Delectable Fitzrovia Buns to munch on during your tea break!
I thought I’d test out the Brabantia Bread Maker using a recipe I’ve made many times before. These Fitzrovia Buns are adapted from a Honey and Co recipe, an Israeli restaurant based in London. They are filled with sour cherries and pistachios, then soaked in sugar syrup and are simply delectable.
Here’s the recipe for you which makes 8 buns. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60 g eggs. My oven is a conventional oven so if you have a fan-forced oven you may need to reduce the temperature by 20°C.
Ingredients:
For the dough
- 70g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature
- 1 egg
- 60g caster sugar
- 80 mls milk
- pinch salt
- 300g (2 cups) plain flour
- 1½ tsp dried yeast
Method
Place the butter, egg, sugar, milk and salt into the bread maker pan then top with the flour and finally the yeast. I used the pizza dough setting on the bread maker which made a lightly risen dough. Remove the dough from the pan; give the dough a quick knead then place it into a greased bowl. Cover the bowl then place it in the fridge for a sleep. Allow at least 2 hours to refrigerate the dough before shaping, as it can be very soft when freshly made.
If you don’t have a bread maker then you can make the dough in a stand mixer using the dough hook to bring it all together to a smooth, shiny dough, adding a little extra milk if the dough looks dry. Once the dough has a nice texture to it, after about 2–3 minutes, then wrap the bowl in plastic and place in the fridge. I usually refrigerate the dough overnight, then roll and fill the dough the next day.
For the filling
- 50g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 100g light brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp vanilla paste
- 75g dried sour cherries
- 60 g chopped pistachios, reserving 1 tbs for decoration
- Cream, melted butter or a beaten egg
- 1 batch base sugar syrup (recipe follows)
Method
Mix the butter, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla in a small bowl until well combined. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out with a rolling pin on a very lightly floured workbench to a rectangle about 8 x 12 inches. You may need to flip the dough over once or twice to get an even, smooth sheet, but try to work with as little flour as you can so as not to dry the dough out.
Lay the rectangle lengthways in front of you and spread the spiced butter in a thin layer all over, all the way to the edges, then sprinkle the cherries and pistachios at regular intervals on top, so that each bite will contain a bit of everything.
Lift the long edge of the dough closest to you and start rolling it up away from you, keeping it nice and tight without stretching the dough, until you end up with a sausage about 12 inches long. If it comes out a little longer, push it in from both ends to condense it a little; if it comes out shorter, then use your hands to roll it out a little until it reaches 12 inches. Cut into 6 or 8 even-sized slices, depending on how many buns you want.
Line a baking sheet with a piece of baking paper and lay the buns flat on the base, spiral facing upwards. This is the time to freeze the buns if you want to bake them at a later date; otherwise leave them in a warm place until the buns have expanded to almost twice their size and feel puffy when lightly pressed with your finger.
Preheat the oven to 200°C, conventional, allowing the buns to continue rising while the oven is heating. Brush each bun with a little cream, melted butter or beaten egg and sprinkle the remaining pistachios over the top.
Place the tray in the centre of the oven for 10 minutes, then turn the tin for an even bake and reduce the oven temperature to 180°C. Bake for another 10-15 minutes until the buns are well risen and dark golden brown, then remove from the oven and pour over the sugar syrup. Allow to cool slightly before devouring.
Base sugar syrup
- 75 mls water
- 75 mls sugar
- 2 tsp honey or light corn syrup
Method
Place all the ingredients in a small pan and stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam that comes to the top and simmer for a few minutes then remove from the heat. You can make this syrup in advance — just keep it in a jar or bottle in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
