in the kitchen, part one - the food

more tomatoes every day :: chelsea buns, recipe below :: 

cherries and berries (my secret? a spoonful of elderflower liqueur!) :: homemade fried rice (recipe)

Chelsea Buns

*not to be confused with cinnamon rolls*

From The River Cottage Bread Handbook

For the buns

550g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting

50g granulated sugar, or vanilla sugar

5g powdered dried yeast

10g salt

150ml warm milk

225g butter, melted

1 egg

For the filling

25g butter, melted

100g caster sugar

200g dried fruit, chopped

For the glaze

50ml milk

50g sugar

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt, then add the milk, butter and egg and mix to a sticky dough.

Turn out on to a floured surface and knead until smooth and silky. Return to the cleaned bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size {This may take a long time! 4+ hours, or so for mine}. Brush the base and sides of the baking tin with a little of the melted butter and coat with a little of the sugar (for the filling), shaking out the excess.

Tip the dough out on to a floured surface, dust with flour and roll out to a rectangle, about 60x40cm. Brush the melted butter all over the dough to the edges, leaving a 2cm margin free across the top (long) edge. Sprinkle with the sugar and scatter the currants evenly on top, right to the edges, but leaving the top margin clear.

Press the deed fruit into the dough, then starting from the edge closest to you, roll up the dough to enclose the filling and form a long sausage. Moisten the margin at the top with water and press to seal. Cut the roll into nine equal pieces. Turn each piece on its end and press with your hand to flatten slightly, until no more than 3cm high. Arrange in rows of three in a 12x12in. square tin or on a cookie sheet lined with parchment – they should just touch each other.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Leave the buns to prove for about half an hour until doubled in size again. Sprinkle a little of the sugar for the glaze over them and bake for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Warm the milk and remaining sugar together in a pan until dissolved, then brush over the buns when you take them out of the oven.

Variation: If you'd like to use this recipe for traditional cinnamon rolls, make the filling using brown sugar instead of white, two teaspoons of cinnamon, and omit the dried fruit. 

Makes 9

This is part one of my blog link up with Heather @ Beauty That Moves.