1 x 7g Sachet Active Dried Yeast
1 tsp White Sugar
1/2 Cup Warm Water (not too hot or you will kill the yeast, about 110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/2 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup White Sugar
1/4 Cup Butter
1 tsp Salt
2 Eggs, Beaten
4 – 4 1/2 Cups Plain Flour
3/4 Cup Butter
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tbl Ground Cinnamon
1/3 Cup Soft Butter
Optional toppings: 1 Cup of Chopped Pecans, Raisins or Chopped Apple
Vanilla Glaze
Directions:
In a small bowl, dissolve 1 teaspoon sugar and yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. I sit mine on top of my coffee machine which is turned on, just to give the yeast that little bit of warmth it needs to rise. Like I said, it’s like winter around here.
Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup butter and salt; stir until melted. Or, if you are like me, place it all in a microwave-safe bowl and heat until the butter has melted. Let cool until lukewarm.
Add the yeast mixture and the eggs to the cooled milk mixture and gently stir to combine.
Place the flour in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the yeast, egg and milk mixture. Using your fingertips, gently incorporate flour by swirling your fingers in a gentle circular motion. Did I explain that well enough? Basically, you gently swirl your fingers in a circle, gradually stirring in the flour. That sounds better.
Gently knead the dough in the bowl, adding more flour if necessary to form a soft, but not sticky dough. In other words, you can work it on the outside without getting stuck to it, but if you stick your entire fist into the middle of the dough it will be sticky. I actually didn’t have to knead it much at all, but I think I added about an extra 1/2 Cup of Flour.
Leave the dough in the bowl and cover with Glad Wrap and place in the fridge for the night. You will be amazed at how much it will rise in the fridge.
Scrub your kitchen bench until you could eat off it. Seriously, no cutting board you have in your house will be big enough to roll out this dough. Cover your bench well with flour to prevent your dough from sticking to the bench.
Preheat your oven to 180C.
Gently roll out your dough to form a very large rectangular shape, and spread with the soft butter. Combine your brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle over your buttered dough. Add any of your optional toppings, we went for Raisins. Don’t go crazy with the toppings or your dough won’t roll up very well and your rolls will come apart. Trust me, I have done the nut, raisin and apple thing.
Starting at the long side of your dough, gently roll it up, quite tightly. You will have to work your way along the dough as it is quite soft and won’t roll easily as one length. Take your time.
Now, taking a serrated knife, gently slice off the untidy ends of your roll, then slice it into 15, hopefully even pieces. I find it helps if I move the knife in one direction only, starting at the tip of the knife, pushing it through the dough, and down, using the whole length of the blade instead of in a sawing motion. Does that make sense? It just seems to avoid messing up the dough.
Lay your pieces cut side down in a lightly greased baking dish and brush with melted butter. They need to be packed into the tin, but not squashed together.
Bake buns for approximately 20 – 30 minutes until golden, and remove from the oven to cool slightly while you make your glaze.
Now, here’s where the instructions get a little bit sketchy. Some people love their buns covered in a caramel and nut topping, others prefer a light Vanilla Glaze. This time, due to a lack of brown sugar, we went with the Vanilla Glaze. I didn’t measure anything, but basically you take a couple of tablespoons of soft butter, add a cup of icing sugar and a couple of tablespoons of milk, mix, add, mix etc. until you get the desired consistency. It needs to be fairly runny so it soaks into and all over the buns.
Heavenly! I dare you to resist a second one.