12 | January | 2008 | Townie Blog

Chelsea Buns

Chelesea buns are said to have been invented by the owner of the Chesea Bun House in London at the end of the 17th Centuary. They make the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee, they are so delicious it is so difficult to resist going back for more!

This recipe is taken again from my book “Bread” IBSN13: 978-0-7548-1788-8.

Ingredients:

225ml / 1 cup of Milk

1 x Egg
500g / 4.5 Cups of Unbleached White Bread Flour
Half a teaspoon of Salt
6 Tablespoons of Caster Sugar
50g / 1/4 Cup Butter, softened
1 Teaspoon Easy Blend Dried Yeast
50g Caster Sugar to Glaze
1 teaspoon of Orange Flower Water to Glaze

For the Filling:

3 Tablespoons of butter, melted
115g Sultanas
3 tablespoons of mixed chopped candied peel
2 Tablespoons of Currants
2 tablespoons of Soft Light Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon of Mixed Apple Pie Spice

makes 12 Buns

Pour the milk into the bread machine pan, add the egg, if your instructions for your machine specify that the yeast is to be placed in the pan first, reverse the order in which you add the liquid and dry ingredients.
Sprinkle over the flour ensuring that it completely covers the liquid, add salt, sugar and butter in 3 separate corners of the bread machine pan, make a small indent in the centre of the flour (but not as far down as the liquid) and add the yeast.
Set the bread machine to the dough setting, use basic dough setting, (if available), press start.
Lightly grease a 23cm or 9inch square cake tin pan, when the dough cycle has finished, remove the dough from the machine and place it lightly on a floured surface.
Knock the dough back gently, then roll it our to form a square that is approx 30cm or 12 inch.
Brush the dough with the melted butter for the filling and sprinkle it with the sultanas, candied peel, currants, brown sugar and mixed apple pie spice, leaving a 1cm half inch border along one edge.
Starting at the covered edge, roll the dough up swiss roll fashion, press the edges together to seal, cut the roll into 12 slices and place these cut side uppermost in the prepared tin.
Cover with oiled clear film, leave to rise in a warm place for 30-45 mins or until the dough slices have doubled in size, meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200 degrees C / 400 Degrees F / Gas mark 6.
bake the buns for 15-20mins or until they have risen well and are equally golden all over, once they are baked, leave them to cool slightly in the tin before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool further.
Make the glaze, mix the caster sugar with 4 tablespoons of water in a small pan, heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is completely dissolved, then, boil the mixture rapidly for 1 to 2 mins without stirring, until syrupy.
Stir the orange flower water into the glaze and brush the mixture over the warm buns. Serve slightly warm.

I made some chelsea buns today and the recipe needed mixed spice (the apple pie spice kind) unfortunately, I only had the curry mixed spice kind..

So I got my daughter to do a bit of scouting around online to see if she could find what ingredients were in the apple pie spice.

I checked my store cupboard and I turned out I had everything I needed to make my own, so I got my pestle and mortar down off the shelf and set about making some.

You need:

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

The aroma that comes from the freshly ground spices if far superior than any powdered pre-made stuff you can buy from the local shop. Also, the spices I buy are all organic, which I source from the Food Co-op that I belong to on (www.neeps.co.uk).