Adapted from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess)
Ingredients
- For the dough:
- 600 g flour
- 100 g sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 21 g (3 sachets - yes, really) of easy-blend yeast or 45 g fresh yeast
- 100 g butter
- 400 ml milk
- 2 eggs
For the fillings:
- 150 g soft, unsalted butter
- 150 g sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 egg, beaten, to glaze
Roasting tin approximately 33 cm x 24 cm or large brownie tin, lined with baking parchment bottom and sides
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 230C.
- Combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Melt the butter and whisk it into the milk and eggs, then stir it into the flour mixture. Mix to combine and then knead the dough either by hand or using the dough hook of a food mixer until its smooth and springy. Form into a ball, place in an oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave it to rise for about 25 minutes.
- Take one-third of the dough and roll it or stretch it to fit your tin; this will form the bottom of each bun when it has cooked. Roil out the rest of the dough on a lightly floured surface, aiming to get a rectangle of roughly 50 x 25 cm. Mix the filling ingredients in a small bowl and then spread the rectangle with the buttery cinnamon mixture. Try to get even coverage on the whole of the dough. Roll it up from the longest side until you have a giant sausage. Cut the roll into 2 cm slices which should make about 20 rounds. Sit the founds in lines on top of the dough in the tin, swirly cut-side up. Don't worry if they don't fit snugly together as they will swell and become puffy when they prove. Brush them with egg and then let them rise again for about 15 minutes to let them get duly puffy.
- Put in the hot oven and cook for 20-25 minutes, bu which time the buns will have risen and will be golden-brown in colour.
- Don't worry if they catch in places. Remove them from the tin and leave to cool slightly on a rack - it's easy just to pick up the whole sheet of parchment and transfer them like that - before letting people tear them off, to eat warm.
Note: I reckon the oven temperature recommended by Nigella is a little too high. So I would suggest to turn to 210C and bake for 20-25 minutes or 230C and bake for 15 minutes.