Brontë Aurell’s Scandi saffron buns

Enjoy in December, especially on Sundays during Advent.

SERVES: 12 BUNS

TAKES: 45 MINS PLUS 1 HR RISING

INGREDIENTS

175ml whole milk, plus 50ml

for soaking the saffron 13g active, dry yeast granules or

25g fresh yeast

75g caster sugar

0.5g saffron (finely grind in a pestle and mortar and soak in 50ml of milk before using, to get the yellow colour as strong as possible) ½ tsp salt

100ml Greek yoghurt 1 egg, beaten

100g butter (soft, at

room temperature) 400-500g of strong

bread flour

Handful of plump raisins

METHOD

Heat the milk to around 35-37C, then add the yeast granules and, if using dry yeast, around 1 tsp of the sugar. Cover and set aside for 15 mins until the mixture bubbles (skip this step if using fresh yeast as you won’t need to wait for it to activate). Pour into a stand mixer with a dough hook attached and add the rest of the sugar (or all the sugar if using fresh yeast). Mix until the sugar dissolves, then add the saffron and milk mixture.

Keep the stand mixer going as you start adding the flour, bit by bit, until you’ve added around 400g.

Add the salt, yoghurt and half the beaten egg and mix well. With the mixer still going, add the butter and begin to tip in more of the flour (the exact amount of flour depends on how the dough feels — keep mixing until you have a dough that’s still shiny but doesn’t stick when you poke it). If you’re using a stand mixer, knead for about 5 mins, or knead by hand for 10 mins. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave the dough to rise until doubled in size, around 30-40 mins.

Turn the dough out on a surface and knead through, using just enough flour that you’re able to work with the dough. Divide the dough into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a long cylinder using your hands, then transfer to a lined baking tray and shape each one into an ‘S’ shape. Cover with a clean, damp tea towel or plastic wrap and leave to rise again for 25 mins.

Heat oven to 200C, 180C fan, gas 6. Add a single raisin to the central points of each S-shaped curve (using two raisins for each bun), then gently brush with the remaining egg. Bake for 10-12 mins until the buns have a slight tinge of brown on top, but not too much (you may need to turn the heat down if they brown too quickly — you want the yellow colour to shine through). As soon as you remove the buns from the oven, cover with a damp, clean tea towel (this prevents the buns from going dry and forming a crust as they cool down). Taken from Scandikitchen Christmas (£16.99, Ryland, Peters & Small)