I’ve been sharing videos and easy baking ideas on my Instagram @Missfoodwise during these strange times, some will be handy to make things easier for you for when you want to get some thing beautiful and delicious on the table quick. I’ve posted a few recipes from my new book Oats in the North Wheat from the South – which came out in full lockdown and saw all my events in the UK cancelled. Luckily I was able to do my BBC Womans’ hour interview over the phone as I would have been sad to miss is.
I also posted some ideas for overnight doughs so you can prep before bed and bake in the morning for breakfast or lunch. This is one of those bakes (there is also overnight bread buns and quick pan pizza for same day baking) that looks great on your table, looks great to give as gifts – I’ve gifted one of the crowns to my neighbours who are doctors and can use some unexpected cheer and sweetness right now.
These buns are a variation on my Chelsea buns from the book but made so that you can leave the dough at room temperature overnight. If you want to bake them to eat on the same day, add more yeast as explained below.
Makes 3 small crowns
- 6 g dried yeast (15 g if you are baking on the same day, then first rise is 1 hour)
- 300 ml full-fat milk, room temp (lukewarm if you’re baking on the same day)
- 500 g strong white bread flour
- 60 g raw (demerara) sugar or white sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon (or use pumpkin spice instead of the spices)
- 1/4 tsp ground mace
- ¹⁄8 tsp ground coriander
- 70 g butter, at room temperature, cubed
- 1 egg
- 5 g fine sea salt
For the filling
- 3-4 tbsp lemon curd
- 2 tbsp fine sugar
- Chopped hazelnuts
- Milk for brushing
For the sugar syrup
- 60 g (2. oz) raw (demerara) sugar or
- white sugar
- 5 tbsp water
- caster (superfine) sugar, for sprinkling
Method
Combine the flour, yeast, sugar and spices in a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and put the butter on top. Pour half of the milk over the butter and start kneading. When the milk and butter are completely absorbed, add the rest of the milk , along with the egg. Knead for 5 minutes, then let the dough stand for a few minutes (at this point it will be very wet). Add the salt and then knead for 10 minutes, scraping the dough off the dough hook and side of the bowl if needed, until the dough has come together in a smooth and elastic dough that is not too dry but also not terribly wet.
Cover the dough and set aside for 1 hour until it has doubled in quantity – OR WHEN USING THE OVERNIGHT METHOD: cover the bowl with the dough with plastic and leave until te morning at room temperature.
Line the baking tin or pan(s) with baking paper. Towards the end of the resting time, or in the morning, preheat the oven to 210°C
Divide the dough in two and shape one piece to a rectangle, roll out as thinly as possible, making sure you keep the shape (I’ve posted a video on my instagram feed @Missfoodwise)
Spread the dough with half the lemon curd, sprinkle over half the sugar and cover in half the chopped nuts. Divide lengthwise in 3 cm strips and roll those over to fill your tin(s) or pan(s) with. Do the same with the other half of the dough and then brush the buns all over with milk. These buns do not need to rise as we want the layers thin, so you can now immediately bake them! However if you like you can of course let them rest for an hour, or more, and your layers won’t be as thin.
Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown, meanwhile prep the sugar syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar has dissolved. Brush the buns with the sugar syrup as soon as they come out of the oven and then decorate with either coarse sugar, tiny sugar nibs, more nuts or leave plain and shiny!
The next day the buns are easily reheated in a hot oven for 5 minutes, they’ll taste freshly baked!
Enjoy!
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Regula Ysewijn is a food writer, stylist and photographer, with a particular interest in historical recipes. he is a Great Taste Awards judge and a member of The Guild of Food Writers, as well as one of the two judges on 'Bake Off Vlaanderen', the Belgian version of 'The Great British Bake-Off'. A self-confessed Anglophile, she collects old British cookbooks and culinary equipment in order to help with her research. She is the author of 5 books: Pride and Pudding the history of British puddings savoury and sweet, Belgian Café Culture, the National Trust Book of Puddings, Brits Bakboek and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. 
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