spiced sourdough fruit buns

spiced sourdough fruit buns

• 31 Mar 2014

Hi every-one,

Hot cross buns have been available in the supermarket since Christmas. Although I love them, I only want to eat hot cross buns at Easter so I've resisted them until now. During the weekend, I was going to make an Apple, Yoghurt, Rye and Cinnamon Sourdough Loaf from the Bourke Street Bakery Cookbook, but I decided to add the fruit soak from another recipe from the book to the dough and before I knew it, the loaf became spiced sourdough fruit buns.

Now sourdough takes time, so I actually started the process on Friday night and had one of the buns straight from the oven on Sunday morning. It helps that I wake each day before 5.00 though, perfect baker's hours.

I like the taste of candied peel, so I added a little to the fruit mix and added some mixed spice to the dough.



Here's the recipe for you with the addition of the fruit soak. I've attached the quantities as written in the book but I tend to find the Bourke Street Bakery bread recipes quite salty, so I halve the salt. 

Spiced Sourdough Fruit Buns (makes 16 buns) 
adapted from the recipe for Apple, Yoghurt, Rye and Cinnamon Sourdough Loaf from The Bourke Street Bakery Cookbook.

(you’ll need to start this recipe the night before)

Fruit soak

50 g currants

150 g raisins

10 g diced candied peel

140 ml boiling water

Place the dried fruit into a small container.

Pour the boiling water over the fruit then cover.

Soak the fruit overnight then drain the water before using.

Dough

40 g (1½ oz) white sourdough starter

110 g (3¾ oz) organic rye flour

340 g (12 oz) organic plain flour

2½ tablespoons plain yoghurt

250 ml (8 fl oz/1 cup) water

10 g (¼ oz) fresh yeast/5 g dried yeast

1 tablespoon soft brown sugar

10 g (¼ oz/1 tablespoon) sea salt

1 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon mixed spice

Using a dough hook, combine all of the dough ingredients in a large bowl and mix for 4 minutes on low speed then 6 minutes on high speed until you have a soft, smooth dough. By hand, gently mix in the drained fruit soak. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled container, cover and leave for 1 hour to prove.

To knock back the dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and press out into a rectangle, about 2.5 cm thick. Use your hands to fold one-third back onto itself, then repeat with the remaining third. Turn the dough 90 degrees and fold it over again into thirds. Place the dough back into the oiled container and continue to bulk prove for a further 30 minutes. At this stage I put the dough in the fridge overnight loosely covered with a plastic bag and brought it back to room temperature the next day before continuing.

Divide the dough into small buns (65 g each) and place onto 2 baking trays lined with baking paper. Let the buns rest in a humid place (25°C) until they've grown in size by two-thirds. This could take anywhere between 1 and 4 hours. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to its highest setting. Score the buns and place one of the trays in the oven. Spray the oven with water and reduce the temperature to 220°C/425°F. Bake the buns for 20 minutes, then turn the trays around and bake a further 10 minutes watching carefully to make sure the buns don’t burn. The buns should have a good colour. 

Bun Glaze

2 tbs caster sugar

2 tbs water

While the buns are cooking, prepare the glaze.

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Allow to boil for 1 minute. Set aside until ready to glaze the buns.

Using a pastry brush, lavishly brush the glaze over the buns. Return the fruit buns to the oven for a minute or two, or until the glaze has dried. Allow to cool before removing from the baking trays.

I topped one of the buns with a scrape of butter and a spoon of my home made summer berry jam. DELICIOUS!

Next week will be a big week on the blog as I'll be doing a week of Passover baking. I've been beating egg whites and melting chocolate like it's been going out of fashion. Why you ask? - last year my mother and I both noticed how many hits my 'renovated for Passover recipes' received so I figured there's a need out there for a modern approach to Passover baking.

So see you all again next week,

Jillian