No bread is an island

...entire of itself. (With apologies to John Donne!)
I live and breathe breadmaking. I’m an evangelist who would like everyone to make his or her own bread. I want to demystify breadmaking and show it as the easy everyday craft that it is. To this end I endeavour to make my recipes as simple and as foolproof as I possibly can.

I call my blog 'No bread is an island' because every bread is connected to another bread. So a spicy fruit bun with a cross on top is a hot cross bun. This fruit dough will also make a fruit loaf - or Chelsea buns or a Swedish tea ring...
I'm also a vegan, so I have lots of vegan recipes on here - and I'm adding more all the time.

Wednesday, 12 September 2012

ICED BUNS

Ingredients:
200g strong white flour
2 dessertspoons sugar
125ml lukewarm water
1 rounded teaspoon fresh yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil

Plus:
Icing sugar 

Method:
1. Measure the water and stir in the fresh yeast. Place the flour and sugar into a mixing bowl and pour in the yeast liquid followed by the olive oil.

2. Have a little water to hand to add if necessary. Remember, it is better for your dough to be wetter (slack) rather than drier (tight). Holding the bowl with one hand begin to mix by stirring the ingredients together with your fingers. Check how the dough feels as you mix – it should stay soft and squidgy – and add more flour or water as needed. When all the flour has been mixed in, wipe the bowl around with the dough, turn it out onto the worktop and begin to knead.

3. Knead by flattening the dough out, folding it over and flattening it again. Knead until the dough becomes smooth – and then stop before you get fed up!

4. Leave it for an hour or so, covered with a tea towel. (Or go straight to step 5.)

5. When you're ready to proceed, divide the dough into 8 pieces. Form each one into a bun shape and then roll each one into a sausage shape. Place on a prepared baking tray about 5mm apart, so that they grow to touch each other.

6. Cover and leave to prove until they have grown appreciably in size. Bake at 220C, 425F or gas mark 7, for about 10-12 minutes.

7. Whilst the buns are baking, make up the icing sugar as per the instructions on the box. When the buns have cooled, spread the icing sugar evenly over each bun.

This is just a basic bread recipe with some sugar added. Wrap them in a tea towel while they cool, to keep them soft.

I made some in a playgroup this morning with 14 children. The first comment from the kids was, 'Yummy!". Mind you, they'd sprinkled the icing with sugar strands, chocolate flavour strands and hundreds and thousands!


1 comment:

  1. Thank you Paul for posting this. Will make some this afternoon.

    ReplyDelete