BREAD

BUNS AND BRIOCHE

"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche!"

Saffron is a wonderful ingredient in bread recipes, giving a lovely golden gleam to baked goods of all sorts.

Saffron buns

These buns can be prepared the night before - ready to bake next morning for breakfast.

Ingredients

300ml whole milk

a pinch of saffron threads

75g unsalted butter

500g white plain flour

75g honey

7g dried fast acting yeast

1 large egg, beaten

1. Gently warm the milk in a small saucepan. While it is warming up, set aside a few tablespoons of warm milk and steep the saffron.

2. Scald the remaining milk until it steams.  Add the butter to the pan of milk and mix it in as it melts. Then set aside until lukewarm.

3. Stir the saffron milk and a beaten egg into the cooled milk.

4. Add the honey to the yeast and set aside for about 5 mins until it froths.

5. Combine the flour and 1 tsp salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the milk mixture. Mix together to form a sticky dough, turn onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until elastic.

6. Cover the dough under a slightly damp dishcloth and place it somewhere warm to rise for about 45 mins-1 hour until it roughly doubles in size.

7. Knock the air out of the dough and divide into 12 equal portions. Form each piece into a roll. Place onto a baking sheet (covered with a reusable silicon baking sheet or piece of baking paper and leave them to prove again in a slightly warm oven for another 45 mins-1 hour until they have risen again.

8. Brush the buns with some beaten egg and bake in a preheated oven at 200 C or 180 C fan oven.