15. Chelsea Buns
When I got back from holiday, one of the very first things I did was catch up on Great British Bake Off. Yes, I know it’s not the same now that it’s on Channel 4 and there’s no Mary, Sue and Mel. BUT, I wasn’t really watching it just for them. (Well, I mean, Mary is a national treasure and I miss her on GBBO a lot and Sandy and Noel just can’t fill Mel and Sue’s shoes, even though they try). I was watching it for the bakes. Watching these 12 amateur bakers attempting more and more complex bakes every week. They were who I wanted to be. I even applied one year, but annoyingly they went with Michael. Also from Durham University. I was not bitter at all…..
I still watch GBBO with the same love for each and every bake. I love watching basic ingredients change into something beautiful. Or not as the case may be, the disasters make me feel a little better about my own baking mishaps. It’s just such a great show. I could ramble about it for ages.
But I’ll spare you. All this preamble is leading up to today’s recipe. Inspired by bread week, I decided to try my hand at Chelsea buns. I have never made Chelsea buns before and I am very proud of how mine turned out. I used the BBC Good Food recipe (here) as my basis, and swapped out the mixture of dried fruit for just raisins and added in some orange zest, as inspired by some of the bread week signature bakes. They turned out great and I’d recommend giving them a go!
SIDE NOTE: These buns were made for a Macmillan coffee morning. If you want to find out more about Macmillan Cancer Support and the great work they do, click here. If you’d like to donate to Macmillan, click here.
Makes 9 buns
Ingredients
For the dough
450g (16oz) plain or strong white flour
14g (0.5oz) dried yeast (2 sachets)
50g (1.75oz) caster sugar
Pinch of salt
150ml warm milk
1 egg
50g (1.75oz) butter, melted
For the filling
25g (1oz) butter, room temperature
125g (4.5oz) raisins
Zest of one large orange
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
25g (1oz) caster sugar (or light brown sugar)
For the glaze
25g (1oz) caster sugar
Method
Mix all the dry ingredients for the dough together in a bowl. Make a well in the middle and add in the milk, butter and egg. It can help to beat the egg before you add it, but it’s not really much more work if you don’t. Mix it together well, until it starts to form a dough and then use your hands. If once it has formed a dough it feels a bit dry, add a little splash of water, or if it feels too wet add a bit more flour.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it starts to feel smooth and elastic. When done, form into a ball and set in a lightly oiled or greased bowl to prove. Cover with cling film and leave in a warm spot for an hour until it doubles in size.
Knead the dough a couple of times to knock out the air and then form into a rectangle, about 30cm by 20cm. Spread over the butter and then sprinkle on the raisins. In a bowl mic together the sugar, spices and zest and then sprinkle that over the dough too.
Roll the dough starting at the long edge to get a 30cm long sausage. Slice this into 9 equal sized rounds. Grease an 8”x8” square tin and arrange the slices in the tin. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to prove for half an hour. Preheat the oven to 180C during the prove.
Bake the buns for 10 minutes at 180C and then decrease to 160C and bake for another ten minutes.
To make the glaze mix the caster sugar together with a tablespoon of water. Once the buns are out of the oven, brush on the glaze immediately. Allow to cool a bit before serving warm or fully and serve cold.
