It's advent you guys! Time to start showing all those yummy yummy Christmas treats into you mouth, starting with this one! Because what could possibly be better than a saffron bun (or lussekatt as we call it in Sweden) I hear you asking? Well, let me tell you... a filled saffron bun! So that is what I have made you, a saffron bun filled with almond paste and orange and it is soooo gooood. This is the perfect way to start you advent baking, so what are you waiting for?
The Dough
30 g fresh yeast
600 ml milk, room temperatured
250 g sugar (2,5 dl)
2 - 4 tbsp of your saffron mix, or 1-1,5 gram of the powdered stuff soaking in a bit of alcohol
250 g butter, soft
1 tsp salt
1000 g strong flour (16,5 dl)
1. Start by making sure that all of your ingredients are at room temperature.
2. Put the yeast and the milk in the bowl of your stand mixer (or just a bowl if you're gonna do this by hand) and stir to dissolve the yeast.
3. Then add the sugar and half of the flour and mix for 5 minutes until nice and smooth.
4. Cover with a towel and let stand for about 40 minutes to let the yeast activate. You should be able to see a few bubbels on the top, then continue with the next bit.
5. Add the rest of the flour, the salt and the saffron and mix for 5 minutes.
6. Add the butter and mix for another 5 minutes until all combined and elastic.
7. Now we need to make two tests. The first is to see if there is enough flour in the dough or not. Get a nice bit of dough in your hands and see if you can roll it into a ball. If it just completely sticks to your hands add more flour 0,5 dl at the time. Make sure you completely works it through before trying again and adding more. Repeat until you have a sticky and soft but shapable dough.
8. The second test is to make sure it is worked enough, so we need to do the window test. Get a nice bit of the dough into your hands and stretch it carefully as thinly as you can. If it seems to stretch nicely and you can get it thin enough to see through it, it's done. If not, work it a few more minutes and try again.
9. Cover with a towel and let stand for 30 minutes to get it to relax before we continue.
10. Time to shape your buns! Weigh up your individual buns, they should be between 50 - 55 grams each. If you don't have scales, this dough should make around 40 - 42 buns, so divide the dough into 40/42 and try and get them as even in size as possible.
11. Roll into nice smooth balls. For a detailed description, go to the original saffron bun recipe.
12. Pop on a tray and cover with a towel for 1 - 2,5 hours. Unfortunately, I can't give you a more accurate time than that, because it is all about temperature. Temperature of the ingredient you used and of you kitchen, and they might be very different from mine. So just check them once every half hour, they should just about dubbel in size and a good test to see if they're done is to give them a poke. If the dimple from your finger stays in the dough, they're done.
Almond and orange filling
400 g almond paste
200 g butter at room temperature
zest from 2 organic oranges
4 tbsp orange juice
1. Grate the almond paste into a bowl.
2. Add the butter, zest and 3 tbsp of orange juice.
3. Now look at the filling and decide if you need more orange juice or not. You want something that is just pipeable so imagine squeezing that mixture through a smal hole and add more orange juice until that is achievable. Do be careful though because if you make it too wet it's gonna make your buns look like volcanoes.
4. Put in a piping bag and set aside until assembly.
Assembly
40 g almonds
1 egg
1. Start by chopping your almonds finely.
2. Make and egg wash by adding your egg and a small splash of water to a bowl, whisk to combine.
3. Cut a small hole in your piping bag and stab it through your bun, but don't go all the way to the bottom. Then lift the bag slightly so there is room for the filling to go and squees a nice amount of the filling into the bun.
4. Brush your bun with the egg egg wash and sprinkle some of the almonds on top.
5. Bake at 230 ° C for 8 - 10 minutes until golden brown.
6. Eat and enjoy!
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do and that you make this one of your go to Christmas recipes. Until next time guys!
Comments