Honey & Orange Filled Iced Buns

Well, that's it, no more bake off on a Wednesday night now that Nadiya has been crowned as the winner, and what a worthy winner she was too. She definitely improved as the series went on, and created some amazing bakes, especially her wedding cake and delicious looking filled iced buns. 

It's been a while since I've had the time to bake along with the show, but I managed to squeeze in some buns this week. I made a sweet enriched dough flavoured with orange zest, and piped in a cream & mascarpone filling, flavoured with honey and orange, with icing on the top and a sticky honey and orange sauce drizzled over (phew). I kept a few of the buns simple, with just icing, as I knew 2/3 of the kids wouldn't like the creamy filling.

Honey & Orange Filled Iced Buns - makes 12

500g Strong white bread flour

1/2 tsp salt

100g caster sugar

50g butter, softened

1 tsp dried yeast
1 egg

finely grated zest of 1 orange

225ml milk (room temperature)

filling
250g mascarpone
100ml double cream
juice & finely grated zest of 1 orange
1 tbsp honey

icing
200g icing sugar
water

honey & orange sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp butter
juice of 1 orange

• add the bread flour to a bowl
• add the salt, sugar, butter, yeast, egg & orange zest
• add approx 200ml of milk & start mixing everything together, adding more milk if necessary
• once the dough has come together, take it out of the bowl & knead for 10 minutes, until smooth & elastic
• place in a large bowl & cover with clingfilm
• leave in a warm place to double in size
• once the dough has proved, turn out onto a lightly floured surface
• divide the dough into 12 equal pieces
• roll each piece into a ball and shape into a finger
• place into a buttered baking tin, approx 1.5cm apart
• cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place to double in size again
• remove clingfilm & bake in a preheated 200C oven for 15-20 minutes
• leave to cool on a wire rack

filling

• whisk all the ingredients together until it's thick enough to pipe
• slice the cooled buns across the top, but not all the way through
• pipe the filling into the buns

icing

• mix a little water into the icing sugar, until a thick (but fluid) icing is reached
• pipe the icing onto the top of the buns, on either side of the filling

honey & orange sauce

• add the ingredients to a small saucepan
• bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes until thick and sticky
• allow to cool before drizzling over the buns

Sticky Chocolate Orange Buns

I haven't made bread in ages, but the return of some warm weather gave me a good excuse, as it means I don't have to try and find a space in the airing cupboard (which doesn't get that warm anyway) to place the dough to prove.

I wanted to make buns, and as I've made a few flavours previously (toffee apple,  strawberry & lemon curd, sticky plum, cherry, cinnamon, and Nutella) I wanted to try something new this time, and opted for chocolate orange as I knew the kids would love them.

When it comes to bread making you need a little patience, so don't try and rush the process. Make sure you allow yourself enough time for proving twice, so starting in the morning is a good idea. It comes down to a little trial and error at first, and getting used to the feel of the dough, and knowing whether you need to add a little more water/milk or a little more flour. Different flours absorb water differently so measurements of liquid are not always exact, and you may need to add more or less than a recipe states because of this - like I said, it's trial and error at first.

I use my food mixer to mix the dough, but it's not necessary and can all be done by hand - I'm just lazy when it comes to kneading, plus having carpal tunnel & arthritis in my right hand doesn't help!

 

Sticky Chocolate Orange Buns - makes 12-15

for the dough

500g white bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
50g caster sugar
50g butter, melted
7g yeast

225ml milk (approx)

filling

25g butter, melted

zest of 2 oranges

150g good quality dark chocolate chips - I used Callebaut Belgian chocolate

chocolate orange glaze

50g butter, melted

juice of half an orange (2 tbsp)

1 tbsp cocoa powder

4 tbsp icing sugar

• add the flour, salt, sugar, butter and yeast to the food mixer
• with a dough hook attached and the motor running slowly, add almost all of the milk, adding more if it's looking a little dry
• keep mixing until everything has been mixed together
• speed the motor up a little until the dough is smooth and elastic
• place dough in a lightly floured bowl and cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm spot until it's doubled in size (approx 2 hours)
• turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out into a large rectangle
• brush with melted butter and sprinkle with chocolate chips and grate the zest over it, evenly
• roll the dough up tightly into a long sausage
• using a sharp knife cut slices approx 1cm in width and place in a greased ovenproof dish or baking sheet - if you bake them closer together they will be softer and deeper, if you space them out they will spread out more, be firmer and larger - see pics of both options below
• cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm spot again until approx double in size
• Once proved for the second time, preheat the oven to 200C, remove the clingfilm and bake the buns for approx 15-20 minutes until lightly golden brown
• leave to cool slightly before making the glaze by whisking all the ingredients together until smooth and then pouring over the buns

These are delicious when eaten slightly warm but are equally delicious if kept in the fridge and eaten cold, as the glaze firms up a little and the chocolate chips are hard

LEAVE ENOUGH SPACE TO INCREASE IN SIZE

AFTER THE SECOND PROVE

THESE WERE BAKED WITH PLENTY OF SPACE AROUND (BEFORE GLAZING)

THESE WERE BAKED CLOSER TOGETHER - A SOFTER TEXTURE AROUND THE EDGES

SOFT & GOOEY!

Easy Peasy No knead Hot Cross Buns

Easter falls a few weeks later this year than it did last, which means that we have a bit longer to stock up on all the Easter chocolate and baked goodies in the shops. Hot cross buns are an Easter treat that I enjoy perhaps even more than chocolate, and as the kids love them too we get through packets of them over the Easter period. The first time I made my own hot cross buns was at school, during one of the many dreaded cookery lessons. I wasn't at all bad a cooking but that teacher put the fear of god in us if we didn't scrub those pans until they were like new, so I'm surprised that I didn't get put off for life. Whilst I do enjoy making bread, it's definitely only for those days when you have a bit of time on your hands, so I'm always searching for short cuts and ways to make the process easier. 

A few years ago I discovered Focaccia making, which involves barely any effort at all to produce an amazing tasting loaf. I then adapted the recipe a little and came up with a Cinnamon Apple Focaccia, which was equally as good as its garlic & rosemary predecessor. This got me wondering if I could perhaps use the same basic recipe to make hot cross buns. I replaced the olive oil in the focaccia recipe with melted butter, and with the addition of dried mixed fruit and mixed spice, this delicious hot cross bun loaf was born.

The Great Bloggers Bake Off - week 6 - Maple & Banana Sticky Buns

I believe we are now over halfway through this series of Great British Bake Off and this week saw the bakers making Sweet Dough.

Fruit Loaf, twisted Couronne, and show stopping European sweet buns. It started of badly with under proved signature bakes but they all went on to do well in the technical challenge. There were some fab looking European sweet buns and Howard's peachy buns looked great *snigger*. Unfortunately they weren't as good as they looked and his time was up and he got sent home.....

I love cinnamon buns and have made them quite a lot in the past. This time I thought I would use the same dough recipe and try a different filling...these were lovely soft buns with a sticky filling and they didn't last 5 minutes...
I should really have used a bigger tin though as they rose so much and got a little squashed!

Maple & Banana Sticky Buns - makes 12

500g Strong White Bread Flour
50g Butter, softened
50g Caster sugar
7g Yeast
Pinch salt
225ml milk
1 egg

filling
50g butter, melted
50g sultanas
2 bananas, sliced lengthways & then into thin slices
3 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp mixed spice
cinnamon
1 tbsp caster sugar

syrup
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp water

• Mix the ingredients together with your hands or in a food mixer until they all come together
• Knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth
• Place in a large bowl & cover with clingfilm to prove for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size. This may be quicker or take longer depending on the temperature of your room. If you have a very cold room you can speed the process up by placing the bowl over a pan of freshly boiled water (make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl).
• Once the dough has risen tip out onto a floured surface & roll out into a square
• Brush generously with melted butter
• Scatter over the sultanas
• Mix together the chopped bananas, mixed spice & maple syrup & spread over the dough
• Roll the dough up tightly & slice into 12 equal pieces
• Place in a greased baking tin & brush over the remaining melted butter
• Sprinkle with a little cinnamon and caster sugar
• Leave to prove for another hour
• Bake in a preheated 200 C oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown
• Mix together 1 tbsp Maple syrup & 1 tbsp water in a small pan
• Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes until syrupy
• Brush the syrup over the warm buns to make them glossy

So what will you make?

Tea Loaf
Couronne
or Sweet Buns?

Don't forget to check out the rules & grab the badge code here.

Strawberry & Lemon Curd Buns

Berries are a food typically associated with summer, even though they are readily available all year round these days. I always have a punnet of raspberries in my freezer ready to chill down a glass of wine or to add to a smoothie, but they are always better tasting in the summer, especially fresh from the fields on a pick your own farm.

I bet you didn't know that listening to certain sounds whilst eating your berries can alter the way that they taste. For example, if you listen to happy, summery sounds, people found that strawberries tasted 'fruitier'.

Seasonal Berries have put together a few soundscapes for us to put this research to the test.

 

Now, I'm not sure that these sounds made my strawberries taste any sweeter, but the tracks were really relaxing, especially the beach *drifts off into relaxing holiday mode*, so why don't you try it out for yourself - after you've made my Strawberry & Lemon Curd Buns of course.

Strawberry & Lemon Curd Buns - makes 12

For the dough
225ml milk
500g white bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
50g caster sugar
50g butter, softened
7g yeast

For the filling
150g Lemon curd
300g strawberries, sliced
butter

For the icing
80g Lemon curd
50g Full fat cream cheese

• Add the dough ingredients into a food mixer & combine & knead until smooth & elastic
• Place in a greased bowl and cover with clingfilm and leave to double in size for an hour or two
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out into a large rectangle  
• Spread the lemon curd over the dough and scatter with strawberries
• Roll the dough up along the long side & press the end to seal
• Cut into 12 equal slices using a very sharp knife
• Lay the slices into a well buttered baking dish
• Cover with clingfilm & leave in a warm place for approx 1 hour, until doubled in size
• Bake in a preheated 200 C oven for approx 15-20 minutes until golden brown
• Beat the leon curd & cream cheese together until smooth
• Leave the buns to cool a little and spread the creamy lemon topping over the buns
• Serve warm or cold 

Sweet, sticky and very very moreish.

I was provided with some strawberries for the experiment

Seasonal Recipes - Sticky Plum Buns

Week 3 of The Great British Bake Off has come to a close, with the bakers making some fabulous looking rye bread rolls, some questionable ciabatta (although I don't think I'm in a position to comment on that one!) and some great stuffed bread show stoppers (and a few not so great).

Its been a busy week for bread baking in The Crazy Kitchen too, and first up were these deliciously moreish sticky plum buns, made using plums from our garden

Iced Buns with a Cherry on the top

For our Sylvanian Families party earlier in the week I wanted to have some traditional looking buns. As iced buns are usually quite light I opted for a bridge roll recipe and added some extra sugar to sweeten it up. Unfortunately the result was a little heavier than I'd hoped for but the kids loved them all the same. Next time I'll try adding some more yeast and if that fails I'll ditch my yeast and buy some more and try again!

I made the dough in a breadmaker but I'm sure it would work out just as well without, albeit with a lot more muscle power.

Cherry Iced Buns - Makes 16

225ml milk (room temperature)

1 egg

500g Strong white bread flour

1/2 tsp salt

100g caster sugar

50g butter, softened

1 tsp dried yeast

To decorate

1 cup (approx) icing sugar

water

8 glace cherries, halved

• Add the milk & egg to the bread maker
• Add the flour, covering all the liquid
• Add the salt, sugar and butter to separate corners of the pan
• Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the yeast
• Set the breadmaker to the dough setting
• When the dough is ready turn it out onto a floured surface and divide into 16 peices
• Roll each piece of dough into a ball and place on a baking sheet, quite close together
• Cover with oiled clingfilm and leave in a warm place until doubled in size and are touching (approx 30mins - 1hr) 
• Brush the buns with milk and bake in a preheated 200º C oven for approximately 15 minutes, until golden brown
• Cool the buns on a wire rack and when completely cooled make the icing by adding small water to the icing sugar in small quantities until the consistency of custard
• Dip each bun into the icing, allowing any excess to drip off
• Pop half a glace cherry on the top of each bun. I defy you not to start humming '5 currant buns in a bakers shop, round and fat with a cherry on the top' at the same time as doing this.

** If you would like to print this recipe just click on the green PRINT button below this post **

Caramel Apple Choux Buns

What do you do when you have more apples than you can possibly eat and there's no more room in your freezer? You cook with them and make dessert, of course.

We have loads of apples at the moment - you may have noticed a few apple recipes this month - Toffee Apple Cinnamon Bun Rings, Toffee Apple Cobbler, German Apple Streusel Cake and Cinnamon Apple Breakfast Rolls, but you can never get fed up of eating apples if they're smothered in a caramel sauce, like these choux buns.

 

You can find the full recipe on Great British Chefs here.

This recipe was commissioned by Great British Chefs


entered into the Rix October draw

Nutella Iced Buns

I love it that Great British Bake Off have another dough week. Week 2 was all about bread and now we have tea loaf, couronnes and sweet buns, it couldn't get any better than that! Bread making, in my opinion, is a little bit addictive. Unlike lots of other baking it can also be very cheap - flour, yeast, touch of sugar, salt and water and you're there, cheap as chips.

Many say that they also find it very therapeutic. I can't really say that as I mostly use my food mixer to knead my dough. I keep promising that I'll make a loaf one day without the mixer but never seem to find the time.

I've already made some sticky buns for this week's Great Bloggers Bake Off but they were eaten in a flash so I thought I would make some iced buns, with a Nutella topping instead of icing.

Nutella Iced Buns - makes 10

500g Strong White Bread Flour
50g Butter, softened
50g Caster sugar (add up to 100g for a sweeter bun)
7g Yeast
Pinch salt
225ml milk
1 egg

Topping
2 heaped tbsp of Nutella
freshly boiled water

• Mix the ingredients together with your hands or in a food mixer until they all come together
• Knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth
• Place in a large bowl & cover with clingfilm to prove for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size. This may be quicker or take longer depending on the temperature of your room.
• Once the dough has risen tip out onto a floured surface & divide into 10 equal pieces - I weighed the dough & calculated the weight of 10 equal amounts which worked out to 82g each.
• Roll each piece into a fat sausage shape and place on a greased baking sheet
• Cover & leave to prove for another hour
• Bake in a preheated 200 C oven for approx 15 minutes until golden brown
• Allow to cool before icing
• Mix the Nutella with a small amount of hot water a little at a time until it's thin enough to spread over the buns but thick enough to stay put.

  

Seasonal Recipes - Cherry Buns

One of the great things about Summer is the abundance of fresh local fruit. We have a small strawberry plant in our garden that has produced a handful of berries and a rhubarb plant that has provided us with enough for a couple of crumbles so far. We also have an apple tree that should be ready for picking soon and I'm lucky to have friends with allotments that supply my with more rhubarb and produce throughout the season.

Unfortunately I don't have my own supplier of cherries, but as the cherry season is in full swing they can be picked up very reasonably priced in shops. I have recently started writing for Great British Chefs and, as National Cherry Day is coming up this week, I decided that my first recipe would be cherry buns, made with fresh juicy cherries.

Cinnamon Buns

I haven't made cinnamon buns for a very long time despite being something that I think about often. My love for them stemmed from when I lived in America and would buy trays of them in Sam's Club for just cents, it was the cream cheese topping that made them irresistible.

When Katie tweeted me last week to ask if I would be joining in with Breakfast club that she's hosting this month I saw it as a great excuse to make cinnamon buns again. It's not something that I would normally eat for breakfast but how nice was it on Sunday morning eating one of these Al Fresco with a freshly brewed coffee.

 

As it had been so long since I made them last time, and well before I started blogging, I had no clue which recipe I used so decided to use my current favourite tear & share bread recipe, adapted from a chelsea bun recipe in my 'bread & bread makers' recipe book.

I made the dough using the basic dough setting on the breadmaker, however it's possible to make it using a dough hook on a food mixer easily enough, or by hand if you're feeling energetic.

For the dough
225ml milk
500g white bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
50g caster sugar
50g butter, softened
7g yeast

Filling
50g caster sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
50g butter, melted

Icing
25g butter, softened
75g Cream cheese
25g Icing sugar

• Add the dough ingredients into the breadmaker in the order that your machine specifies and set to dough.
• Once the dough is ready remove onto a floured surface and roll out into a rectangle approx 30 x 20cm
• Mix the caster sugar and cinnamon together
• Brush the melted butter generously over the rolled out dough
• Sprinkle with all of the cinnamon sugar
• Roll the dough up along the long side & press the end to seal
• Cut into 12 equal slices using a very sharp knife
• Lay the slices into a buttered round or rectangular baking tin or dish
• Brush with any remaining melted butter
• Cover with clingfilm & leave in a warm place for approx 1 hour
• Bake in a preheated 200 C oven for approx 15-20 minutes until golden brown
• In the meantime mix all of the icing ingredients together until smooth
• Whilst the buns are still in their tin and still warm smooth the icing over them
• Serve warm or cold 

Cardamom, Orange & Cinnamon Teacakes

Following Bake Off last week I decided to go for the signature bake and make teacakes. I don't recall ever making teacakes before, although I have made hot cross buns, which are very similar, as well as many other kinds of sweet buns.

I haven't made bread for a while but I did have some in date yeast and bread flour in the cupboard, so all was well, or so I thought.

As I'm always looking for ways to cut corners and save time whilst cooking and baking, I opted to make the dough in my bread maker before adding the dried fruit and spices after the first prove.

Whether it was the yeast or the flour, but one of them wasn't working in my favour, and there was barely a rise on the dough, but as I wasn't really paying much attention when I took it out of the bread maker, I carried on regardless.  It was only after I'd added the fruit and spices, rolled the dough into balls, flattened them out and left them to prove for an hour or so that I realised that I wasn't get a rise out of my buns that day, and perhaps the yeast was dead.

I baked the buns anyway, and despite being a little on the small side, they were perfectly acceptable, albeit a little dense and more on the English muffin side that the teacake, but everyone loved them anyway.

Once I'd replenished my yeast and flour supply I tried again, and this time the teacakes rose perfectly well, and again everyone loved them.

I love cardamom (especially in gin) but I took a risk not knowing if everyone else in the family would feel the same way. I need not have worried though as they loved them, even my 8 year old flavour connoisseur.

There's something so comforting about a toasted teacake in the afternoon, especially now the weather has turned so autumnal.