat the ingredients until smooth and creamy. For the poppy seed filling, blitz the raisins in a food processor, then add the other ingredients and blitz briefly until combined. To make the glaze, dissolve the sugar in the water in a saucepan over a medium heat, bring to the boil then remove from the heat and set aside.

Remove the dough from the fridge and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 10 pieces. Gently roll each piece into a rectangle. Spread each rectangle with some cinnamon filling, spreading to the edges. Place 2 or 3 dabs of poppy seed filling on the rectangle too. You don’t need very much as it’s quite strong.

Roll up each rectangle along the long side. Starting at one end, cut right down the middle longways, leaving a couple of centimetres at the top. Twist each strip together, and fold the ends together in a loose knot.

Place each babka on a baking tray lined with baking paper. You will need 2 trays. Cover each tray with a large plastic bag and place the trays in the fridge overnight or for several hours.

2 hours before baking, remove the babkas from the fridge to come to room temperature and for the final prove. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C fan. Place the trays in the oven and bake for 15 minutes until a burnished brown.

Remove from the oven and brush each babka with the sugar syrup, sprinkling with some poppy seeds.

Serve warm or at room temperature – these babkas are definitely best eaten on the day they’re made!

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Kinda Korean Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries

Posted on May 3, 2023 by The quirk and the cool

This is a recipe I’m been messing around with for a few weeks. It’s based on a great recipe from Donal Skehan for Korean style sloppy joe sliders.

The main ingredient that makes the recipe Korean is Gochujang, a red chili paste that is a savory, sweet and spicy fermented condiment.

It looks a complicated recipe, but believe me it’s not! Just some vegetables prep, really.

The taste of the meat is sensational! Feel free to add different veggies to the burger mix and to the pickle, I certainly had some fun doing this.

I’ve included photos of the latest version as well as earlier “experiments”.

Give it a go – it’s well worth it!

Oh, and the sweet potato fries are a must have accompaniment!

Ingredients

Burgers

2 rashers free-range bacon

1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil

4 spring onions, finely sliced

2 carrots, julienned

1 zucchini julienned

2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

250g minced beef

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon gochujang paste

Pickle

1 carrot, julienned

1/2 cucumber, julienned

1 red chilli, finely sliced

30mls rice vinegar

30mls water

1 heaped teaspoon caster sugar

Sauce

1 heaped tablespoon gochujang paste

4 tablespoons mayonnaise

To serve

4 brioche burger buns

1 carrot, julienned

2 spring onions, finely chopped

1/8 red cabbage finely chopped

Lime or lemon wedge to squeeze over

Sweet Potato Fries

1 medium sweet potato, cut into wedges

1 heaped teaspoon cornflour

1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil

Sea salt

Method

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Chop the bacon rashers into smallish pieces, no need to be too precise. Fry the bacon for a couple of minutes until just starts to get crisp.

Add the oil, the 4 spring onions, 2 julienned carrots, zucchini and garlic cloves. Fry until just soft.

Add the minced beef, breaking up the mince as you fry it in the pan. Cook for 5 minutes until the beef has browned.

Add the brown sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar and gochujang paste and mix in to the frying pan.

Cook on a low heat for 15 minutes. Keep an eye on the pan and add a splash of water (a couple of tablespoons) at a time if the mixture looks too dry. You will need to do this at least a couple of times.

After 15 minutes take off the heat and move the beef mixture to a large bowl.

To make the pickle, put the rice vinegar, water and sugar into a small saucepan and just bring to the boil after the sugar has dissolved.

Pour the liquid over the carrot, cucumber and chilli. Leave for 10 minutes then drain off the liquid.

To make the sauce, combine the gochujang paste and mayonnaise in a small bowl.

To serve, heat the frying pan you’ve just used on high. No need to wash first – any residual sauce will add flavour!

Cut each bun in half and smear some sauce on each half.

Fry each bun half, sauce side down for a couple of minutes until toasty and crisp.

Assemble the buns with beef filling and pickle and place on a large plate or platter with a handful of carrot, spring onion and red cabbage.

Serve with sweet potato fries, and a squeeze of lime or lemon over everything.

Sweet Potato Fries

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Cut the sweet potato into wedges. Place on baking paper on a tray. Sprinkle the wedges with cornflour, then coat with olive oil and grind over some sea salt.

Cook in the hot oven for 20-30 minutes until the fries are crispy.

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Boozy Fruity Hot Cross Buns

Posted on April 5, 2023 by The quirk and the cool

These 2023 hot cross buns are an upgraded version of a previous 2021 recipe. I’m always keen to make the perfect hot cross bun, and I’m pretty happy with this version!

These buns are made with a sourdough starter and dry yeast. You could make this recipe without the sourdough starter – just add more dry yeast as suggested in the ingredients list.

They have a lot of fruit which has been soaked in Pedro Ximinez sherry, although any port or muscat would do. They also have puréed orange and candied orange for a real orange hit!

Ingredients 

Buns

300g mix of sultanas and raisins

40mls Pedro Ximinez or port or muscat

1 whole orange

625g strong flour

7g dried yeast (use 10g if not including starter)

12g salt

125g sourdough starter

Zest of 1/2 a lemon

I teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice

1/2 teaspoon each of ground ginger and cloves

50g brown sugar

30g golden syrup

2 medium free-range eggs, well beaten

60g unsalted butter, in small pieces

200g full fat milk at room temperature

150g apple juice

50g candied orange peel

Cross

50g flour

25g water

Extra free-range egg, for brushing

Glaze

50g caster sugar

50g golden syrup

100g water

Method

Soak the raisins and sultanas in the Pedro Ximinez or port or muscat for up to 3 hours to plump up the fruit.

Put the orange into a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for up to an hour until the orange is soft.

Let the orange cool, then cut in half and remove the pips. Purée the orange in a food processor. Measure 70g for the dough, and reserve the rest for another batch of dough. It freezes well.

Starting with the flour, add all the other ingredients (except dried fruit and candied orange peel) to a large bowl. Just make sure the yeast is on one side of the bowl and salt on the other.

Mix everything roughly together using a wooden spoon, just to amalgamate the ingredients. Leave to rest for 20 minutes.

Using the dough hook of an electric mixer, knead on low speed for 10 -15 minutes until the dough is soft, shiny and passes the windowpane test. This dough is initially quite wet, so it will take 10 minutes or more kneading to bring it to that lovely elastic consistency you are looking for.

Add the sultanas, raisins and any residual alcohol that hasn’t soaked into the fruit, and the candied orange peel. Mix for about a minute on low to distribute the fruit evenly through the dough.

Remove the bowl from the machine and cover with a plastic bag or tea towel. Leave to prove in a warm place for 2 hours.

The dough should have doubled in size. Carefully remove the risen dough from the bowl and place on a board or bench top which has been lightly floured. Putting a little more flour on your hands to stop the dough from sticking, flatten the dough to a rough rectangle, and fold in half lengthways. Cut in two and roll each half into a sausage.

You should get 16 large hot cross buns from the mixture. Take one sausage and divide into two, then divide each into 4 pieces.

To shape your buns, take one piece and roll into a ball, and with your cupped hand over the top of the ball, keep rolling on the board or bench top till you feel the dough tightening and developing a nice ball shape.

Repeat with remaining balls. Do the same thing with the other sausage.

Place the 16 balls – now buns – onto a large baking tray lined with baking paper.

Cover with a large plastic bag or a tea towel and leave to prove again. I prove this second time in the fridge overnight. You can also prove at room temperature for an hour or more until the buns have grown a little in size. (They don’t get huge – this happens in the oven.)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C fan forced or 190 degrees C non fan for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the crosses. Mix the flour and water together to make a dough. Place the dough on a clean surface dusted with flour and roll into a sausage about 1cm thick. Cut the sausage in half, and cut each half into 8 pieces. Roll out each piece again to make 2 thin strips. You should have 32 strips in total. Brush the risen buns with the beaten egg and lay the dough strips on top in the shape of a cross. Brush the crosses with egg too.

Put the tray into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the buns are a deep golden brown.

While the buns are baking, make the glaze. Put the caster sugar, golden syrup and water into a small saucepan and heat gently on the stovetop stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer for 2 or 3 minutes until the glaze has thickened slightly.

Once the buns are cooked, remove from the oven. Brush the warm syrup over the warm buns, making sure you brush the sides as well.

These buns are best eaten on the day, preferably while warm, with lots of good quality butter.

The next day, split and toast and serve with, of course, more butter!

Hot cross buns freeze well too, so make a pile that you can store in the freezer and reheat as necessary.

NB Reheat in the oven, the buns don’t do well in the microwave.

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Jamie Oliver and Paul Hollywood Hot Cross Buns

Posted on April 2, 2023 by The quirk and the cool

Every year I try different hot cross bun recipes or tweak my own versions. So here are links to recipes from the masters Jamie Oliver and Paul Hollywood.

These recipes make great buns or use them to give you inspiration to develop your own.

I have shown photos of each, with a link to my recipes in previous posts.

Making your own hot cross buns is fun, seasonal and very satisfying!

No 1. Jamie Oliver Hot Cross Buns from the Jamie Oliver website
https://thequirkandthecool.com/2016/03/26/hot-cross-buns-jamie-oliver-inspired/

No 2. Jamie Oliver Hot Cross Buns from Jamie Magazine
https://thequirkandthecool.com/2014/04/13/jamie-olivers-hot-cross-buns/

No 3. Paul Hollywood’s book “How to Bake” and it’s on his website too.
https://thequirkandthecool.com/2015/04/03/paul-hollywoods-hot-cross-buns/

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Swedish Almond Bun

Posted on January 19, 2023 by The quirk and the cool

I’ve been making this deliciously boozy, almond bun for a couple of years and surprisingly I haven’t yet posted it. Probably because I’ve been tweaking different elements of the recipe.

It’s based on a recipe for Kanellängd, in James Morton’s book Super Sourdough, a sourdough version of the famous Swedish enriched dough.

My version is sourdough too, and while straightforward in its steps, it’s tricky to handle as the dough is enriched and it’s sourdough!

It’s full of alcohol soaked fruit and frangipane, an almond paste and is very yummy.

Here’s the recipe if you want to give it a go. It really follows the steps for making filled scrolls, except in the shaping. I’ve simplified shaping by making a giant ring, which is quite forgiving.

It’s rich, indulgent and very moreish!

Ingredients

Dough

400g strong flour

150g sourdough starter

10g salt

50g caster sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

100g milk

2 large free-range eggs

100g butter

Filling

250g of raisins/sultanas/sour cherries/ cranberries in any combination

50g rum or brandy or port

Frangipane

100g ground almonds

100g butter

100g caster sugar

2 free-range eggs

Glaze

2 tablespoons golden syrup

Topping

20g flaked almonds

Lemon Icing

Juice of half a lemon

100g icing sugar

Method

In a large bowl add all the dough ingredients except the butter. Mix to a rough dough, cover the bowl with a plastic shower cap or a tea towel. Leave for 30 minutes to autolyse.

Put the dried fruit into the alcohol to soak.

Make the frangipane by whizzing all the ingredients in a food processor until combined.

Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Using a dough hook of an electric mixer, knead the dough for 8-10 minutes until completely smooth. Now add the butter, in small pieces, which needs to be very soft. Mix until the butter is completely incorporated and the mixture is soft, smooth and the dough “windowpanes”. Cover the dough again and leave to prove for 4 hours. The dough will have risen slightly.

Remove the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured board. With a floured rolling pin, gently roll the dough to a rough rectangle, usually about 30cm in width by 40-50cm in length. The dough will be very soft, so treat it gently.

Drain the alcohol soaked fruit. Spread the frangipane over the dough rectangle. Scatter the soaked dried fruit over the frangipane.

Now roll up the dough along the long side, as carefully as you can. Move the roll, using a peel or a spatula, to the lined baking tray. Curve the ends of the roll so they meet in a ring.

You will be aiming for a ring shape, but be careful in this process of acquiring the shape that you don’t tear the dough or it becomes misshapen, as it’s so soft. If the ring doesn’t quite meet in the middle – that’s fine too, you will have a rather nice horseshoe bun!

Scatter the flaked almonds over the bun before the final prove. Put the baking tray into a large plastic bag to prove. Leave at room temperature for an hour, then place into the fridge overnight or for 8-16 hours.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C or 180 degrees C fan. Add a baking dish a quarter filled with water to the bottom of the oven to create steam for baking. Take the baking sheet out of the plastic bag and place in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes until the bun is a deep golden brown.

In the last few minutes of baking, heat the golden syrup in a small saucepan over a low heat, or you could even microwave gently.

Once baked, remove from the oven. Brush the top of the bun with the warmed golden syrup. To make the lemon icing, mix the lemon juice with the icing sugar. You may need more or less icing sugar – use enough to make an icing of dripping consistency.

Once the bun is quite cool, drizzle the lemon icing over the top. You end up with a triple topping of golden syrup, almonds and lemon icing. Delicious!

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Chocolate Frangipane Kugelhopf

Posted on September 23, 2022 by The quirk and the cool

This delicious loaf was inspired by the idea of a babka. It’s got a similar filling in an enriched dough, but it’s much easier to make as it shaped into a simple ring.

You could change the fillings to fruit, or jam or custard for instance, but who doesn’t like chocolate hazelnut spread with an almond frangipane paste?

And it does use a small quantity of sourdough starter, for flavour, but you could easily leave this out if you don’t have any on hand.

Ingredients

Dough

500g strong flour

7g instant yeast

10g salt

50g caster sugar

50g sourdough starter

275g milk

1 large free range egg beaten

50g butter

Frangipane

50g butter

50g sugar

60g ground almonds

1 large free range egg

1/2 teaspoon almond essence

150g chocolate hazelnut spread – store bought

Orange Drizzle

Juice of 1 orange

50g water

75g icing sugar

Method

For the dough, put all the dough ingredients except the butter into the bowl of an electric mixer such as a KitchenAid. Mix with a dough hook or wooden spoon to a rough dough, cover and leave for 30 minutes to autolyse.

Knead the dough using the dough hook of the electric mixer for about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

Add the butter, in small pieces, which needs to be very soft. You can soften the butter in the microwave. Mix using the dough hook until the dough is smooth, soft and windowpanes.

Cover the dough with cling wrap and leave to prove somewhere warm for 2-3 hours. The dough should have risen, if not quite doubled in size.

Make the frangipane filling while the dough is proving. Put all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until all the ingredients are blended and smooth. You could also mix this by hand, it just takes a bit more work.

Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Remove the proven dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured board. Using floured hands, gently stretch the dough to a large rough rectangle.

Spread the frangipane over the rectangle, then the hazelnut chocolate spread on top of the frangipane.

Roll the dough up along the long side, then join the ends of the roll to make a circle. Move the ring to the baking tray.

Put the tray into a large plastic bag to prove. Place into the fridge overnight or for 8-12 hours.

Half an hour before baking, preheat the oven to 160 degrees C fan or 180 degrees C non fan forced. Add a cast iron pan of water to the bottom of the oven to create steam for baking.

Take the tray out of the plastic bag and place in the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the Kugelhopf is golden brown but not burnt.

Once baked, remove from the oven.

To make the orange drizzle, mix the orange juice with the water and icing sugar. You may need more or less icing sugar – use enough to make an icing of dripping consistency.

Spoon the drizzle over the top of Kugelhopf.

Eat on the day – although the Kugelhopf will keep well as it so rich!

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Swedish Cardamom Buns

Posted on July 2, 2022 by The quirk and the cool

A very exciting time in the Quirk and the Cool kitchen! I have recently acquired an Ankarsrum mixer from the incredible people at Blackwood Lane in Melbourne in Victoria. It’s Swedish, and an incredibly efficient and powerful machine, particularly for producing dough.

So it seemed appropriate to make something Swedish for the first use of the machine!

I love sweet rolls, scrolls and buns, but I haven’t yet made kanelbullar (cinnamon buns) or kardemummabullar (cardamom buns).

This recipe is adapted from the Ankarsrum cook book, and is technically a cinnamon bun recipe. But I think the cardamom flavour is outstanding, so I’m calling these cardamom buns.

The Ankarsrum performed well with making the enriched dough. And making and shaping the knots was pretty easy.

Well done to my Ankarsrum mixer!

Here is my tweaked recipe for the rolls. I halved the quantities and added in a whole egg. You might like to bake at a slightly lower temperature. I baked the rolls pictured at 220 degrees C which was a little too hot.

It goes without saying that you could follow this recipe in a KitchenAid or similar.

Dough

Ingredients

75g softened butter

50g sugar

1 free-range egg, beaten

250mls milk

420g strong flour

1 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds

7g instant yeast

7g salt

Filling

100g very soft butter

100g sugar

1/2 beaten free-range egg, for brushing

2 teaspoons Demerara or raw sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Method

Mix the soft butter, sugar and egg together in your mixer, to just incorporate. Add the milk, and mix to combine.

Put the flour into a bowl, and stir in the ground cardamom seeds. Put the yeast on top of the flour, and the salt on the opposite side.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture a little at a time to the mixer bowl. Continue to knead until the dough is soft and elastic and passes the window pane test.

Cover the dough with a plastic bag, towel or my favourite, a plastic shower cap. Leave to prove in a warm place for 1 hour.

Meanwhile make the filling by mixing the butter, sugar and cinnamon together with a palette knife until it’s a smooth paste.

The dough should now have doubled in size. Remove the dough and place on a floured board or bench. Gently roll the dough to a large rectangle about 45 x 30 cm.

Spread the filling over the whole rectangle. Halve the rectangle, putting the long sides together, to make a smaller rectangle 45 x15 cm. Cut into 12 strips. You will have enough dough to trim the uneven ends. You can bake these as scraps!

Pull each strip lengthwise, twist several times, and form into a knot. There are videos on YouTube that can help you if you’re not sure – that’s what I used.

Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper, cover with a large plastic bag or tea towel, and leave to prove for an hour.

15 minutes before baking, preheat your oven to 220 degrees C, or 210 degrees C if you want your buns less “well done”.

Brush the proved buns with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar. Place the baking tray into the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Serve them warm as is or spread with a little salted butter.

Best eaten on the day, but they microwave beautifully a day or so later!

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Bacon, Cheese and Chilli Scrolls

Posted on June 23, 2022 by The quirk and the cool

Sweet or savoury, scrolls are one of my favourite yeast based products to make. These scrolls are packed with streaky beacon, cheddar cheese and chilli/tomato/barbecue sauce. A perfect snack or quick breakfast on the go.

Make a basic enriched dough and fill it with the above ingredients, and bake into luscious scrolls.

Ingredients

Dough

500g strong flour

7g yeast

250g milk

10g salt

2 free-range eggs

50g butter

Filling

150g streaky bacon

75g good cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons tomato chutney

1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce

1 tablespoon barbecue sauce

Glaze

1 free-range egg, beaten

1 teaspoon sweet chilli sauce

Method

Put the strong flour into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook or into a large mixing bowl if kneading by hand. Add the instant yeast and salt, making sure the yeast and salt are on opposite sides of the bowl. Add the milk which you have warmed to tepid (microwaving is easy) and the beaten eggs. Mix by hand into a rough dough, even if you’re going to use the dough hook in the next stage.

Cover the bowl with a tea towel or my favourite, a plastic shower cap, and rest for 20 minutes. Then move the bowl to the mixer and knead with the dough hook until the mixture is smooth and starting to develop some elasticity, about 5 minutes. Add the butter in small pieces, then knead again for about 5 minutes, using the mixer until the butter is thoroughly incorporated, the dough is smooth and you can achieve the “windowpane” effect. That is, you can pull some of the dough off the dough hook, between two fingers, stretching it so that it’s translucent.

If you are kneading by hand, you will knead to work the dough really well, in both stages, to get it to the desired silky, elastic stage.

Cover the bowl again and leave in a warm place to prove for about an hour, until the dough is doubled in size. You ideally need a temperature of about 25 degrees C.

You can prepare the filling while the dough is proving. Put the bacon rashers in a cold frying pan and heat up on medium, cooking the bacon rashers slowly, until they are nicely crisp. Remove from the pan and cool to room temperature. Finely chop the bacon rashers.

Grate the cheese and put aside. Combine the chilli, tomato and barbecue sauces in a small bowl.

Once the dough is risen, take the dough out of the bowl onto the bench top or ideally a large wooden board. Flour the bench top or board liberally with flour. Flour a rolling pin and roll the dough into a large rectangle, as large as you can go, with the dough ending up about 1/2 cm thick. My dough rectangle is usually about 30cm in width by 40-50cm in length.

Liberally spread the sauce mixture over the dough rectangle. Scatter the chopped bacon and grated cheese on top of the sauce.

Now carefully roll up the dough along the long side. Using a sharp knife, slice the dough into 18 pieces. These are mini scrolls – if you wanted bigger ones, slice into 12 pieces.

Line a large baking tin or tray with baking paper. Carefully place each slice, cut side up, into the tin or tray, fitting them snugly together.

Place the tin or tray into a large plastic bag. Put the tin or tray into the fridge, and leave for 8-12 hours overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 180 degrees C fan forced, or 200 degrees C non fan forced.

Remove the plastic bag from the tin/tray. With a pastry brush, glaze the scrolls with the egg chilli mixture. Place into the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the scrolls are risen and and nice and brown.

Pull apart and eat while still warm!

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Hot Cross Buns 2022

Posted on April 4, 2022 by The quirk and the cool

I really look forward to baking hot cross buns each Easter. And each Easter I try a new recipe or tweak one of my old ones. They’re all delicious – I’ve never met a hot cross bun I didn’t like!

So I’m a bit late this year, but I will be making the 2022 version later this week.

But in the meantime, here are the links to my favourite hot cross buns, from the experts from the Great British Bake-off, to Jamie Oliver and Paul Hollywood, to my own sourdough version.

So long as the buns are beautifully baked a deep golden brown and served with lashings of butter, you can’t go wrong.

Great British Bakeoff Hot Cross Buns: https://thequirkandthecool.com/2019/04/19/hot-cross-buns-great-british-bake-off/

A great recipe with lots of fruit and spice including an apple.

Jamie Oliver Inspired Hot Cross Buns: https://thequirkandthecool.com/2016/03/26/hot-cross-buns-jamie-oliver-inspired/

I like this recipe with stem ginger in the original bread mix plus cranberries as well as sultanas in the fruit.

Paul Hollywood’s Hot Cross Buns:https://thequirkandthecool.com/2015/04/03/paul-hollywoods-hot-cross-buns/

A bit more work with this recipe with 3 provings but a great resulting flavour.

Sourdough Hybrid Hot Cross Buns:https://thequirkandthecool.com/2021/03/23/sourdough-hybrid-hot-cross-buns/

If you have a sourdough starter, my recipe makes a delicious hot cross bun with a beautiful flavour!

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Shetland Buns

Posted on January 29, 2022 by The quirk and the cool

I visited Shetland pre-pandemic when we could travel from home in Australia to the UK. I was so taken with the islands – the breathtaking scenery, the wildlife, the history and culture and of course the food!

This recipe is based on a recipe called Yeast Buns from Margaret B Stout’s “Cookery for Northern Wives” published in 1925. This book documents many Shetland recipes and was an insight into traditional cooking.

I made and blogged the buns a while back, see here. I’ve made a few more tweaks this time. The original recipe makes a lot of buns! So this time I divided the recipe in two, making a batch of 12 buns and I also made a lovely large fruit bun, with lemon icing.

I converted the imperial measurements to metric. doing a little bit of rounding up or down, but as I wanted to keep the integrity of the original measurements, I didn’t change anything too drastically.

I’ve also adapted the recipe to make in a KitchenAid or similar.

I’ve tweaked the ingredients in these ways. I substituted instant yeast for fresh yeast. I added a lot more more dried fruit than in the original, adding extra fruit again for the large fruit bun. I also added some more flavour in the form of vanilla extract and almond essence, as well as cinnamon and allspice.

I made the large fruit bun in a paper panettone case, but you could make it in a large high sided cake tin. You would end up with a slightly wider bun, but with less height.

Ingredients

For the sponge

227g strong flour

9g instant yeast

1 teaspoon caster sugar

426 mls milk

Mixture

567g strong flour

113g caster sugar

113g butter

2 free range eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

113g sultanas

113g raisins

100g candied orange

100g sour cherries (for the large bun)

Glaze

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon milk

Icing

200g icing sugar

Juice of half a lemon

The ingredients (except for the cherries) are for both the little buns and the big one. Divide the mixture in half after proving and before shaping.

Method

Here is the method, adapted from the rather scant instructions given by Margaret Stout.

For the sponge, sieve the flour into a large bowl, then add the yeast and sugar. Gradually add the lukewarm milk, stirring to make a smooth batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a tea towel or a disposable plastic shower cap. Leave to rise in a warm place for an hour.

Prepare the rest of the mixture. Put the flour, caster sugar and butter into the bowl of a KitchenAid fitted with a dough hook and mix until thoroughly combined. Add the sponge mixture, beaten eggs, vanilla extract, almond essence, cinnamon and allspice. Mix well, for for at least 5 minutes until the dough is elastic and passes the window pane test.

Cover the mixture in the bowl with plastic wrap/tea towel/plastic shower cap and leave to rise again for 1 ½ hours.

Remove the risen dough and stretch into a large rectangle. Scatter the sultanas, raisins and candied orange, a small amount at a time, over the dough, folding the dough over after each addition. You want to incorporate the fruit as evenly as you can into the dough.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C fan forced.

Now divide the dough into two.

Take one half of the dough and divide into 12 pieces. Shape each into a ball and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cover the tray loosely with a tea towel or large plastic bag and prove for 30 minutes in a warm place.

Take the other half of the dough, and stretch into a large rectangle. Scatter the sour cherries a small amount at a time, over the dough, folding the dough over after each addition.

Shape the dough into a large ball and place in a panettone case or large cake tin. Cover with a tea towel or plastic bag and prove for an hour in a warm place.

When the small buns have proved, put them into the preheated oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the buns are a deep brown colour.

Remove the buns from the oven, and while warm, brush the tops of the buns with a tablespoon of sugar mixed with a tablespoon of milk.

When the large bun has finished proving, put it in the oven and bake for 20 -25 minutes or until a deep brown colour.

Remove the large bun from the oven and leave to cool.

For the icing, mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice to make a thick lemon paste. You may need to adjust either ingredient to get the right consistency.

If you think the buns need zhushing, you could drizzle a little of the icing for the big bun over the tops. I made this icing a little more “drippy” by adding in more lemon juice. However I iced some and also left some plain.

Both the small buns and the large bun keep well as they are enriched with milk, butter and eggs. They are quite soft, and they remain soft even after a couple of days.

You could eat either bun as is or butter liberally – I even toasted the small buns the next day and ate with lashings of butter!

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Posted in Bread, Breakfast, Buns and Scrolls, Family and Historical Recipes, Small Baked Things, Sweet Food and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
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