Butter Buns

Intro

I believe this is a recipe that originated in Market Drayton, Shropshire. So, right up the road from me!

I didn't invent this recipe. It's been around ages.

It's a bit different from what I usually make, because it's slightly trickier and quite a bit more labour intensive. It also includes ingredients you might not already have in your cupboard. Trust me when I tell you it's worth it!

Info

Yield - 10 buns

Prep time - for fucking ever

Cooking time - 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the buns

• 300g strong white flour (bread flour)
• 250g plain white flour
• 10g fine salt
• 7g easy bake yeast (instant) or 10g fresh
• 50g caster sugar
• 150ml milk
• 150ml boiling water
• 50g butter (chilled, cubed)
• 1 egg

For the filling

• 150g softened butter
• 150g caster sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla paste or extract

Just mix it all together to a smooth paste.

For the glaze

• 50 ml milk or water
• 50g caster sugar

Gently heat the sugar and milk or water for the glaze in a small pan until the sugar dissolves. Turn up the heat, bring to the boil, and set aside.

Before you start:

You'll need a couple of baking trays and a rolling pin.

I use a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, but if you're a lowly mixer-less sad-sack, you'll have to make do with a big mixing bowl and your hand.

First of all rugby tackle a male 1950's heart-throb to the ground, and use some of the lard from his hair to grease and line the trays. If you don't have a 1950s heart-throb at home, a smidge of butter will do, will probably be better actually, but what will you do while the dough is resting?

Method

STEP ONE - MAKING THE DOUGH

By hand:

Mix together the flours, salt, and sugar. If you are using easy bake yeast, add it now.

Mix the water and milk together. This will make it *just warm* so it doesn't kill the yeast. If you are using fresh yeast, add it to the liquid.

Pour that in, then the egg, then the cubed butter.

Mix together well. You're going to need to get your hand in there.

Tip it out onto a work surface (no extra flour needed) and knead for about 10 minutes until it feels smooth, elastic, and slightly sexy.

Rawr.

By mixer:

I use my stand mixer for this entire process, because why wouldn't you?

I use the slow setting to mix everything, and once combined, I turn it up to medium for a few minutes. Don't wander off like I did, or it'll be overdone.

Note on getting the dough right:

The dough will be sticky during the kneading process. This is fine! RESIST THE URGE TO ADD FLOUR. It's better if the dough is sticky. You don't want it dry.

Once you've done this bit, you should have a nice ball of dough: smooth and elastic, maybe slightly sticky.

It should not look like it's going runny. This happens if your butter is too soft, you knead for too long, or the mixing speed is too high. (Go on, ask me how I know about this.) In this case, cover it and pop in the fridge for 15 minutes or so, and then carry on as normal.

STEP TWO - RESTING & RISING

Form the dough into a ball, and leave it covered in the bowl until it's doubled in size.

This can take a while. A good couple of hours is normal if your kitchen isn't very warm. I pop mine in the airing cupboard, and it takes about 45mins. It's a good idea to check the temp of your airing cupboard if you go for this option. (25-30°C is about right, I think.)

While you're waiting, after you've had a short interlude with your heart throb (make him wash his hair first), make the filling, and the glaze.

STEP THREE - MAKING THE BUNS

Once the dough is, as the kids say* swole, you're going to work it on a lightly floured surface.

Roll into a sausage shape and cut into ten equal pieces

Roll each piece into a ball.

For each one: roll out into a thin circle. Put a teaspoon of the filling mixture in the middle and spread it about a bit, like you did in high school. Fold it over. Now you have what we in the trade call, a semi-circle. Have yourself a gold star.

Press the seam down, and roll a bit more. Put another teaspoon of filling in the middle of the semi-circle, squodge it about a bit, and fold over again. Now you have something resembling a slightly lumpy triangle. Pythagorus would be so proud.

Don't neglect your seams!

STEP FOUR - MORE RESTING OMG THESE THINGS ARE LIKE FUCKING SLOTHS

All that rolling and folding and flattening and squodging has knocked all the air out of the dough, hasn't it? So, once your trays are full of nice, full balls, you need to leave them to rise again. Give them about half an hour (a little less if your kitchen is warm).

While they are sitting there, doing nothing, paying no rent, etc., set your oven to 200°C and let it get nice and hot.

I have a double oven (oooh, get me), so I get my top oven on, and slide these babies in the bottom one to finish proving. It gets nice and warm in there, so this only takes fifteen minutes.

STEP FIVE - BAKING

Bake on the middle shelf of your oven for 15 minutes.

As soon as they're out, glaze them.

STEP SIX - REST ONE MORE TIME

Leave them on the baking tray for a little while. No matter how well you seal the seams, there will be some leakage. This extra resting time will let them soak some of it back in, so they will be delightfully gooey. It will also prevent you burning your fingers like a greedy twat.

The sugary goodness that doesn't soak back in goes hard, crispy, and shiny, and this "bottom glaze" (stop iiiit) gives your buns a lovely texture.

They can finish cooling on a wire rack.

Lol, "finish cooling"; that's hilarious.

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Thank you for reading!

Let me know if you are going to give these a go! It'll tickle me nine ways to Friday if people all over the world are trying these buns from the Shire. They make an excellent second breakfast.

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* Probably. I wouldn't know.