So you’ve decided to take on the messy mayhem of bun making with kids? Give yourself a pat on the back! It will take a few hours and be extremely messy but the results are totally worth it!
About a year ago the lovely librarian in our local library offered us a CD of nursery rhymes which they were about to throw away. Naive 2017 Catherine thought ‘why not? It’ll be nice to have some nursery rhymes while we drive’.
It’s now been a year since I’ve had the radio on in my car and I’ve heard the Current Bun song 67,352 times.
As I say these do require a bit more effort but they taste amazing and have been described as ‘a little bite of heaven’!
Ingredients
For the buns
- 10g dried fast action yeast
- 500g strong white flour
- 1 egg
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 50g melted salted butter
- 70ml warm milk
- 200ml warm water
- 150g sultanas
- Grated rind of 1 orange
- Generous teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the crosses;
- 5 tablespoons plain flour
- 1-2 tablespoons of water
To glaze
- Heaped tablespoon apricot jam
If you have a stand mixer feel free to make you dough using your mixture and dough hook attachment. I foolishly opted for the old fashioned bowl and spoon method which, although brilliant fun, did result in my scraping air dried bun dough off my dining chairs for a considerable amount of time.
In a jug, combine the water, sugar and yeast, and sit for 5 minutes until the mixture becomes a bit frothy.
In a large bowl add the flour and stir in the yeast mixture. Whilst stirring, add the milk, egg and melted butter. Mix with your hands until a VERY sticky dough forms.
Knead the dough for about ten minutes or until smooth and elastic. This is when we like to play Spider-Man as the stickiness level is intense!
Add the sultanas, cinnamon and orange zest. Give a much quicker knead to incorporate these into the dough. Plop into the bowl and cover with a tea towel.
Pop in a warm place for an hour (near a radiator or a warm windowsil are my go-to choices) or until doubled in size. In the meantime line 2 baking sheets with baking paper .
Separate the dough into 8-10 even sized balls and pop onto the baking sheets giving plenty of space in between. Loosely cover with a greased sheet of film and leave in a warm place again for about half an hour or double the size.
Preheat the oven to 200°C Gas Mark 8.
Mix the plain flour and water together to make a thick paste. Pipe or drizzle the paste over the buns to create a cross.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until raised and golden.
Spoon the apricot jam into a microwave safe bowl or mug and heat for 15-30 seconds or until runny.
Whilst still warm from the oven, gently brush the tops of the buns with the jam.
Enjoy warm with butter or slice and toast for a special breakfast 😀
For Chocolate Orange buns
Make the dough as per the above but at the point of adding the fruit add the zest of 1 orange and 100g chocolate chips or chunks.
Proof and bake as above and glaze with a little maple syrup.
Baking With Kids 